Visa joins other major US credit card companies in getting rid of signatures

Visa has announced that starting in April, it will get rid of the requirement for signatures on credit card purchases in North America. Now that Visa is on board, all four of the major credit card companies are removing signature requirements. (American Express, Discover, and Mastercard already announced that they’re doing away with signatures as well.)

Like the other companies, Visa claims that the improved security brought about by the recent addition of EMV chips, along with other security improvements, make it so signatures are no longer required.

According to Visa’s post announcing the change, the company is only doing away with signatures for merchants who have switched over to chip readers or completely contactless payments; stores that have yet to upgrade will still need signatures. Additionally, Visa is only making the signature requirement optional. Retailers can still decide to require it if they choose.