Major credit card companies are joining together to quietly kill one of the most annoying things about shopping in stores

Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

• Visa will no longer require customers to sign receipts at check out.
• MasterCard, Discover, and American Express made similar announcements in late 2017.
• Signatures are no long a necessary safety measure, according to executives.

In 2018, major credit card companies including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express will no longer require customers to sign their receipts when checking out.

Visa, the last holdout of the national companies, announced on Friday that it would also make the signature requirement optional beginning in April 2018.

"We believe making the signature requirement optional for EMV chip-enabled merchants is the responsible next step to enhance security and convenience at the point of sale," Dan Sanford, Visa's vice president of consumer products, said in a company blog post.

MasterCard, Discover, and American Express announced similar plans in 2017.

According to the companies' executives, with the rise of online shopping and new tech like EMV chips in credit cards, signatures have become less necessary as a safety measure.

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