What Information Can Be Displayed on a Credit Card Receipt?

Numbers on a credit card receipt are a “golden ticket” for fraudsters and identity thieves.

So, in response to the rise of identity theft and related crimes, Congress enacted the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (FACTA), which sets a national standard requiring truncation of credit card receipt information.

According to FACTA, credit and debit card receipts cannot include more than the last five digits of the card number and the card’s expiration date cannot be printed or displayed on your credit card or debit card receipts.

FACTA and Credit Card Receipt Transactions

In order to comply with FACTA, merchants who use electronically printed transaction receipts must shorten or truncate this information on a customer’s debit or credit card receipt. A printed credit card receipt may include no more than the last five digits of the card number, and the card’s expiration date must not be displayed.

For example, a credit card receipt that truncates the cardholder’s number and deletes the expiration date could look like this:

ACCT: ***********12345
EXP: ****

FACTA Compliance Requirements

While Congress passed this provision in December 2003, it was phased in gradually, requiring merchants with newer electronic card processing machines to comply by December 2004.

Merchants with older machines were given until December 1, 2006. So now all companies that electronically print credit or debit card receipts must truncate the information on the copy they give their customers.

The only express exception to the FACTA credit card receipt rules are where the sole means of recording a credit or debit card number is by handwriting or by an imprint or copy of the card.

Any merchant that continues to print non-FACTA compliant credit or debit card receipts and that means truncating the credit card number and leaving off the expiration date, could be subject to enormous statutory damages for willful violation of FACTA.

The danger of such a violation being willful is now heightened as a result of the publicity surrounding FACTA lawsuits and the passage of this new law.

FACTA Lawsuits

FACTA prohibits the printing of more than five digits of a credit or debit card number or the expiration date on receipts provided to a customer.

However, many merchants have failed to comply with FACTA and consumers have filed hundreds of lawsuits against merchants who allegedly printed an incorrectly truncated account number and the expiration dates on receipts, arguing that those merchants “willfully” violated FACTA.

Violating FACTA carries a statutory penalty of between $100 and $1,000 for each willful FACTA violation made.

If you were provided an electronically printed debit or credit card receipt at the point of sale or transaction on which the expiration date or number of your credit or debit card was printed, you may be eligible to file a FACTA lawsuit.

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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