On June 17th, Mastercard announced ‘True Name‘. The press release states this is a card, but actually it’s a process that card issuers can opt into that allows people to change the name on their credit, debit or prepaid card to reflect their true identity. Mastercard describes this as follows:
‘We are working with partners to create a product, as well as a sensitive and private process free of personal questions, that will allow for true names, not deadnames, to appear on cards without the requirement of a legal name change. This will ease a major pain point for the transgender and non-binary community.’
Personally I’m all for this, but would rather it happen on the ID level as well otherwise it could lead to situations where a merchant asks to see ID to verify the card identity and then that’s not possible. Before leaving a comment, remember that if you don’t have anything nice to say it’s better to say nothing at all.
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Good ol' LGBTBBQ making complex things about simple things.
Ask any recently married woman: The process of changing your name sucks. You're not special.
It's a good thing that this can be used for recently married women as well then =)
For the record, my legal name on birth certificate doesn't match the name I go by. My Parents never had it legally changed when they got married. I just assumed my stepfather's last name for use in all things and had no idea until I turned 18. Now mid in the 40's I never felt the need to legally change it, as I had already built up a life and credit etc. under my assumed name.
So I don't know how difficult it truly is to legally change it, as in getting married or for just personal reasons. But if I was able to live with two different last names all my life, and still get a job and credit. There must be a way.
This feature IMO seems like it will just muck up the whole ID fraud verification process, and allow for more ease of abuse by those individuals.
Honestly, the "check ID matches name on card" always had issues/edge cases. I've seen accounts under custody who didn't display the custodian's name on the card even though the custodian was the only one authorized the charge the card.
I can also imagine a situation where a business owner has one card and employees are authorized to use it on a case-by-case basis.
My mom was once issued a card that has her maiden name on it for some reason even though she had been married for over 30 years at that point.
What concerns me is fraud. Picture all the problems that occurred when people got to change their caller id, then make it worse.
I was a bit nervous to read the comments after finding out what the launch was all about, but I was honestly pleasantly surprised at the almost universally positive feedback. This is a great community.
True names reminds me of Wise Man's Fear. Here's a good section.
Suddenly, years later, I was that feral boy again. I jerked my head back and snarled inside my mind.I felt something deep inside myself. I reached for it.A tense stillness settled inside of me, the sort of silence that comes before a thunderclap. I felt theair begin to crystallize around me.I felt cold. Detachedly, I gathered up the pieces of my mind and fit them all together. I was Kvothethe trouper, Edema Ruh born. I was Kvothe the student, Re’lar under Elodin. I was Kvothe themusician. I was Kvothe.I stood above Felurian.I felt as if this was the only time in my life I had been fully awake. Everything looked clear andsharp, as if I was seeing with a new set of eyes. As if I wasn’t bothering with my eyes at all, and waslooking at the world directly with my mind.The sleeping mind, some piece of me realized faintly. No longer sleeping, I thought and smiled.I looked at Felurian, and in that moment I understood her down to the bottoms of her feet. She wasof the Fae. She did not worry over right or wrong. She was a creature of pure desire, much like achild. A child does not concern itself with consequence, neither does a sudden storm. Felurianresembled both, and neither. She was ancient and innocent and powerful and proud.Was this the way Elodin saw the world? Was this the magic he spoke of? Not secrets or tricks, butTaborlin the Great magic. Always there, but beyond my seeing until now?It was beautiful.I met Felurian’s eyes and the world grew slow and sluggish. I felt as if I had been thrust underwater,as if my breath had been pressed from my body. For that tiny moment I was stunned and numb as if Ihad been struck by lightning.The moment passed and things began to move again. But now, looking into Felurian’s twilighteyes, I understood her far beyond the bottoms of her feet. Now I knew her to the marrow of herbones. Her eyes were like four lines of music, clearly penned. My mind was filled with the suddensong of her. I drew a breath and sang it out in four hard notes.Felurian sat upright. She passed her hand before her eyes and spoke a word as sharp as shatteredglass. There was a pain like thunder in my head. Darkness flickered at the edges of my sight. I tastedblood and bitter rue.The world snapped back into focus, and I caught myself before I fell.Felurian frowned. Straightened. Stood. Her face intent, she took a step.Standing, she was not tall or terrible. Her head was barely level with my chin. Her dark hair hung, asheaf of shadow, straight as a knife until it brushed against her curving hip. She was slight, and pale,and perfect. Never have I seen a face so sweet, a mouth so made for kissing. She was no longerfrowning. Not smiling either. Her lips were soft and slightly parted.She took another step. The simple motion of her moving leg was like a dance, the unexaggeratedshifting of her hip entrancing as a fire. The arch of her bare foot said more of sex than anything I’d
