Credit Card Signatures

[socrets]

I tried signing my credit card's back with my Pelikan but after waiting a bit the ink was still wet. My question is it even possible to sign a credit card with a fountain pen? Or am I doomed to use ballpoints whenever I get a renewed credit card?

[inkcoffee]

Ballpoints. How many credit cards do you have?

 

j/k

[Silvermink]

It's possible, but it's usually best to either use a dry-writing pen and/or give the ink a few moments to dry before you hand the slip back.

Edited October 11, 2009 by Silvermink

[ZeissIkon]

It's possible, but it's usually best to either use a dry-writing pen and/or give the ink a few moments to dry before you hand the slip back.

 

I think Socrets was actually asking about the signature strip on the back of the card itself, not the receipt. For that, I'd be quite suprise if a fountain pen ink would last; there's no cellulose involved, so waterproof inks have nothing to bond with, and washable inks will come off the strip in a short time. This is one of the few places where oil-based ballpoint ink is the only viable option (surprising that credit card makers and issuers haven't come up with something that will at least accept rollerball and gel inks -- those would take FP ink too -- but they haven't, AFAIK).

[HLeopold]

I tried signing my credit card's back with my Pelikan but after waiting a bit the ink was still wet. My question is it even possible to sign a credit card with a fountain pen? Or am I doomed to use ballpoints whenever I get a renewed credit card?

 

I signed my Visa with a Parker 51 loaded with Noodlers La Reine Mauve, nearly a year later and it is still looking good. It wrote cleanly with no smearing.

[Nabster]

After I signed mine I held it under a hot light to dry a bit, then took a piece of clear tape and taped over it, no smudges and it wont rub off.

[FrankB]

I have never been able to sign one with a FP. I always use a ball point.

[BillZ]

I use a Sharpie Ultrafine point marker. It's fine enought for the small area and it's waterproof.

[tanesiir]

Unfortunately don't know answer to your question as it is. But if you want little more color selection compared to what ballpoints offer, you could use waterproof pens (fine of xfine tip) meant for overhead transparencies. That's what I do. A felt(?) tip is actually quite convenient for writing on a card strip.

Edited October 11, 2009 by tanesiir

[Sidney]

I use a Sharpie Ultrafine point marker. It's fine enough for the small area and it's waterproof.

+1 for the ultrafine Sharpie

[JohnCruzNg]

You should probably write it something that is not water-soluble. Either a fine permanent marker or a ballpoint would be best since it cannot be easily washed and this would prevent identity theft.

[lapis]

Either a "permanent felt pen" or a BP. On all of my dozens of cards.

Haven't yet met a FP ink which remains unsmudgeable.

 

Mike

[Chris]

Those stupid little strips of skiddy shiny stuff on the back of credic cards infuriate me. They are too narrow. It is quite impossible to sign them without (1) using a horrid splodgy ball pen or a screechy fibre-tip and (2) producing a scribble that is quite unlike my normal signature. It is not helped by the card being small and not flat, so that it inevitable slips partway through signing. What idiot designed them? Grrrahhh!

 

Chris

[richardandtracy]

It's the only thing I use a BP for.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.