Discover Will No Longer Require Cardholder Signatures on In-Person Purchases

Discover is getting rid of the need to sign on the dotted line after making a purchase. Beginning in April 2018, Discover will no longer require cardholder signatures at the point of sale for all credit and debit transactions across its card network. The new signature-free purchase option is valid for transactions made in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

"As the payments industry continues to evolve and introduce new methods of transacting, we're making sure that Discover is providing customers and merchants with a smooth and more secure payments experience," said Jasma Ghai, vice president of Global Products Innovation at Discover. "With the rise in new payment security capabilities, like chip technology and tokenization, the time is right to remove this step from the checkout experience."

Although the signature part of the in-person transaction is being removed from the process, Discover is assuring customers that security won't be compromised. The Discover security network already uses digital authentication technologies such as tokenization, multi-factor authentication and biometrics, which the company says are more secure than a traditional signature. Plus, not requiring a signature makes the process quicker and more seamless for the customer.

Discover isn't the first company to have its cards move to a signature-free model. In October, Mastercard announced that as of April 2018 — the same month Discover will phase signatures out — it will also no longer require signatures from cardholders on in-person transactions in the US and Canada.

Overall, this change from Discover is a positive one, which could speed up the process for cardholders at checkout. Just this week, Discover caught some heat for removing five benefits from all of its cards as of February 28, 2018 — Extended Product Warranty, Return Guarantee, Purchase Protection, Auto Rental Insurance and Flight Accident Insurance.