No Signature Required At A Retailer Near You Visa, MasterCard, Discover, & American Express Eliminate Signature

Effective April 13, 2018, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express will no longer require merchants to obtain signatures at the point-of-sale for credit and debit transactions.

Signatures at the point-of-sale were originally required to validate a match to the customer’s signature on the transaction document. The introduction of token and EMV technology has caused the signature requirement to outlive its purpose. Therefore, the Networks listed above are removing the requirement. 

Terminals will still be required to support signature as the cardholder verification method (CVM). However, because of the removal of the requirement, merchants may choose not to obtain the signature on electronically captured receipts for MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express transactions at the point-of-sale (merchants must continue to collect a signature if required by law). 

Effects Of This Change

• Merchants will be able to focus on their customers and move them through checkout lines more efficiently
• Merchants will no longer be required to compare signatures on the back of the card to the transaction receipt
• Merchants may see a reduction in operating costs if they are currently storing electronically captured signatures or using a draft storage solution to respond to disputes
• Merchants will no longer have to supply the signature to prove “proper disclosure” of the refund policy. However, they will still need to display information

MasterCard Specific Rule Changes

• “Proper Disclosure” of the refund policy on transaction receipt signature requirement has been removed. The refund policy must still be displayed on the transaction receipt to ensure the consumer is aware of the terms and conditions, which may govern in the event of a dispute.
• • Reason Code 4870 (Chip Liability Shift) – The transaction must be card present and must occur at an attended chip terminal that is card read and not key entered. No supporting documentation will be required on the re-presentment.
• • Reason Code 4837 (No Cardholder Authorization) – Issuers right for Arbitration for Invalid Proof of Card Presence and Signature has been eliminated.
• • MasterCard will eliminate the pre-compliance condition for “Failure to Compare Signatures”. Merchants will no longer be subject to pre-compliance or compliance case filings for failure to ensure signatures on transaction receipt match the back of the card.

American Express Specific Rule Changes

• Removal of the word “signature” from the text and allow Merchants to request signatures if they so choose (or by applicable law).

No Chargebacks can be exercised based on failure to obtain a signature. Merchants should provide supporting documentation to assist with acknowledgment of goods/services such as Contact, delivery receipt, etc.

Discover Specific Rule Changes

• Deleted “signature” requirements throughout R18.1 Acquirer Operating Regulations v2.0.
• The deleted signature requirement for Card Sales as well as Cash Advances, Stand-In Authorizations, Signature on the back of the Card.

MCCs (Merchant Category Codes) Excluded from “No Signature Required Programs”:
The following merchant types are excluded from the respective Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express No Signature Required Programs:

The exclusion list does not include Card Not Present MCCs. The list is a combination of all MCCs referenced by Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and STAR to create this table. Each MCC denoted with an ‘X; is specifically documented by that card network as ineligible within their respective No Signature Required program. If space is blank or null, this means that the card network did not specifically call that MCC out, but the criteria referenced within this document may still disqualify the transaction from being eligible. For those with ‘N/A,’ this means this MCC does not exist with this card network.

If you still have questions or would like more information about any of these topics, feel free to reach out to us.  We provide honest, straightforward, unbiased, representation to save you hours of frustration and headaches.  To learn more about how Digital Financial Group can help you and your business, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] or call 623-764-7471.