More and more often, credit card holders are refusing to sign the back of their credit cards, believing that the practice helps protect them from credit card theft and fraud. But, is this practice really beneficial?
A Changing Use of Credit Cards
Today, many customers never have to hand their credit cards over to the merchant. Instead, they simply swipe their own cards and put them away once the transaction is completed. In fact, many merchants no longer even bother to compare signatures or even look at them to make sure they match. As such, many consumers believe there is no point for even signing their credit cards at all.
Another increasingly popular consumer choice is to write “See ID” on the back of the credit card. Those who follow this practice do so because they believe it helps provide them with added protection. This is partly because they believe it will spur a check of signatures against the driver’s license, if the merchant does bother to check. In addition, by keeping their signature off the card, it makes it more difficult for a thief to copy it.
Understanding Rules and Regulations
In actuality, a credit card that is not signed is not considered to be valid. In fact, credit card companies tell merchants that cards that have not been signed are not to be accepted. Of course, this rarely occurs because no merchant wants to turn away sales. Nonetheless, it is a risk on your part if you choose to forego signing the back of your credit card. If you do wish for the merchant to check your ID, you can add that on the back of your card alongside your signature.
By not signing the credit card at all, you also put yourself in a certain amount of risk because the thief can simply sign the card himself. In this way, the thief will have no trouble writing a signature that matches the one on the back of the card.
Improving Statistics
Another positive change when it comes to credit cards is the fact that credit card fraud continues to go down. This is an amazing trend considering the fact that the use of credit cards continues to rise. With the many security measures credit card companies have put into place, and continue to put in place, credit cards are becoming safer to use every day – whether the backs are signed or not.
Related Posts:
- Risk You Take When Co-Signing on a Credit Card - You have worked hard to get yourself into a position where you have at least fair, if not good, credit. If the...
- Should You Sign the Back of Your Credit Card? - One of the first things that you are supposed to do after activating a new credit card is to sign the back...
- Is Co-Signing for Credit a Good Idea? - With so much financial trouble spanning the globe, there is a good chance that some of your own family members may be...
- Warnings You Need to Seriously Consider When Co-Signing A Credit Card - It may sound like a good idea at the time, but co-signing for someone else’s credit card application is a very bad...