Credit card name mismatch because of long name

1/6/2017 2:16:00 AM

I very much doubt that this would ever cause an issue because fields are compared with a maximum length.

However, if you are worried, you might like to get your card issued with just your first initial rather than full first name, which will then fit. My card uses first and middle initials and I have never had an issue with it being accepted in Europe, USA, Taiwan or New Zealand.

1/5/2017 6:20:01 PM

As far as I know airline may want to check my credit card at the
airport.

The airline employees don’t even glance at the card to verify the name. Instead, they swipe the card in a terminal and verify that the card is indeed the one used for booking the ticket. Some cards don’t even have a name printed on them, so confirming the name match would be useless.

Therefore you shouldn’t worry.

1/5/2017 6:10:18 PM

My name is so long that even the initial of my first name plus my last name doesn’t fit on a credit card. It never gives problems when buying tickets.

But there is another interesting case for people with long names. This relates to the TSA checkpoints in the US, and electronic boarding passes.

When I buy a ticket, they say “the name on the ticket must match your government-issued ID”.

Now my government-issued ID has my very long name on it (actually it covers two lines). This cannot work, so the name on the ticket is shortened to

Flor Verylongname Andmore

But even that is too long for the TSA electronic machine, which spits back (from the bar code) that my name is

F VerylongnameAndmo

Then the jobsworth says “I can’t tell if this is you because there is only one letter of your first name”. And I say “well… get your boss”. And then the boss comes, and I get pulled over to the side, and they um and ah, and then I dig up a paper copy of the itinerary from my bag that has my full name, and they go “ah, that’s OK”.

It has happened to me that the piece of paper was actually for a different flight (date) to the same destination.

So they check “because they have to”, not because they really care. And eventually I make it onto the plane.

Flying over 100,000 miles per year you’d have thought it worth my while to change my name.

1/5/2017 1:28:21 PM

In terms of paying with a card where the name isn’t an exact match… I worked with someone who for nearly a year (in the US) was accidentally carrying his spouse’s card… they had different genders (Mr/Mrs), different personal names and he was signing his signature when the card had her name and signature… and no-one noticed. And I regularly pay for purchases for my wife using her card in the UK and Europe and no-one has ever questioned it.

Given my various cards have ‘Mr initial initial surname’ or ‘Mr firstname initial surname’ or ‘firstname surname’… you could ask your credit card company to issue you a card that has your initial and all of your family name only. But I really wouldn’t worry, experience would show it’s likely no-one will even notice that two letters of your surname got truncated.

1/5/2017 7:22:18 AM

You are not the first person to have a name that is too long for the available space on a credit card. As long as the characters on the card line up with the name on the passport, you will be good to go.

The airlines that do check usually are checking the number not the name. The agent will enter the number or part of the number (Thai Airways computers ask the agent to enter the third set of 4 digits only) and the system will verify if the card is correct.

Car rental places often just swipe the card without paying too much attention to the details (they get your personal details from your license).

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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