Do you sign your CC?

[mickeyd]

I recently received my new Discover card and after activating it via the toll-free #, I signed the back and stuffed it in my wallet. I really do not believe that by me signing the card that I am somehow increasing the security of my acount, but I am a creature of habit I guess. 

This article from bankrate.com also addresses this issue:

"There is very good evidence that signing the back of your card is meaningless anymore," says Paul Mason, assistant dean of the University of Kansas School of Business. Mason is a certified fraud investigator and CPA who has been teaching courses on fraud for the past eight years and is writing a textbook on the topic for college-level instruction. "I can tell you that in the Midwest, where I live, it is most unusual to have a clerk look at the back of the card. They usually swipe it and hand it back."   

Check ID
In truth, there is a large segment of the card-carrying public that simply refuses to sign their cards, believing it helps protect them from fraud if their cards are lost or stolen. Mason is one of them. Instead, he writes "Check ID" on the signature panel. Should a shopkeeper look at the back of his card, he says that phrase should prompt a request to see a driver's license or other form of ID.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20060901a1.asp

I wonder why CC companies still have a space on the card for a signature? Seems like an antiquated, unnecessary feature of the card.

 

[Khan]

I wonder why CC companies still have a space on the card for a signature? Seems like an antiquated, unnecessary feature of the card.

Many stores here have you swipe the card yourself.

Some you sign a piece of paper afterwards, some you sign electronically, some you don't sign at all.

 

[TromboneAl]

Clerks rarely check, and when they do, I don't think they are really looking -- just going through the motions.

However, if a grubby, scary looking person who had stolen my card used it to buy a plasma screen TV, the clerk might be more likely to really check the signature.

 

[riskadverse]

I only sign them when the shopkeeper says there is no signature on the back.  Then I sign it in front of them and ask them if the signature looks like it was done by me.  

 

[linkerbink]

I've got one of those photo credit cards...clerks (those who actually handle the card) love it...always comment on what a great idea it is. The only problem is that I've had it for years, and every time the card expires, they send me a new one with the same photo on it! Kinda makes me feel like I'll never age. My hair is long in the photo, really REALLY short now. But I guess the face looks enough like me that they don't question it...or they think no one would be dumb enough to try to pass off a photo cc with someone else's photo on it.

 

[ex_CFO_now_RVer]

FWIW. I print "Check ID" on th back of the card. While I have never lost a card or had one stolen, I am optimistic that it might stop its use if reviewed by a store clerk.

Dave

 

[Texas Proud]

I do not sign... and rarely in the US does anyone look...

I have had a couple of clerks say you need to sign.. I say, no I do not..

However, when I lived in London, they looked at the back all the time. I would say only 10% of the time they did not look... I guess they were on the hook if it was not me. Maybe it has changed in the years since I was there...

 

[thefed]

us post office wont take one unless you sign. ask me how i know

 

[Nords]

us post office wont take one unless you sign. ask me how i know

I'll bet you weren't using the automated postal machine!

 

[sgeeeee]

I write: ask for identification in the signature box on my CCs.

Here is my reasoning: If someone gains access to my credit card I am only legally responsible for up to $50 of charges. It doesn't matter whether I've signed it or not. If I have signed it, then someone who wants to forge my signature has an example to work from. If I haven't, then their phony signature will be obvious if it were to come to a legal battle. The

ask for identification

statement makes it more difficult for someone who tries to use my CC. They either have to have gained access to additional identification or hope that the person taking the credit card ignores the statement. I would guess that less than half of the people who take my credit card actually ask for identification, but many do. I always thank them when they ask.

It seems to me that signing the credit card is not good protection for me. It may help protect the credit card company, but not me.

 

[sgeeeee]

us post office wont take one unless you sign. ask me how i know

I have used my unsigned CC's at the post office many times.

 

[jazz4cash]

FWIW. I print "Check ID" on th back of the card.  While I  have never lost a card or had one stolen, I am optimistic that it might stop its use if reviewed by a store clerk.

Dave

For many years, I have put a printed label over the signature box that reads "Photo ID Required" Unfortunately, the clerks still don't bother to ask. I also have a photo credit card (B of A) and for the life of me I can't figure out why all CC's don't work that way. My only conclusion is that they really don't care as long as they can keep making everyone else pay the tab for fraudulent use.

 

[donheff]

us post office wont take one unless you sign. ask me how i know

I'll bet you weren't using the automated postal machine!

I love it. Get turned down at the counter; ask how much the postage would be; go over to the machine and waive as you pull out the stamps

 

[Nords]

I love it.  Get turned down at the counter; ask how much the postage would be; go over to the machine and waive as you pull out the stamps 

I'd much rather use the post office's machine and Home Depot's self checkout than to have to go through their relentless questions.

It's not that I dislike people, it's just that I tire of them so easily! And when you add in the ruthless interrogations like "Did you find everything you were looking for today?", "What's your ZIP code?", "Would you like to be added to our newsletter mailing list?" then I find machines much more human-friendly than the humans.

 

[ladelfina]

I just lie.  If they ask my zip code, I rattle off one I know from a friend or family member. What really bugs me is when they ask for a phone number. With a smarmy smile, I reel off the number from my old house.  Or an old friend's old house .. Garbage in, garbage out. (sigh).

Nords, you probably haven't been shopping for women's clothes lately; it's much worse. "Did anyone help you pick these out!?!?..teeHEE!"  [No. Strangely, as a grown woman, I am able to select clothing unaided..]

"Did you find everything you were looking for today?"
If I had the nerve I'd say.. "Well. I was looking for inner peace and tranquility, but you didn't have it in a size 16". 

I'm of two minds on the CC signing. If the card gets lost and a random person signs it as me.. isn't that conceivably worse?

 

[sgeeeee]

. . .I'm of two minds on the CC signing. If the card gets lost and a random person signs it as me.. isn't that conceivably worse?

That's why you need to fill in the box with a directive to ask for your ID. If the box is filled out, someone can't put a signature there.

 

[MikeD]

"What's your ZIP code?"

I tell them 666. They usually shut up after that.

Mike D.

 

[Nords]

I just lie. If they ask my zip code, I rattle off one I know from a friend or family member. What really bugs me is when they ask for a phone number. With a smarmy smile, I reel off the number from my old house. Or an old friend's old house .. Garbage in, garbage out. (sigh).

I tell them 666.  They usually shut up after that.

Since we regularly shop there, I'm known as "That guy who won't tell us his ZIP code unless he gets a discount and makes us call the manager to discuss it with him". Oddly enough I don't get pestered much anymore.

 

[HFWR]

Clerk: "Can I have your phone number?"

HFWR: "No..."

 

[larry]

I only sign them when the shopkeeper says there is no signature on the back.  Then I sign it in front of them and ask them if the signature looks like it was done by me.  

That belongs in the joke thread...too funny