Reswiping Credit cards
Look at the screen of the machine that swipes your Credit card. After the card is swiped, and a transaction amount is entered, the swipe machine connects to the card’s processing centre and verifies the details acquired on swiping the card
After swiping it verifies the credit limits and approves the transaction. Once an approval process is completed, the transaction is updated to your account and the printer gets activated to print receipt.
This process is automatic for almost all swiping machines. If a print receipt is not generated after an approval, you have to assume that the transaction has been taken into your account, but perhaps the printer is faulty.
What happens if the transaction stops
If the processing of the transaction stalls on contact with the processing centre before the approval process is completed, the problem is in the reading of the magnetic tape of the credit card, and the merchant has to swipe it again. You should understand that multiple swipes before approval are harmless.
Be Alert
Always watch the process to understand how far the transaction proceeded.
Verify your statements
It is very important to Verify your account statement when you get it periodically for duplicate transactions, though it is more painful to reverse them after that stage. You can call the card’s customer care number right at the merchant establishment, ask for the last transaction detail and get the agent to confirm to the merchant that the transaction has been put through.
Recommended Read :
- Methods to find The Best Credit Card
- What is a Credit Card?
- Who are Credit Card is suers?
- Who is a Credit Card Merchant?
- Secrets Behind Credit Card Numbers
- How does a Credit Card work?
- How to Compare & Find the best Credit Card?
- Use Credit Cards wisely - Avoid Heavy Debts
- Alert!! - Reswiping Credit Cards by Merchants
- Beware of Credit Card Thefts
- What are Credit Cards and Loans?
- Importance of Prompt Credit Card Payments
It is always better to keep your card in better condition to avoid the need of reswiping the card at merchant outlets. In majority of cases, the need of reswiping arises due to damaged magnetic tape behind the card. Keep your card safely so that magnetic tape doesn’t get damaged. If the need arises due to fault in swipe machine, you should be careful. Before you allow merchant for re-swiping, check message on the registered mobile number to if the transaction has been done or not.
A number of times, while at a store, we use our credit cards for making payments and sometimes the card doesn’t seem to work. It is generally either because of the machine’s connection problem or because of some fault in the card. No matter what the problem is, people should be very careful when it comes to swiping or re-swiping their credit cards. Also, one should always enable the email and SMS alerts of the transactions.
I was looking for few more details regarding the threats. Its necessary to differentiate between issues with the credit card and issues with the machine. Many times the swipe machine screen just shows processing but the transaction never gets completed. Many times the money is debited but the order is not complete. So overall, I found the article incomplete. Hope to get more information about day to day issues people face.
The article gives a glimpse, of what may be the cause of the re-swiping the card but it does not properly describes as to what a person should notice, to determine if there is something wrong. After reading the heading , i expected i would come to know about what could happen after re-swiping, as if some information may be leaked or something like that. But it was not mentioned here. Nevertheless, this article was not as satisfactory but was the one worth reading for one’s safety .
I never knew this reswiping the credit cards may lead to difficult procedures. I always thought it as a technical error generated and it wouldn’t give any loss to my account, but now I am aware of it. So it is a very necessary thing to know about card swiping for purchasing things. At times there may be technical errors so at that time try to prevent using cards. It could even block your account due at accessing it multiple times. And the most important thing do not share your pain with anyone and always be alert while using the card and be sure you get a printed receipt.
Reswiping a credit card can be due to a number of reasons like the problem with the magnetic strip on the card, error in processing or the machine not working. Many banks have initiated the SMS facility wherin the cardholder is informed of the said amount being credited from his account therby reducing negligence. But in the absence of such service the customer should be made aware by the bank for the steps to be taken to prevent double payment.