If you've been saving paper receipts from credit or debit card purchases, they might be worth serious money. A federal privacy law called FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act) requires businesses to protect your card information on printed receipts by only showing the last five digits of your card number and no expiration date.
Many retailers have violated this law by printing too much information, and now they're facing lawsuits that could pay you $100 to $1,000 per illegal receipt.
1. Understand what FACTA violations look like
FACTA became law in 2003 to prevent identity theft and protect consumer data privacy. The law requires businesses to "truncate" card information on receipts, which means they can only print the last five digits of your card number and must completely hide the expiration date.
A proper receipt should look like this: "ACCT: **** **** *0 1234" with "EXP: ****" or no expiration date shown at all. If your paper receipt shows more than five digits, shows digits that aren't the final five, or displays any part of the expiration date (like "03/17" or even "/**17"), it violates federal law.
These violations apply to credit cards, debit cards, EBT cards, ATM withdrawals, and prepaid card reloads.
2. Check your saved receipts for violation
Dig through your wallet, glove compartment, filing cabinet, or anywhere else you might have saved paper receipts from the past two years. You're looking for receipts printed at the point of sale — receipts sent via email, text, or mail don't count for FACTA violations.
Look at the card number section. Common violations include showing formats like "1111 22** **** 4444" or "**** **** ** 444444" where either too many digits are visible or the visible digits aren't the last five.
Check the expiration date section too. Any format showing part of the date, whether it's "03/17," "Exp Date: 03/31/17," "Date 03/**," or even just "17", constitutes a violation. Even partial information counts.
3. Know how much you could receive
Each receipt that violates FACTA could be worth money to you, and the amounts can add up quickly:
- $100 to $1,000 per receipt depending on whether the violation was willful or negligent.
- Multiple receipts from the same business can each qualify separately — if you shopped regularly at a store printing illegal receipts, you could have dozens of violations.
- Lead plaintiffs may receive up to $20,000 in incentive awards for serving as class representatives in successful cases.
- Receipts must be from the last 2 years to fall within the statute of limitations.
The key is that each individual receipt potentially represents a separate violation. If you have a stack of receipts from the same retailer over several months, each one showing full card numbers or expiration dates, they could all qualify for payment. This is why it's worth digging through old receipts.
4. Submit your receipts to join the lawsuit
If you've found receipts showing FACTA violations, you need to fill out this form to see if you qualify.
Keep your original paper receipts as proof. The form will ask for your contact information, whether you have paper or digital receipts (only paper qualifies), what type of violation your receipt shows, and you'll need to upload a photo or scan of the receipt.
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