Credit Card Spending Spree
By: Deedra Wilson
Updated: July 13, 2012
Instead of cash, pull out the plastic, it's quick and easy!
But did you know it's not mandatory that businesses ask for your I-D when you say, charge it?
David Carraum, would like to see change.
"Really I wish they would ask me for additional identification."
Wendy Rooney, said it frightens her.
"It kinds of scares me a little bit. Just because they don't know who I am."
They didn't know who I was either when we hit up three stores in Little Rock.
Not one clerk asked for my I-D.
Two times I swiped the card myself.
Walked out with purchases.
And they don't have to, again, it's not mandatory, but Mike Rohrer with the Better Business Bureau says it should be habit.
"That is what we call a huge red flag they should be looking at that. That should be a store practice that a manager is going to instill or enforce."
What really through us for a loop is when a sales clerk at a local electronic store took the credit card I gave her, Keith Monahan, asked for my I-D, which is a Texas Drivers License, Deedra Wilson.
Compared the two and still allowed me to make a purchase of DVD'S totaling over 60 bucks.
"They are supposed to check on the back of the credit card, you'll see if its not signed. You're supposed to get identification."
These are rules according to Visa and Mastercard.
A business can not ask for I-D to process your transaction.
If a clerk believes the signature on the sales slip does not match the back of your card, they can call the card verification center.
Businesses are required to ask for picture I-D if the signature line is blank, you will be asked to sign on the spot.
Another option to force clerks to ask, "May I see your I-D please?
Write See I-D or Ask For I-D on the back of your card.
So while it's not etched in plastic that clerks double check if the person in front of them is on the up and up, it will only help the company they work for in the long run.
"It would keep them from getting taken."
And make their customers feel grateful.
"When they do go ahead and ask me I generally thank them, because I feel like they're doing their job."
Clerks doing their job, could save businesses and customers a lot of time, money and headache.
