The Reasonable and Exact Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) tells merchants what they can write on sales receipts and what they can’t write on them. It is important to know how this law protects customers from identity theft and scams and what your rights are as a customer under FACTA.
If a consumer gets hurt because a business didn’t follow FACTA, they might have a reason to sue.
What exactly is FACTA?
As a change to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Fair and Precision Credit Payment Act was signed into law in 2003 and has been in full effect since 2006. The main goal of the law is to make sure that consumers’ credit history and records are more accurate. Certain parts of FACTA are meant to stop fraudsters from using a consumer’s credit lines and to reduce identity theft.
How does truncation work?
One manner this law protects consumers from theft is by requiring retailers to print credit or debit card receipts in a way that tries to hide important information, like the expiration date and most of the digit numbers of the card number.
Basically, deletion is the process of shortening or censoring information. Often, asterisks or other symbols are used to show that a digit is there without showing it. FACTA says that companies have to cut off certain parts of receipts in a certain way. This is to make sure that enough information is cut off to protect consumers.
Why is truncation essential for credit card numbers?
The process of truncation is important to protect the credit or debit card details of the consumer. By cutting off the number or replacing it with symbols, a would-be cyber criminal or fraudster won’t be able to use the receipt. This is why your card number might look something such as ****-****-****-1234 on your receipt.
What are the laws concerning credit card truncation?
FACTA says that only the final five digits of a credit or debit card amount can appear on a receipt, but a business can cut the number even shorter if they want to. Usually, businesses only show the last four digits of a credit card number. It is against the rules to show any numbers other than the last five.
FACTA also says that no part of a credit card’s expiration date can be displayed on a receipt. This is in addition to the requirement that credit card numbers must be cut off. Often, the date of expiration is shown as **/**** or nothing at all.
Is a shortest credit card receipt safe?
Most of the time, you don’t need to worry if you lose a credit card receipt. Identity thieves and fraudsters can still steal their information and try to scam them. Even the card number’s few visible digits could be used for phishing.
If you get a credit card receipt with more than the last five digits of your card number or any part of the expiration date, you may be more at risk. Thieves could use this financial information about you to steal your identity or do other bad things. They might be able to open credit lines in your name or buy a lot of things with your card.
Read more: How do e-receipts help businesses?