seen in my young life.Another step. Her smile was fierce and full. She was as lovely as the moon. Her power hung abouther like a mantle. It shook the air. It spread behind her like a pair of vast and unseen wings.Close enough to touch, I felt her power thrumming in the air. Desire rose around me like the sea instorm. She raised her hand. She touched my chest. I shook.She met my eyes, and in the twilight written there I saw again the four clear lines of song.I sang them out. They burst from me like birds into the open air.Suddenly my mind was clear again. I drew a breath and held her eyes in mine. I sang again, and thistime I was full of rage. I shouted out the four hard notes of song. I sang them tight and white and hardas iron. And at the sound of them, I felt her power shake then shatter, leaving nothing in the empty airbut ache and anger.Felurian gave a startled cry and sat so suddenly that it was almost like a fall. She curled her kneestoward herself and huddled, watching me with wide and frightened eyes.Looking around, I saw the wind. Not the way you might see smoke or fog, I saw the ever-changingwind itself. It was familiar as the face of a forgotten friend. I laughed and spread my arms, marvelingat its shifting shape.I cupped my hands and breathed a sigh into the hollow space within. I spoke a name. I moved myhands and wove my breath gossamer-thin. It billowed out, engulfing her, then burst into a silver flamethat trapped her tight inside its changing name.I held her there above the ground. She watched me with an air of fear and disbelief, her dark hairdancing like a second flame inside the first.I knew then that I could kill her. It would be as simple as throwing a sheet of paper to the wind. Butthe thought sickened me, and I was reminded of ripping the wings from a butterfly. Killing her wouldbe destroying something strange and wonderful. A world without Felurian was a poorer world. Aworld I would like a little less. It would be like breaking Illien’s lute. It would be like burning down alibrary in addition to ending a life.On the other hand, my safety and sanity were at stake. I believed the world was more interestingwith Kvothe in it as well.But I couldn’t kill her. Not like this. Not wielding my newfound magic like a dissecting knife.I spoke again, and the wind brought her down among the pillows. I made a tearing motion and thesilver flame that once had been my breath became three notes of broken song and went to play amongthe trees.I sat. She reclined. We looked each other over for several long minutes. Her eyes flashed from fearto caution to curiosity. I saw myself reflected in her eyes, naked among the cushions. My power rodelike a white star on my brow.Then I began to feel a fading. A forgetting. I realized the name of the wind no longer filled mymouth, and when I looked around I saw nothing but empty air. I tried to remain outwardly calm, but asthese things left me I felt like a lute whose strings were being cut. My heart clenched with a loss Ihadn’t felt since my parents died.I could see a slight shimmer in the air around Felurian, some shred of her power returning. Iignored it as I struggled frantically to keep some part of what I had learned. But it was like trying tohold a handful of sand. If you have ever dreamed of flying, then come awake, dismayed to realize youhad lost the trick of it, you have some inkling how I felt.Piece by piece it faded until there was nothing left. I felt hollow inside and ached as badly as if I’ddiscovered my family never loved me. I swallowed against the lump in my throat.Felurian looked at me curiously. I could still see myself reflected in her eyes, the star on myforehead no more than a pinprick of light. Then even the perfect vision of my sleeping mind began to
fade. I looked desperately at the world around me. I tried to memorize the sight of it, unblinking.Then it was gone. I bowed my head, half in grief and half to hide the tears.
I am totally serious when I say I'm putting "Thrall The Destroyer" on my card.
Nothing will make me happier
I wonder what Mastercard will do when cardmembers get ID checked and can't produce an ID that matches whatever name they choose for their credit cards...
How often is this even needed? Most individuals having a new gender selected for them are too young to have a credit card.
New gender SELECTED FOR THEM?????
Sure. You read the stories about a kid being "misgendered" in the kindergarten playground, as if pronoun use is the crime of the century. What is really the crime of the century is adults decreeing that a young child should be surgically mutilated, just because that's the politically correct thing to do.
Geez, get your facts straight, young children are not being "surgically mutilated," or otherwise undergoing surgical procedures on their genitals. Do you actually believe this?
What does that have to do with the true name on a credit card? What you're saying is a whole different issue and not what this Mastercard program is for.
The point is that many designated reassignees are way too young to have a credit card. It makes you think.
There were over 3,000 surgeries for adults in the most recent report for 2016 alone. Those are just the ones that got surgery, doesn't count the many more that identify as the opposite gender. Those are who this program is directed toward.
Good luck with this at the US post office. I've waited for 15 min in line with one credit card (unsigned back) in tow, and was rejected because cc was unsigned. Had I scribbled ANYTHING on the back 15 seconds earlier it would have been accepted, the clerk said they don't reject if the signature doesn't "match" your ID (because of subjective that is). Totally ridiculous. I pointed out the absurdity, and asked if I could sign, but the clerk was like the Soup Nazi and told me they would not accept the card period.
I highly doubt the USPS would accept a different name than what's on your government ID, because that's the point of ID, to IDENTIFY you. If your legal name is not good for you then it should probably be changed? I mean otherwise why have any name on the card? Probably should get rid of names on card and use more robust passwords or PINs anyway? Or better yet, cold hard cash so the Gmt can't track you as easily.
my local post offices will just hand you a pen and have you sign it if it's not already signed...
I got hit with the no signature issue once. The reason was is that it prints right on the card that it's not valid unless signed. Hard to argue that. :)
I think the post office just checks for a signature on credit cards. For debit cards they just have you enter your pin.