Can Merchants Require an ID for Credit Card Transactions?
As a followup to my earlier article about merchants being unable to require a minimum purchase for credit card transactions…
Did you know that merchants can’t require you to show an ID in order to complete a transaction?
According to a recent Q&A in the Baltimore Sun:
Although Visa rules do not preclude merchants from asking for cardholder ID, merchants cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance. Therefore, merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to provide ID. Visa believes merchants should not ask for ID as part of their regular card acceptance procedures.
As for MasterCard:
A merchant must not refuse to complete a MasterCard card transaction solely because a cardholder who has complied with the conditions for presentment of a card at the POI [point of interaction] refuses to provide additional identification information, except as specifically permitted or required by the Standards. A merchant may require additional identification from the cardholder if the information is required to complete the transaction, such as for shipping purposes.
Apparently, American Express and Discover have similar rules.
There are, however, some exceptions… For example, they can ask to see an ID if your card isn’t signed. And if you’re paying remotely, like over the phone or on the web, they can ask for identifying information such as your zip code (I’ve also seen on this on pay-at-the-pump transactions).
Of course, this doesn’t mean that all businesses follow the rules. If a merchant demands to see your identification, and then refuses you service if you fail to comply, your only real recourse contact the card company and provide them with the name of the business. Most card issuers will initiate an investigation and may even penalize the business for violating their merchant contract.
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As a cashier, I can tell you two other times that I request ID, which I feel is are legitimate reasons…
1) The customer’s signature bears NO resemblance to what’s on the card.
2) The customer has WRITTEN “See ID” or “CID,” regardless of the presence of the signature.
I am also leaning towards asking for ID if there is a clear signature (not smudged or worn) that does not appear to contain letters. Checking ID’s adds valuable time to each transaction, so I may not implement this.
Comment by Nathan — Mar 18th 2008 @ 7:46 amEvery time I travel to Louisiana, I’m asked for ID when I use a credit card. I believe there could possibly be some sort of local law that requires merchants to check it.
Comment by Ron@TheWisdomJournal — Mar 18th 2008 @ 12:26 pmI write “Request ID” in the signature block of all of my credit cards because I WANT merchants to verify my identity. Worth a moment of my time, having been identity-thefted twice already.
Comment by Chris Desmond — Mar 18th 2008 @ 12:26 pmWhat about when the name on the credit card clearly doesn’t match the person, ie, a clearly gendered name being used by a person of the opposite gender? Or if the person is clearly too young (younger than 10 years old) to be using a credit card other than their parents’? These used to be issues when I worked at Pier 1 – women would frequently bring in their husbands’ credit cards, but you never know if it’s stolen, or even if it’s revenge shopping in a divorce.
Comment by Anne — Mar 21st 2008 @ 8:22 pmIf the name clearly doesn’t match the person, the card can be rejected. I’m not sure of the legality of this, but as a cashier, I have taken the card and put it in a safe place until the owner came to claim it.
Comment by Nathan — Mar 22nd 2008 @ 2:27 pmisn’t this the whole point of the visa commercial where a person takes too long to write a check or a person forgets thier id. ID is the last thing they “need”. if its a froudulent transaction and they have followed the proper proceedures like verifying the signature, then visa/mc or amex is on the hook, not the merchant or in most cases the customer. another way 1% of the population who lie cheat and steal make it hard on the rest of us.
Comment by Robert V — Sep 19th 2008 @ 2:39 pmRegarding comment by Robert V:
Comment by jeannie — Jan 24th 2010 @ 9:15 amI work at a c-store, and each month we are sent a list of transactions that the card company will not pay because the cardholder said they did not make that purchase; in this event, we must prove that it was, indeed, the cardholder who bought the items in question. Without ID, the customer is long-gone and able to refute charges all day long. We have no recourse but to eat the cost of the inventory. We also were forced to implement a store policy of a three dollar minimum for card transactions because we are a small franchise store with limited buying power, and people frequently came in and purchased a cigarillo at .64 while the debit card (MC or Visa) charges us .35 per transaction. In reality, we just paid someone to buy our product. The same holds true with lottery transactions; we make .01 on the dollar, but the card company charges us .35 for the transaction. Policy be damned, we are not in the business of giving away inventory – or worse – paying someone else to take it. Respectfully, jeannie.
due to rules of this matter that many small business don’t take credit card. I’m a manager at a small retail business and we required id for EVERY credit card transaction due to the fact that if we receive any transaction that was denied by any credit card company we get charged a fee of $35 dollars. So if we make a sale on a credit card of $10 and is not honored other than the 2% we get charged for every credit transaction we also get charged $35 dollars even if later the credit card company still decides to pay for the $10 dollars. We also apply a 75cents charge to either credit or debit transactions since we are charged 2% on every credit card transaction and about 67cents on every debity transaction. I’m not against the customer rights but the law for the business rights are completly misleading and not helpful to the business. You must all remember that in the moment that a business has a low or no profit the ower simply decides to close the business causing not only the customers but also the employees to suffer. Also having in mind that these details that I shared here are from a small business being much different from big companies such as Vons, Target, etc.
Comment by Al — Mar 7th 2010 @ 4:39 pmand also RobertV is very clear that you have never worked at a retail shop if you think only 1% of population lie cheat and steal is more something around 40%. You must understand that retail business ask your id for the business but also your safety. A person can easily steal your card information through gas station pumps, bank doors that required a card to go in or simply the internet and use your card for a month straight untill you notice. And then you know what is the business right to not take blame for that since the customert refused to show his id saying that was against the law. Think about the whole picture just because it never happen to you doenst mean it never will.
Comment by Al — Mar 7th 2010 @ 4:51 pm