Do You Sign The Back of Your CC?

Anonymous · ‎03-31-2016

Just curious?

I read on this forum of peple who don't sign, but write "SEE ID", and I've been doing that with all of my cards. And do you know, only 1 person (SHE )actually turned and read the card and asked to see my ID? Out of the many times I hand my card to clerks and they swipe it. No one looks @ the back of the card and verifies anything.

Now I could also just go bare and not sign it either, which I have. And no one still cares. Back in the day, I had 1 clerk (SHE) asked me to sign the back of the card before the transaction was processed.

What say you?

Anonymous · ‎03-31-2016

I do on all mine, although I like the "SEE ID" idea. And I can remember several times when someone actually checked. I have even had a few that have checked the signature, also asked for ID, and then compared my sig on the card to the one on my ID.

nitrov · ‎03-31-2016

According to some stickler banks, if you put anything on that sig strip besides your signature, you're actually not complying with the terms & conditions on the card and the card "should not" be accepted anywhere. The whole "SEE ID" thing used to be pretty commonly, particularly before chips came out, but as cards start switching to chip & pin I'm sure that's going to really start disappearing. There are some retailers, like the US Post Office (of all people) who will not accept your credit card unless it's signed on the back. I have a BCE that's pretty much impossible to sign the back of, and I can never use it at the post office for that exact reason. Seems silly, but at the end of the day most vendors or retailers don't even look at cards anymore.

I think out of the 10 or so cards in my wallet maybe 2 are signed.

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Mattopotamus · ‎03-31-2016

Never have. No one ever ask. It's pretty useless IMO

Chris679 · ‎03-31-2016

The card says sign it so I sign it, no reason to get cute IMO.

Officer737 · ‎03-31-2016

I have never signed any of mine including my debit card. Why? Because no one has ever looked, even when I have pointed it out to them! As they see APPROVED when they swipe it, they could care less if it was signed or not.

UncleB · ‎03-31-2016

@nitrov wrote:
According to some stickler banks, if you put anything on that sig strip besides your signature, you're actually not complying with the terms & conditions on the card and the card "should not" be accepted anywhere. The whole "SEE ID" thing used to be pretty commonly, particularly before chips came out, but as cards start switching to chip & pin I'm sure that's going to really start disappearing. There are some retailers, like the US Post Office (of all people) who will not accept your credit card unless it's signed on the back. I have a BCE that's pretty much impossible to sign the back of, and I can never use it at the post office for that exact reason. Seems silly, but at the end of the day most vendors or retailers don't even look at cards anymore.

I think out of the 10 or so cards in my wallet maybe 2 are signed.

+1

A few years ago I had just received a new debit card and had forgotten to sign the back... I never even noticed until I went to use it at a USPS... they asked for my ID and wouldn't take the card until I signed it in front of them.

There are many schools of thought on this (and more than a couple threads) with many people strongly in one camp or the other. I simply sign the card; nobody usually looks anyway, and my signature is so varied it wouldn't matter even if somebody did find my card. I'll also add that my driver's license is signed (as required), and is usually with my cards, so if somebody really wanted to copy my signature they could simply use that even if my cards were unsigned.

When I'm checking out, I'm not looking for resistance or a conversation, I just want to pay and move on... signing the card as intended seems to facilitate that.

Sharingan · ‎03-31-2016

Yes, I sign the back of all of my credit cards. I do not bother with the "See ID" or "CID" nonsense because it is not in compliance with the agreements I have with the banks I do business with. You are asked for your signature, not to set your own rules for processing the bank's credit card. Besides, nobody is going to care that you have "See ID" written on the back of your card if they were never going to check anyway. I can't remember the last time I was asked for my credit card at the point of sale.

Mattopotamus · ‎03-31-2016

Wouldn't this just give the "crook" your signature. Making it easier to commit fraud?

Officer737 · ‎03-31-2016

@Mattopotamus wrote:
Wouldn't this just give the "crook" your signature. Making it easier to commit fraud?

Believe me, the cahsier is not going to go "CSI" and try to analyze a signture for authenticity. I can't even get McDonald's cashiers to use Apple Pay correctly.