One of the biggest credit card companies recently made an announcement regarding the need for a signature when making credit card purchases. According to The Verge, American Express wants to get rid of them, starting with April 2018.
However, they’re not the first company to do this, since Discover and Mastercard also made similar announcements.
Can this stop credit card fraud?
Jaromir Divilek, executive VP at American Express, made an official statement regarding this, announcing that the change is required, as “fraud capabilities have advanced so that signatures are no longer necessary to fight fraud.”
But this is not the only reason, as the company also claims that significant advances in contactless payments were made, due to the constantly increasing popularity of online shopping, while the use of “advanced machine learning algorithm” also does an excellent job at preventing frauds.
Customers will most likely delighted about this, as it will create a more consistent, but also faster checkout experience while using their credit cards.
“Having to sign a receipt can be a hassle for customers, and is not necessary to prevent fraud at the point of sale,” said Mike Cook, assistant vice president at Walmart. The retailer is currently pleased by the news, as it will promote “a more seamless shopping and checkout experience for customers.
Will all companies follow their example?
If the companies that did this in the past resumed to the United States when it came to removing signatures from credit card purchases, American Express is planning a global rollout of this change. Right now, customers don’t have to sign if they purchase something under $50 in the United States. As for other main regions, the same rule applies for purchases under $100 CAD in Canada and under £30 in the United Kingdom.
After the change will be implemented completely, Visa will remain the only important credit card company in the United States to rely on signatures. Still, we’re convinced that a similar announcement, coming from their direction, will be made soon, as they will want to rely just on Visa card information for purchases and no signatures.
