Credit Card Receipt Rule Violations
December 24, 2007
A class action suit is being sought against a little-known credit card receipt rule. The rule was established to help consumers prevent identity theft. Violations of this rule have brought about 300 class action lawsuits nationwide.
At issue are claims that merchants are failing to remove both the expiration date and sufficient digits of the credit card number on receipts they give back to customers.
Attorneys working on the case are trying to have the lawsuits certified as class action suits, which would potentially open up restaurants and various types of stores to thousands or even millions of dollars in liability. The current claims are filed under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA. Congress enacted FACTA in 2003 to help address identity theft and credit card fraud.
Under a particular section of the law, businesses are required to shorten credit card information on receipts that they give back to customers. This is the main reason why merchants no longer print out receipts containing all 16 digits of a credit card number. The law states that they must limit the digits to five and that they must remove the credit card expiration date from receipts.
Attorneys estimate that thousands of merchants are still using the older models of credit card processing machines which do not conform to the new law. These merchants are probably in violation of the law and as such might be held liable in the class action suit.
Businesses that do not comply with FACTA’s credit card rule can be liable for statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per consumer if the noncompliance is willful