Using "unsigned" credit cards in Europe

Unless your name is See photo ID, it isn't a good idea to have it in the signature strip anyway. It reduces your security if anything, as well as raising liability issues.

Credit card merchant terms mean they are not supposed to request, or look at ID.

Just curious, how often does someone actually look at your signature line and then ask you for your ID?

The security code is used for online or phone transactions. The signature is irrelevant then.

If someone does steal your card, they will pretty much be able to use it until you call it in so the bank can block it, or the bank computer triggers a block due to unusual charges. Either way, you would only be liable for $50 and few if any banks charge even that.

The concern I'd have with your method in Europe, is that some clerks are not as familiar with needing a signature anymore (European cards all use PINs). So they might balk at there being something other than a signature on the card and refuse to accept it.

Quite honestly, when was the last time somebody actually looked at the back of your credit card to see if the signature matched your chicken scratched payment slip? Europe is no different. In fact, since Europeans all have PIN & chip cards, checking a signature is not a habit.

One time out of 100 I was asked for my passport to check my credit card when making a purchase - I just have my signature where it says "Authorized Signature"

I get "carded" quite frequently. Not really sure why - perhaps it is a matter of practice in the shops in California. Sounds like a signature, even if illegible, is the best way to go. I do not really expect any one in Europe to check my card. And since it is chipped with a PIN, I imagine I will be treated just like everyone else.

I don't think I have ever been advised not to sign a credit card but it is almost an urban legend about not signing a credit card. Technically speaking an unsigned card or See ID is not valid. And a merchant has the right to refuse any unsigned card. Do they? Most likely not cause they think it is a big joke. Since IDs are easily forged, showing the id is not adding any security. And signing or not sign a credit slip means nothing. At some of the places I now shop, you don't sign if your total is less than a $100. The only reason to have a signed credit slip is for when the charge is disputed. I think a thief would prefer to have an unsigned card.

The poor to non existent card security at point of sale is why about half of the world's card present fraud is carried out in the USA.

Now that the use of signatures is rare in many European countries it is likely that there is more scrutiny of the few signature cards they do see. At least you are signing on paper, and not those screens which turn all signatures into a load of loops.

James, that advice is an "urban myth", and a violation of issuer instructions. Do you want to give them an excuse to deny your loss claim. Be smart.

The staff that I work with on a major British railway system are trained to reject all transactions - chip and pin or signature only where the credit card is unsigned or something other than a signature appears on the signature panel. YMMV

I do find it interesting that merchants do check your signature where you live. It certainly is rare where I live.

If you do have a chip and PIN card, the PIN is the validation. The signature means nothing and they won't look at it. But many US issued chip cards actually use a signature as the primary validation; the PIN is a secondary if there is no attendant. So depending on your card, you might just have to enter your PIN or the machine might spit out a slip to sign.

Perhaps so, but we are taught than an unsigned card, even when used for a C&P transaction is an invalid card.

Needless to say, for tap and pay the card is never seen in many transactions, but we also limit tap and pay transactions to under £20.

U.S. credit cards definitely require a signature (even if barely legible) to be valid, and merchants are not to accept knowingly unsigned cards - and "see I.D." isn't a signature, in the U.S. or abroad.

This is a courtesy bump to ameliorate an issue I caused in the forum. Please ignore this post.

On machines that request a PIN to complete a transaction, no one will ever bother looking at your ID and much less at any signature on the card.

There are merchants I have encountered who have a sign that says credit cards MUST be signed. One is our local post office.