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Comment by interfixus | Hacker News Reader

Signatures? Is this an America-thing? Me and my MasterCards go back sort of a long way, pens and paper never involved.

As far as I can tell, it is an US thing. I can't speak for other countries in the Americas, but when I was in Europe briefly a few years ago, what few purchases I made with a card were all done chip & pin.

In the US, that signature is a on a line right next to the words "I agree to be bound by the cardholder agreement", or some similar language. If I had to guess, the signature was originally supposed to be a mini-contract that yes, you're going to pay back the card company for what they just paid on your behalf. I don't know if such has ever been been taken to court to be enforced, however.

Waiters will chase after you if you forget to sign your check, because they must provide a signed receipt to their merchant account provider if you initiate a chargeback, if they want any chance of fighting it. I'm not sure why they just don't scribble a random signature in for me, because that's all I do when I sign it.

>>I'm not sure why they just don't scribble a random signature in for me..

Because that would be financial fraud for which they can go to jail.

Probably because that's called forgery, and if they were caught doing it it would be a much bigger deal than not getting their money from that transaction.

If the intent is to fight chargebacks, then a false signature seems even worse. A signature that isn't remotely similar to the cardholder's seems less likely to be successful than a blank signature, and presenting such a document may well be fraud.

It is an American bank thing. When I use my American Visa card in the UK, I still get asked to sign. They end up not having a pen because locals never need to sign. I started using apple pay to avoid this. Contactless payment is much more popular in Europe.

Ah, but some terminals will still require a signature with Apple Pay.

Yes. We have to sign for purchases over $25 at retail. It's like the signature on the bottom of the check. If there is a fraud claim they'll trot out the signature as one of the evidences and compare to the card holders - at least in theory.

And only for retail. And the store is supposed to check your ID if there's no signature on the card (which is stupid, because they're not comparing your card's signature to your current signature). It's just a way to push back fraud charges onto the merchants.

It varies wildly whether you will have to sign when using a credit card, and where and what size of purchase requires it. Some places, I have to sign for a $0.99 pack of gum, other places I can buy $200 worth of groceries without a signature. Sometimes it's even different at the same places day to day.

And a lot of Asia. Even after chip+pin.

Yes it is an America-thing. If you're in the rest of the world move on, nothing to see here,

It's for fast food or retail, the idea is you never put a pin for your purchase.

Yes, as covered every time credit or debit cards are mentioned here.

Yes. America is stuck in the stone age when it comes to this stuff.

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