“May I See Your ID”? “No, You May Not.”
The last time you made a purchase with your credit card, were you asked to show your ID? If so, the merchant you bought from may have been violating their contract with Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. According to most contractual agreements between merchants and credit card companies, all a cashier is supposed to verify is the signature on the back of your credit card. Once they’ve compared that signature to the one you wrote down to complete the sale, no further ID should be requested.
Of course, most merchants ask for ID anyway. That’s because most employees and managers don’t realize that they’re not supposed to. Minimum purchase amounts are also a no-no according to most written agreements, but many merchants have a lower limit on how much you can purchase with a credit card. It’s a practical way to make sure they don’t lose money on card processing fees.
What can be done about minimum purchases and ID requirements? Not much, really. It doesn’t make sense to harass a merchant for trying to ensure the security and profitability of a transaction. File this one under interesting trivia rather than reasons to protest.
