Have You Heard? Cardholder Signatures Are a Thing of the Past
As of April 1, the major card brands (Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express) will no longer require a cardholder’s signature when making purchases with a credit or debit card.
This is just one way in which the card brands are aligning themselves with the industry’s desire to shift to digital payments that allow for faster, more convenient check-out processes; because let’s face it: we all could benefit from that!
It’s important to note that forgoing cardholder signatures will not have any impact on payments security because solutions like EMV, tokenization and encryption protect against fraud much more effectively than a signature.
+ How will this affect your business?
The elimination of the signature requirement is for those merchants who have updated to EMV or completely contactless payments. Those stores that have yet to upgrade will still need signatures. Additionally, this is still only optional for retailers. As the optional signature requirement becomes more widely accepted and adopted by consumers, merchants will feel even more pressure to update their POS system. We can help with that!
+ How will this affect your customers?
Though most people scribble their signature on a receipt past the point of legibility, it is uncertain how they will feel about not being required to sign. Major card providers hope to increase convenience for consumers by eliminating long lines due to lengthy payment checkouts. With small purchases, this measure will probably be positively received. However, it is difficult to say how consumers will react to that with larger purchases, especially since signing a receipt tends to be more ritualistic now.
One thing seems for certain – the lack of signature requirement should hopefully boost transitions to EMV point of sale devices for merchants.
Please keep in mind the removal of cardholder signatures is completely optional; certain merchants may wish to continue requiring signatures, and they are free to do so. This is especially important to restaurants or industries where tipping is customary.
If you aren’t sure how this will affect you or you’d like more information on how to upgrade your system to EMV or a new POS system, contact us at Position POS.
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Review each card brand’s ‘No More Signatures’ announcements below:
