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No Shock Here: Credit Card Signatures are Useless

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<Gasp!> I wasn't surprised to read this yesterday.  I have, perhaps, some of the worst handwriting known to man.  I'll be forever grateful that I took the SATs before they include a cursive writing portion.  Maybe it helps to explain that my father is a dentist... or maybe I've just been typing since the commodore 64. 

In truth, I've never found it really comforting when the checkout staff at the local Target draws their collective intelligence together, holding my card and signed receipt up to the light, while they try and determine if I'm trying to use a stolen credit card to buy a reeses peanut butter cup and a $10 cd.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2005
    I am ashamed at my handwitting too. My signature looks like an eight year old did it, but I am an IT professional, and handwriting is completely outside of my skillset.

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2005
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2005
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2005
    No joke! I have been told I will be a Dr. or lawyer my whole life and my only relly bad grade each year in elementary school was my handwriting. Sometimes now I will even sign my name backwards just for fun or just scribble a little on the paper so I left a mark. They have tried comparing signatures on my writing but are always baffled at how horrible it is.

    I even have a friend that actually signs "I Stole This Card" on all of the electronic signatures. I find it funny but he has never been questioned...

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2005
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2005
    IMHO checks will soon be used only for very large transactions. to much hassle and withthe volume of them no way to "check" them as valid.

    and card sig. has the problem of is that the right sig. --

    as for people who can't remember a 4 digit pin?
    WOW, so can they tell a cab driver the address they live at? can they phone home?
    not that ither of the numbers should be a pin... just heck anyone should be able to memorize 4 digits.

  • Anonymous
    March 23, 2005
    I have no problem remembering numbers if I use them regularly enough. I work at an ISV where a major part of our business is developing networked mobile software, so I type WEP keys very regularly, and until we changed it recently I could type the office 128-bit WEP key (26 hex characters) from memory. I haven't learned the new one yet.

    The problem is that I simply haven't committed the new card's PIN to memory, and this is the problem for most people with credit card PINs. They were informed of them when the card was issued, but it's very likely they've never used it since. Many of them have probably either lost or destroyed the notification.

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2005
    The comment has been removed

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