7.5 Signing your credit card

When you get accepted for a credit card, the provider will send you out your card once you have signed the credit agreement.

Your card will come will a blank space on the back ready for you to sign. It is important that you do this as soon as you get the card because if you lose it and it is unsigned, a fraudster could sign it in your name and try to use it to make purchases in shops without Chip and PIN. The number of shops in the UK without Chip and PIN is decreasing as time goes by, however, it is not yet compulsory across the rest of the world so the card could quite easily be used abroad to make purchases by signature.

When you come to sign your card you will need to find a fine balance in how you choose to design your signature so that you can easily replicate it, but not so that it is easy for someone else to replicate.

In time, your signature will likely fade from the back of your credit card so much so that the signature strip will also fade too. This will leave the strip covered in the word ‘void’ and means that you will not be able to sign for purchases anymore because the cashier won’t be able to prove that you are the authorised signatory of the card.

If and when this happens, you will need to order a new credit card from your provider. To do this, you can call them and tell them that your signature has worn off. Be sure to have the answers to your security questions in mind when you call because you will need to prove you are the account holder in order for the provider to send you out a new card.

Back to Guide to Credit Cards Contents

Product Offers
Please ensure that you fully read the terms & conditions of any product or policy before you decide to proceed and are fully aware of the total costs and the benefits and any exclusions or limitations applicable to the product or plan.

Please note that the product links will take you direct to the Issuer or Insurer's site direct and we cannot be held responsible for the information which they provide within their own sites. On some comparison tables we use a star rating which rates products by visitor popularity.