Mastercard Planning True Name Cards for LGBTQIA+ Community

Mastercard planning True Name cards for LGBTQIA+ community

Editorial Note: Intuit Credit Karma receives compensation from third-party advertisers, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions. Our third-party advertisers don’t review, approve or endorse our editorial content. Information about financial products not offered on Credit Karma is collected independently. Our content is accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted.

We think it's important for you to understand how we make money. It's pretty simple, actually. The offers for financial products you see on our platform come from companies who pay us. The money we make helps us give you access to free credit scores and reports and helps us create our other great tools and educational materials.

Compensation may factor into how and where products appear on our platform (and in what order). But since we generally make money when you find an offer you like and get, we try to show you offers we think are a good match for you. That's why we provide features like your Approval Odds and savings estimates.

Of course, the offers on our platform don't represent all financial products out there, but our goal is to show you as many great options as we can.

Imagine a quick trip to the neighborhood grocery store to grab a few essentials, or sitting down to a nice dinner with friends — but then being unable or feeling uncomfortable to pay because the name on your card doesn’t reflect who you are. Mastercard wants to help fix this problem for its LGBTQIA+ customers.

This week Mastercard unveiled plans for True Name™ cards. Working with its partners, Mastercard said it committed to developing a product designed to show customers’ chosen names on their cards without the need for a legal name change — a milestone in the industry.

The application and verification process will depend on the card issuer. Under the proposed True Name program, applicants would be able to choose the name they wanted to display on their card. This could alleviate the discomfort customers might feel when using their cards.

What’s prompting this change?

For many in the LGBTQIA+ community, the name on their debit card, prepaid card or credit card may not reflect their true identity — but instead the name and gender they were assigned at birth. This can cause problems for people when they go to pay with these cards.

According to Mastercard, 32% of those who have provided an ID with a name or gender that didn’t match how they presented have had negative experiences such as being harassed or denied service. The card issuer is hoping to alleviate this problem for its customers.

What happens next?

There’s no definitive word yet on how long the process to implement True Name cards will take or when they might be issued, although an article from The Washington Post says Mastercard plans to have the program in place by 2020.

If you have concerns about how you’re being treated by financial institutions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has resources on how to protect against credit discrimination.

About the author: Paris Ward is a content strategist at Credit Karma, providing readers with the latest news that will aid their financial progress. She has more than a decade of experience as a writer and editor and holds a bachelor’s… Read more.