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STATE TRUNCATION LAWS

As identity theft continually grows, Visa and MasterCard have mandated truncation laws to curb the ease of credit card receipts being stolen and used to produce identical cards or for e-commerce transactions.  The following information explains more about these regulations.  By current Visa and MasterCard regulations it is only required for the customers copy of the receipt to be truncated. This means that if you are using a terminal or software program that only truncated the customers receipt, this is still ok.

Visa Account Number Truncation Requirements

Effective July 1, 2003, for all new terminals, and July 1, 2006, for existing terminals, Visa USA mandates that all but the last four digits of the cardholder account number, and the entire expiration date, be suppressed on the cardholder copy of all transaction receipts generated from electronic (including cardholder-activated) terminals.

MasterCard Account Number Truncation Requirements

Effective April 1, 2005, MasterCard requires all cardholder receipts generated by newly installed, replaced, or relocated ATM and point-of-interaction (POI) terminals, whether attended or unattended, must reflect only the last four digits of the primary account number (PAN).  Fill characters such as X, *, or #, must replace all preceding digits.

Federal Legislation

On December 4, 2003, President Bush approved a federal law which preempts existing state laws requiring truncation of account numbers on customer receipts, thereby creating a uniform national standard.  This legislation, called the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, provides (among many other things) that "no person accepting credit cards or debit cards for the transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the cardholder at the point of sale or transaction.” The law governs electronically printed receipts and does not apply to transactions in which the sole means of recording the credit or debit card account number is by handwriting or by an imprint.

Non-compliance Penalties

If your current terminal(s) cannot truncate a card number, you will need to upgrade to meet the privacy protection requirements.

The Visa/MasterCard penalties for failing to truncate are as follows:

  • 1st Violation - $5,000
  • 2nd Violation - $10,000
  • 3rd Violation - $25,000
  • 4th Violation - $50,000
  • Willful or Egregious Violation - $500,000/month

These are just the Visa/MasterCard penalties; there are federal and state penalties that may also be collected.  State penalties vary, but can be up to $10,000 per transaction and can have felony charges associated with them.

State Legislation

The following states require terminals to truncate the card number from the receipt prior to the effective date of federal and card association regulations:

State

Bill#

Current Status of Truncation Regulations

Date New Terminals Must be Compliant

Date Existing Terminals Must be Compliant

State Penalties for Non-compliance
AK HB 65 Law  7/1/2009 7/1/2009  $3,000 
AL No State Law        
AR HB 1269 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2004  

AZ

44-1367 Law 6/1/2002 6/1/2004  

CA

Civil -1747 Law 1/1/2001 1/1/2004  

CO

HB 02-1144 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2004  
CT No State Law        
DC No State Law        
DE SB 11 Bill 1/1/2004 1/1/2005  
FL 1020 Law 7/1/2003 7/1/2005  
GA HB 213 Bill      
HI No State Law        
IA No State Law        
ID HB 134 Law 7/1/2003 01/01/05  
IL HB 259 Bill 01/01/04 01/01/05  
IN No State Law        
KS HB 2676 Law 07/01/03 07/01/04 Unconscionable act KSA 50-267
KY HB 70 Bill 01/01/04 01/01/06 Class D Felony
LA Act 584 Law 01/01/02 01/01/04 Actual damages to Cardholder and Issuer
MA No State Law        
ME LD 1880 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2004 $250 1st/ $1000 subsequent
MD SB 25 Law 10/01/02 01/01/06  
MI 5435 Bill 6/1/2002 6/1/2005 $5000 per day
MN SB 506 Bill 1/1/2004 7/1/2006  
MO SB 292 Bill 1/1/2003 1/1/2005 Class A Misdemeanor
MS No State Law        
MT No State Law        
NE HB 276 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2007 Class III Class I Misdemeanor
NH No State Law        
NV SB 297 Law 10/1/2003 10/1/2003  
NJ S1149 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2004  
NM SB 253 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2004  
NY A5973 Bill 1/1/2002 1/1/2005 $250/$1000
NC HB 357 Bill 1/1/2002 1/1/2005 $250/$1000
ND SB 2037 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2007
OH 250 Law 7/1/2004 7/1/2004 Civil Penalties from Cardholder
OK SB 931 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2007
OR HB 2103 Bill 7/1/2005 7/1/2005 $1,000
PA 348 Bill
RI S 2031 Bill 1/1/2003
SC No State Law        
SD No State Law        
TN No State Law        
TX SB 235 Bill 9/1/2003 1/1/2006
UT SB 6 Law 1/1/2004 1/1/2004 $1000 per incident

VA

SB 140 Law 7/1/2003 7/1/2005 Actual damages + legal costs
VT          
WA HB 2410 Law 7/1/2001 7/1/2004 $1,000 per incident
WV HB 2410 Law 7/1/2001 7/1/2004 $1,000 per incident
WI 365 Bill 1/1/2005 1/1/2005   
WY No State Law      

For additional information, please visit these helpful websites:
Consumers Union
Federal Trade Commission