Signing back of card?

[Anonymous]

I have never signed the back of a single credit or debit card in my entire life. And i have never had a cashier say anything about it or refuse to accept it. 

i dont think it something that anyone pays attention to. 

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I still sign every single card i get, idk, i guess i got used to it.  I can't sign my actually signature as the blocks keep getting smaller so i have to do a mini version lol.

My wife writes "please ask for id" on her cards...there are still some vendors who physically take the card and look on the back then ask my wife for ID. 

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This comes up frequently.  For V and M at least, this violates the customer agreement that you must sign the card with your signature.   But, generally, no-one cares

[Anonymous]

I sign all my cards with SEE ID, though one of my cards I signed "stolen" and it took over 2 years of people glancing at the card & swiping before anyone ever noticed and asked me about it.

I can echo capabk in that the only place I've ever been flat out refused service was at the post office counter. Kept saying that require it to have a signature, so just to spite them I used the same card via SamPay to get around it. Everywhere else just scans without looking, glances then scans or on rare occasions asks me for ID.

My favorite SEE ID moment was in Costco, with my citi Costco card which has my **bleep** face on it right below "SEE ID" instead of a signature. Guy asks me for ID, I point to my picture on the card and he says "yeah that's not Id though". Have to admit he had me there

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I sign all my cards with SEE ID, though one of my cards I signed "stolen" and it took over 2 years of people glancing at the card & swiping before anyone ever noticed and asked me about it.

I can echo capabk in that the only place I've ever been flat out refused service was at the post office counter. Kept saying that require it to have a signature, so just to spite them I used the same card via SamPay to get around it. Everywhere else just scans without looking, glances then scans or on rare occasions asks me for ID.

My favorite SEE ID moment was in Costco, with my citi Costco card which has my **bleep** face on it right below "SEE ID" instead of a signature. Guy asks me for ID, I point to my picture on the card and he says "yeah that's not Id though". Have to admit he had me there

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really? It’s a Costco ID, how is that not an ID, it was issued by them. 

[Anonymous]

I haven't signed my cards in at least 20 years. But for grins I would sign "Donald Duck" on my receipt and no one EVER noticed it.lol

[Anonymous]

No one pays attention or cares.

I can't count the number of times a clerk turned my card over to see "SEE ID" or "THIS CARD IS STOLEN" in the signature panel only to turn it back over and hand it back to be and continue the transaction. Like they were just doing it out of muscle memory....

The only issue I have ever had like other posters was the USPS. I always found it stupid that they would ask me to sign the card, not ask for Id, then accept the card. I mean how useless is that......

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I haven't signed my cards in at least 20 years. But for grins I would sign "Donald Duck" on my receipt and no one EVER noticed it.lol

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My 10 y/o signs when she is with me and there is a terminal. Clerks usually just smile and say nothing....

For giggles always wanted to dispute a large charge saying it was not my signature just to see what happens but then figured it would cause more trouble than its worth...

[MrDisco99]

One time I was at a convenience store and the clerk gave me crap about my signature being worn. Didn't ask to see ID or anything just accused me of using a stolen card.

So I left the drinks on the counter and walked out.

[HeavenOhio]

I started signing my cards when two "in the know" types convinced me to do it. They explained that there was no advantage to "please see ID," although I don't recall the rationale anymore. They also explained that the terms of use require the signature, although as mentioned above, few merchants seem to care.

The biggie, however, was a time when I couldn't use my credit card as a second form of ID. A Chase manager who happened to be manning (womaning) a teller window made me take a "quiz" to prove my identity. The odd thing was that the two tellers at the other windows both knew me and tended to have my account pulled up before I even got to the window. Plus, one of them had recently cut me a cashier's check in the $115,000 range without any ID issue.

When I have to sign on a screen, I usually just leave a squiggle. That started long ago when screens were primitive and generally mangled signatures. Nobody's ever noticed except for a Home Depot employee who laughed.

I've been thinking of using a signature that would be hard for most people to duplicate, such as learning to sign my name in Cyrillic.

[UncleB]

This issue seems to come up in the forums every few months or so.

Rules and regulations aside, it's my goal to make my retail transactions as frictionless as possible so I sign my cards.

That said, it's also well-known that the signature panels on some cards are quite small so my signature on cards seldom looks like my 'actual' signature, but by making the attempt I've 'checked the box' for any clerks who actually check (like the USPS). 

In my experience, the signature doesn't even have to be close as long as something is on the back of the card.