It won’t be long until your signature won’t value that much. Don’t worry, we’re talking just by the ones you have to put down when making credit card purchases.
Companies are embracing the change
According to a report from the Wisconsin State Journal, several important credit card companies, like American Express, Mastercard, or Discover, have announced that starting with the 1st of April, they won’t require signatures on any United States and Canadian credit card purchases.
Even though they haven’t said anything about credit card purchases until now, Visa is also expected to make a similar announcement in the near future.
After this change will completely roll out, it would completely make disappear one of the most common reasons consumers in the United States still bother writing signatures. The latter was one the symbol of financial integrity and proof of identity, as a side note.
“Signatures may be going the way of the lava lamp,” said president of Atlanta-based consumer market research company focused on financial services Phoenix Synergetics, William McCracken. “They will not be part of Gen Z. Signatures won’t be part of their stored memories,” he added.
Credit card security will be significantly improved!
The removal of card signatures from also increases the security of credit card purchases. Technically speaking, thieves had to look at the signature on the back of a credit card, practice it for a while and come up with a fake one, good enough to pass.
On the other side, credit card companies scaled back signature requirements when it comes to small transactions. To be more specific, more than 75 percent of Visa transactions made face-to-face in North America don’t require people to sign anymore, says a Visa spokesperson.
After signatures will no longer be required when making credit card purchases, we will still rely on other very strong security measures. We’re talking about CVV numbers, asking consumers for a billing ZIP code or even adding computer chips to cards!
If you ask us, one of the biggest advantages of this move will be speeding up lines at retailers! And a lot of store owners will definitely agree with us.
