FACTA Rules Guard Credit Card Receipt Privacy

With the turn of the millennium, credit card receipt privacy was more important than ever, and FACTA rules were put in place to help guard consumers’ information.

The credit and debit card receipt regulations established through FACTA have helped to protect consumers from both identity theft and fraud since it was first enacted in 2003, but it most effectively functions when people are aware of how to recognize FACTA violations.

FACTA rules are fairly straightforward. Even the simple act of checking your receipts for FACTA violations can help protect not only your own card information, but also the information of hundreds of other customers.

FACTA Background

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, more commonly known as FACTA, is a set of rules that regulate what information can or cannot be printed on a customer’s receipt, helping to protect consumers’ account information. These simple FACTA rules help protect your credit card receipt privacy, keeping important information from being printed and making any potential fraud or identity theft that much less likely.

You may have noticed that some of your credit card information is included on the receipts you receive after a transaction. FACTA regulates how much of this information must be omitted. If a business prints too much of this information, it can expose you to fraud and identity theft. Fraudsters getting hold of this information can be extremely harmful for consumers and complicated to fix, even when the issue is caught quickly.

The credit and debit card receipt rules outlined by FACTA, or the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act were first passed in 2003, and have been in full force since 2006.

FACTA Credit Card Receipt Privacy Rules

FACTA rules require that businesses follow specific truncation (censorship) requirements to censor the credit card information printed on their customers’ receipts and protect their credit card receipt privacy. If these receipt rules are not adequately followed, businesses have committed a FACTA violation that may be heavily penalized.

There are two things that FACTA regulates to help ensure credit card receipt privacy: credit or debit card numbers and the card’s associated expiration date.

FACTA allows no more than the last five digits of a credit or debit card number to be displayed on receipts. The rest of the digits must be censored. Five digits or fewer taken from elsewhere in the card number may not be displayed; only the last five digits are permissible to appear on a receipt:

**** **** ***5 4321

Displaying fewer than five digits is acceptable according to FACTA identity protection rules, provided those numbers are found in the last five digits of a card’s number. Since cards consist of four-digit segments, many companies choose to display only the last four digits of a card number:

**** **** **** 4321

FACTA receipt rules also prohibit businesses from printing any portion of a card’s expiration date at all. This is often reflected with asterisks:

**/**

FACTA Lawsuits Over Violations of Credit Card Receipt Privacy

It is important to take note of whether or not your receipts follow receipt rules for both card numbers and expiration dates. If they do not, then you may be able to file a FACTA lawsuit against the business responsible for violating your credit card receipt privacy.

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.

Get Started