Are Credit (&Debit) cards valid if you don't sign them?

[Deleted User]

Worth noting that when you get a refund back to your card, often you'll be asked to sign the refund slip rather than re-entering your PIN. If there's no signature to check, no refund for you

CKhalvashi

Cycrow wrote: »

Sounds like tesco when i used to work there. We were constantly told not to allow cards without signature, but when ever a customer complained to the manager they would just say we were in the wrong and accept it

Or Sainsburys, when I accidentally left a card in the machine.

CK

matttye

Who cares, just sign it!

It quite clearly says 'not valid unless signed' on the back of most (all?) cards, so there's no benefit to not signing it.

guesswho2000

matttye wrote: »

Who cares, just sign it!

It quite clearly says 'not valid unless signed' on the back of most (all?) cards, so there's no benefit to not signing it.

Agreed. Also, as per others' comments, in the US, below $50 I rarely have to sign, and even higher I never have used PIN. This is a lot more lax now, on the part of UK issuers, presumably due to better security, but I remember in 07/08, around the time we went chip & pin mandatory, using my cards in the US was a nightmare (with the one exception of MBNA issued cards!).

And, as per earthboy's comment, a card isn't legal tender, so, even if there's a debt to settle, such as in a restaurant following a meal, they're not legally obliged to accept it, signed or not.

pacontracting

msallen wrote: »

I was in America last week, where chip and pin is not used. Every time I used a credit card they seemed to make a point of looking at the back of it before inserting into the machine, presumably checking the signature. The thing is though that in 9 cases out of 10 they didn't check the signatures matched after the transaction!

There is a growing movement in the US to write 'check ID' in the signature strip as the normal 'signature' security is shockingly bad. I suspect that's why the sales person looked at the signature strip.

reclusive46

pacontracting wrote: »

There is a growing movement in the US to write 'check ID' in the signature strip as the normal 'signature' security is shockingly bad. I suspect that's why the sales person looked at the signature strip.

It doesn't really make any difference anyway. Most terminals are now customer facing like they are here, so the merchant never even sees the card to be able to look at the signature stripe.

agrinnall

The real benefit to signing is that if you've done it then if the card is stolen it's not as easy for somebody else to sign it and pretend to be you. But while it's in your possession I doubt whether it would ever be checked in the UK.

FireWyrm

agrinnall wrote: »

The real benefit to signing is that if you've done it then if the card is stolen it's not as easy for somebody else to sign it and pretend to be you. But while it's in your possession I doubt whether it would ever be checked in the UK.

Even if said nefarious person did sign the card and pretend to be 'you' it wouldnt help them without the PIN since all purchases these days are chip&pin - not signature verified. The presence of a signature is irrelevant for internet purchases.

Any non-pin verified purchases can be disavowed by the real owner and the Bank would have no way of arguing otherwise. I doubt there are very many merchants these days who still dare to process transactions the old fashioned way - with carbon counter receipts.

greenorange

FireWyrm wrote: »

Even if said nefarious person did sign the card and pretend to be 'you' it wouldnt help them without the PIN since all purchases these days are chip&pin - not signature verified. The presence of a signature is irrelevant for internet purchases.

Any non-pin verified purchases can be disavowed by the real owner and the Bank would have no way of arguing otherwise. I doubt there are very many merchants these days who still dare to process transactions the old fashioned way - with carbon counter receipts.

Not all purchases are Chip&Pin. I've had a few people use the signature method with UK cards where I work. I believe the banks give them these cards on request due to a disability etc.

reclusive46

FireWyrm wrote: »

Any non-pin verified purchases can be disavowed by the real owner and the Bank would have no way of arguing otherwise. I doubt there are very many merchants these days who still dare to process transactions the old fashioned way - with carbon counter receipts.

I've actually used swipe and sign a couple of times with my card this year actually. My local Morrison's petrol station chip and pin machine seems to crash half the time, so the cashiers just swipe the card. One or two small businesses around me also don't process Amex cards via chip and pin and use swipe and sign (With really old terminals that can't be remotely updated with Amex chip application remotely). They just put the card in, it gives an error and asks them to swipe it.