What is a FACTA Violation?

Many consumers may be unaware that federal law limits the amount of debit and credit card information that a merchant can print on a sales receipt.

If a company or merchant does not follow the rules laid out by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), they could be in for a big financial penalty.

What is FACTA?

FACTA
was written into law in 2003 as part of a federal campaign to crack down on identity theft and strengthen consumers’ financial safety. The law prohibits merchants from showing a whole credit or debit card number on an electronically processed sales transaction.

Companies must ensure that point-of-sales machines, invoice systems, and sales terminals truncate a consumer’s debit and credit card number so that the receipt does not reveal more than the last five digits of the card. The consumer’s receipt must also not include the full expiration date.

What Counts as a FACTA Violation?

FACTA only applies to a customer’s copy of a debit or credit card receipt, not the merchant’s copy. Some state laws add on to FACTA, though, and also mandate that the merchant’s copy shorten the credit and debit card number.

The FACTA rules do have some leeway, like the exception saying that manually imprinted or handwritten receipts that are used to process a debit or credit card transaction later on are not required to truncate the card number.

In general, though, all credit and debit card receipts printed electronically by a cash register, kiosk, or by other means must not show more than the last five digits of the consumer’s debit or credit card number and must not feature the expiration date. To do otherwise is a violation of FACTA.

If your debit or credit card receipt features the following, then the merchant who printed the receipt may have violated FACTA rules:

• Example 1: EXP: 03/17
• Example 2: EXP: 03/2017
• Example 3: 11** **** **** 4444
• Example 4: **** **** **33 ****

Notice that the in the last example a merchant would still be in violation of FACTA even though only two numbers of the debit or credit card are shown. If the numbers printed are not the last five numbers of the card, it is a violation of FACTA.

The examples above give just a small glimpse into how easily credit and debit card information can be compromised. If you believe your card information was compromised by a merchant who violated FACTA rules, you may be eligible to join a FACTA class action 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.

Get Started