Excess Credit Card Numbers on Receipts are a Violation of FACTA

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, is a federal consumer-rights law that was enacted in 2003 to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970.

The purpose and function of the law is to downgrade the possibilities of identity theft by controlling the way merchants and retailers manage consumer account information.

FACTA sets explicit guidelines that require merchants and retailers to follow that help prevent and safeguard United States consumers from credit card fraud. Such fraud and identify theft can transpire when someone is able to obtain debit or credit card information from a consumer’s purchase receipt and fill in the missing digits, or simply attain such credit card numbers if they are printed fully on receipts.

However, there are a few ways a merchant can break the federal consumer rights law. One is to include any part of the consumer’s credit card expiration date on the receipt. Another way is to include any parts of the  credit card numbers on receipts except for the last 5 digits.

FACTA was specifically enacted to curtail threats of an increasing problem of identity theft. Using the federal consumer rights law, it restrains the extent to which consumer credit card numbers on receipts can be shown and in which is done so, by concealing these numbers using an asterisk, symbolized as *, or the number sign, #. In this way, the consumer’s credit card number is not disclosed.

Some examples of negligent violation of the FACTA, includes anything such as: EXP: 03/17, EXP 03/2017, or EXP 032017, Exp. Date 03/**, and Exp. **/17. Any part of the consumer’s expiration date is prohibited by the FACTA. Credit card and debit card violations include showing any part, except for the last 5 digits of a consumer’s credit card numbers on receipts. Such as: 11* **** ****4444, or **** **** **33 ****.

The specific procedure is called truncation. But it isn’t always done by merchants and retailers. This can lead to identity theft and disclosure of a consumer’s credit card and debit card information.

The federal consumer-rights law, or FACTA, undoubtedly states that, “no person that accepts credit cards to debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of the sale or transaction.”

This law is also applicable to any electronically printed consumer receipt, which can include, anything from restaurant receipts, self-service kiosks, and cash registers.

By law, all United States consumers have the legal right to file a complaint in the case that a merchant or retailer negligently violates the federal consumer protection law, or FACTA.

To verify and prevent credit card fraud or identity theft, it is important to check receipts frequently and verify that the merchant or retailer is not in fact in violation of FACTA by disclosing any part of the expiration date or more than the last 5 numbers of the consumer’s credit card numbers on receipts.

Free FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you made one or more purchases and the retailer provided you with a receipt that contained more than the last five digits of your credit or debit card number or the expiration date, you may be eligible for a free class action lawsuit investigation and to pursue compensation for these FACTA violations.

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