12-19-2006, 06:28 AM
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Credit Card Safety
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 | He is fed up with credit card fraud and thought putting ‘Ask for ID’ instead of a signature sounded like a good way to prevent it. But it didn't work out like he planned.
"When a merchant looked at my card and saw that it said ‘Ask for ID’ I had hoped they would ask for ID but it very rarely happened," says Steve.
Retired fraud investigator Jeff Burton agrees merchants don't check cards often enough. "There are way too many out there that do not even bother with it," he says.
But not signing your credit card is not the answer.
"Although the motivation is probably sincere, it is unwise to do that," warns Jeff.
He says you are taking a big risk. If someone uses it to commit fraud, you may have to pay because not signing your credit card violates your credit card agreement.
“The Visa or MasterCard may take a hard line and say that it was your responsibility on receiving the card to sign it right away. You've failed to do that. Unfortunately now it's been used in a fraud and you'll have to bear the financial consequences of that. So it could be expensive," Jeff explains.
Scary isn't it. Lately when shopping Steve has found merchants rejecting his unsigned visa.
"She presented me a letter that they received that said that they were not to accept cards with that on it," Steve says.
He's has now signed his credit cards including a brand new one. “When they told me I needed to sign it that's the first thing I did, I signed my card," he says.
The changeover has already begun to chip and pin cards. That means credit cards with an electronic chip inside that you use a pin number just like a debit card. That will eventually replace the signature.
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