These Credit Card Receipt Laws Help Prevent Identity Theft

There are credit card receipt laws that restrict the information that can be printed on your receipts. Knowing these rules can help protect you and thousands of others from identity theft.

FACTA Basics

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act, otherwise known as FACTA, is a set of credit card receipt laws put in place to protect consumers’ accounts from fraud and identity theft.

The credit card receipt laws that go into FACTA are actually fairly simple and easy to remember. However, most consumers do not know the specifics of credit card receipt laws, and because of this, cannot help enforce these laws to protect their own information.

Problems with identity theft and fraud are a growing concern across the country, and even if it is stopped quickly, it can be extremely complicated and harmful for consumers. These credit card receipt laws are meant to add another layer of protection for consumers.

FACTA was first passed back in 2003. Its credit card receipt laws have been in full effect since 2006.

FACTA Credit Card Receipt Laws

There are two significant sets of rules that make up the credit card receipt laws of FACTA. Both of these rules deal with the truncation (shortening or censoring) of information.

According to FACTA credit card receipt laws, only the last five digits of a consumer’s credit or debit card number may be displayed on receipts. The rest of the digits must be censored. This is often done with asterisks, like this:

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

Fewer than five digits may be displayed, as long as those digits are in the last five spaces. Since credit card numbers are divided into 4-digit segments, many businesses choose to censor everything but the last four digits, like this:

**** **** **** 1234

Given these rules, a receipt cannot display digits from elsewhere in the card number, even if it’s five or fewer. So this is not allowed:

1234 **** **** ****

Furthermore, FACTA requires that no portion of a card’s expiration date be printed on a receipt. All of the numbers in a card’s expiration date must be censored.

Any machine-printed receipts are subject to these FACTA identity protection rules. This applies to most receipts, as very few businesses still use hand-written receipts.

If these credit card receipt laws are not followed exactly, businesses have committed a FACTA violation that can be heavily penalized. A single violation can expose a business to up to $1,000 in statutory damages. The liability for a single violation might not be significant for a large corporation, but one machine that does not comply with FACTA law can affect hundreds or even thousands of customers at one time.

Large businesses that have printed thousands of FACTA non-compliant receipts may be subject to large fines. This means that reporting a violation of credit card receipt laws can help not just you, but hundreds or even thousands of other consumers as well.

FACTA Lawsuits

Proving that a business violated FACTA credit card receipt laws is fairly simple. Take note of whether or not your receipts follow regulations for both card numbers and expiration dates. If they do not, then you may file a FACTA lawsuit against the business at fault.

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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