Customers of popular electronics retailer PC Richard & Son have filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging it violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), a set of federal laws put in place to protect consumers from fraud and identity theft. According to the PC Richard FACTA lawsuit, the retailer may have printed receipts that violate FACTA regulations.

The PC Richard FACTA lawsuit claims that the company printed countless customer debit and credit card receipts that included their card’s expiration date information, violating FACTA and placing consumers’ accounts at risk.

It is simple enough to check for FACTA violations on your debit and credit card receipts. Simply check to see if your card’s expiration date is printed anywhere on the receipt. These often appear in the MM/YY format. If you see a FACTA violation on a receipt from PC Richard & Son printed before August 2016, you may be able to join a free class action PC Richard FACTA investigation.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

The identity protection rules detailed by FACTA, or the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, were initially passed in 2003, and have been in full force since 2006. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act has two main specifications.

First, the target of this class action PC Richard FACTA lawsuit: the expiration date. FACTA prohibits a business like PC Richard & Son from including a debit or credit card’s expiration date on an in-store, electronically-printed receipt.

Expiration dates are displayed in a MM/YY format, indicating the month and year (i.e. 05/17 for May 2017). No part of the expiration date may be displayed on a receipt, so many companies choose to censor expiration dates using asterisks, like this: **/**.

Secondly, companies are required to censor the credit or debit card number. Unlike expiration dates, companies are allowed to display a portion of a credit card number on receipts.

Requirements for censoring a card number are very specific: only the last five digits or fewer of a debit or credit card’s sixteen-digit number may be displayed. Many companies choose to censor all but the last four digits of a card number to ensure FACTA compliance, since card numbers come in four-digit segments.

These are examples of how a company might properly truncate card numbers on receipts:

**** **** ***1 2345

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

The following, however, violates FACTA rules because the numbers shown (though five or fewer) are not from the last five digits:

1234 5*** **** ****

Note that these FACTA rules are intended only for electronically-printed receipts. If a company handwrites their receipts or uses a carbon paper imprint, FACTA rules do not apply, though the vast majority of receipts are now printed electronically.

Joining a PC Richard FACTA Lawsuit

In many cases, including this PC Richard FACTA lawsuit, one machine that does not comply with FACTA law can affect hundreds or even thousands of customers at one time. If you notice a FACTA violation on your own receipt, reporting it can help many others as well.

If you shop at PC Richard & Son and believe the company has violated FACTA rules by printing your card’s expiration date, you may be able to join a class action PC Richard FACTA investigation. If a receipt from another company shows an expiration date or a portion of your card number not allowed by FACTA, you may be able to file your own FACTA lawsuit. Keep any receipts you believe may have violated FACTA rules.

Free P.C. Richard & Son FACTA Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you have received a paper customer receipt from any P.C. Richard & Son store with your personal credit card or debit card expiration date printed on the receipt, you may be eligible to join a free FACTA debit/credit card receipt class action lawsuit investigation.

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