Laws about AVS check in Texas?

[trodas]

Guys, this might sounds weird (who cares about laws, we did not agreed to abide by them anyway, right?), but I would actually need to know some informations about internet shops and AVS (Address Verification Check) check when making a credit card purchase.Are in Texas, USA, required AVS check by the merchants? Or are there higher, federal law in existance, that require this, for example?I did not care much what the practical application is (eg. if this is law, that is not respected much), I just would like to know, if there is a law, what it is and where can I read/get a copy of it.It would be a big help, if someone can point me at least where to look, if not provide the exact data :)Thanks a bunch!

[trodas]

I seems to vaguely remember, that some additional security measures considering the AVS check was made around the George Walker Bush era, or I'm wrong?

It is not about me and credit card being in from USA, Texas mechant. It is about knowing, if there are the checks in place. Some sites seems to suggest that they are:

http://www.web-merchant.co.uk/avs.asp

"The Address Verification Service (AVS) enables the address, including postcode, entered by the shopper to be compared against the UK card issuer's records..."

"To use the AVS verification service the address entered by shopper must be their billing address (the address where the shopper's card statement is currently sent). The billing address must match the address held by the Card Issuer exactly."

"In general though that AVS outside the UK, Canada and USA is very limited."

That in short means, that the billing address is compared to the bank records of the credit card holder and if there is not a exact match, then AVS mismatch is reported and transaction it not permited.

https://support.braintreepayments.com/customer/portal/articles/1430406-avs-overview

"Address Verification System (AVS) is a cleverly named system used to (get ready for it!) verify that the address information supplied by a customer for a transaction matches what the cardholder's bank has on file."

"AVS is not consistently supported in many countries outside of the United States."

"If you don't pass a country code, we'll always assume the country is the United States and all of your transactions will have to pass your AVS rules."

http://virtualtrak.blogspot.cz/2007/03/address-verification-system-avs.html

"AVS can provide secure payment gateways by having the merchant verify credit card data, such as billing address and zip code, against the Visa®/Mastercard billing information of the cardholder"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Verification_System

"The Address Verification System (AVS) is a system used to verify the address of a person claiming to own a credit card. The system will check the billing address of the credit card provided by the user with the address on file at the credit card company."

"AVS is widely supported by Visa, MasterCard and American Express in the USA, Canada and United Kingdom."

...

In short, there are plenty of information about Address Verification System purposes, limits and usage, however not a single line about any law or requirment by law I found. You says "requirment by the credit card companies"? Sounds interesting. Where can I get more info for case of Master card, USA, Texas...?

[luminescent]

I don't think there are any laws about it.  I think it's something that the credit card companies are having the merchants do.  The credit card companies either give an incentive to the merchant to do it, or they tell the merchant "you have to do this or you can't use our service."It's for internet and telephone transactions, and it's been around for a long time.  Basically, when you order something online or by phone with a credit card, they ask you for your billing address.  When you buy something in the store, they don't.I think all or almost all merchants in the US are doing it.  I've never come across one that wasn't (although, I don't shop at a wide variety of places.)  I think the reason that the Wikipedia article wasn't very complete is because this system has been around since before the internet.Does that help?