Is it legal for merchants to store the full credit card numbers on THEIR receipts?
Aug.30, 2008 in
Other - Business & Finance
Ken asked:
I checked some sites including:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt007.shtm
It states that
“According to the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), the electronically printed credit and debit card receipts YOU GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS must shorten — or truncate — the account information.”
I checked some sites including:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/alerts/alt007.shtm
It states that
“According to the federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA), the electronically printed credit and debit card receipts YOU GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS must shorten — or truncate — the account information.”
And this:
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=97&sid=1209732
And this:
http://www.merchantequip.com/information-center/articles/credit-card-truncation/
They only state the receipt given to the customer can’t show the full number, and it is legal for the merchant to obtain the copy with the full number.
I’m asking because I’ve seen some post about this, but they don’t specify merchant or customer copy has the full number.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:21 am
the merchant copy has the full number in case there is a reason to question the sale. say your card is stolen and used. without the full number on the receipt, how can the 100% know it was your stolen card that was used?
having owned a small business and having faced this situation, had we not had the full number, we could never have helped the person whose card was stolen.
a business CAN ask their credit card company to program their scanner to print only partial number on ALL receipts. alot of business do it that way. eventually, we did have ours programed that way, but it was very helpful in that one instance to have the full number.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:38 am
Yes it is legal, they have the information electronically stored as well so it doesn’t make any difference.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I had an FBI agent come to my work place and give a lecture on identity theft, what he said was that stores using the old credit card transaction machinery result in giving the full credit card number however the newer ones do not.
He said the way you can counteract this is by scratching with your pen all the numbers on the receipt the store gets back except the last four numbers.
The first time I did this I felt like I was doing something illegal however no one questioned me and now it is a little easier to do it.
I’ve noticed the old convience stores owned by ma and pop franchises uses the old machinery the newer stores much less do you have this problem.
I hope this helps.