FACTA Receipt Lawsuit: Too Many Card Digits on Your Receipt

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 added a receipt rule to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under 15 U.S.C. 1681c(g), no business that accepts credit or debit cards may print more than the last 5 digits of the card number, or the expiration date, on a receipt given to the cardholder at the point of sale. The goal is to make a lost or discarded receipt less useful to identity thieves.

Most modern cases involve the same pattern: a point-of-sale system is set up, upgraded, or misconfigured so receipts show the first 6 and last 4 digits of the card. The first 6 digits identify the issuing bank, so the receipt shows 10 of a typical 16 digits. Older cases, mostly before 2008, involved receipts that printed expiration dates.

Plaintiffs usually do not claim anyone stole their identity. They sue for statutory damages, arguing the merchant knew about the rule and ignored it. Merchants typically respond that any mistake was not willful, that no one was harmed, and that the case should be dismissed for lack of standing. A complaint is only an allegation until a court rules.

These are cases we verified in court-linked reporting or settlement filings. None of the defendants admitted wrongdoing.

Company	Case	Status
Tavistock Restaurants	Rocha, Mass. No. 2684CV01765	Filed June 12, 2026; pending
Sprouts Farmers Market	Tran, L.A. Superior No. 22STCV26572	$5M; final hearing Nov. 19, 2026
Trader Joe's	Keim, L.A. Superior No. 19STCV36790	$7.4M; claims closed June 9, 2026
Hibbett Sports, City Gear	Alabama settlement	$6M; claims closed Feb. 8, 2023
Godiva Chocolatier	Muransky, 11th Cir.	$6.3M deal vacated Oct. 28, 2020

Tavistock Restaurants

The June 12, 2026 complaint alleges that Tavistock's upscale restaurants in Massachusetts, including Abe & Louie's, Atlantic Fish, Coach Grill, and Joe's American Bar & Grill, printed the first 6 and last 4 digits on receipts, and that the group also operates in Florida, Georgia, and Nevada. It seeks to represent people nationwide who got such a receipt within 2 years before filing. These are allegations only.

Sprouts Farmers Market

The $5 million settlement covers U.S. customers whose printed receipts showed more than the last 5 digits of a credit or debit card from August 16, 2020 to October 31, 2022, or of an EBT card from March 15, 2021 to April 15, 2023. The settlement agreement estimates about 3,351,078 cards were affected. Payments are pro rata and go out only after final approval.

Trader Joe's

The $7.4 million settlement covers certain card receipts from March 5 to July 19, 2019 that showed the first 6 and last 4 digits. The plaintiff estimated about $102.45 per valid claim. See the Trader Joe's settlement page for dates and payment status.

A compliant receipt shows no more than the last 5 digits of your card and no expiration date; anything more on an electronically printed receipt is a potential FACTA violation.

You may qualify if all of these are true:

• You paid with a credit or debit card (some settlements, like Sprouts, also covered EBT cards).
• You received an electronically printed receipt at the register or table.
• That receipt showed more than the last 5 digits of the card number, or the expiration date.
• The purchase falls within the limitations period described below.

You probably do not qualify if the receipt showed only the last 4 or 5 digits, if it was handwritten or made with a card imprint, or if the transaction is more than 5 years old. The statute limits the rule to receipts that are electronically printed, and it does not apply where the only record of the card number is handwriting or an imprint of the card. Whether emailed or app receipts are covered is a contested question, so do not assume either way.

It helps to know where these receipts tend to show up. Recent cases have involved grocery chains (Trader Joe's, Sprouts), sporting goods stores (Hibbett and City Gear), a chocolate retailer (Godiva), and sit-down restaurant groups (Tavistock). The common thread is a point-of-sale system that was installed, upgraded, or reconfigured without the truncation setting turned on, so every card receipt from that system printed the same extra digits until someone noticed. That is why one bad setting can reach millions of transactions, and why attorneys ask whether other customers got the same receipt. A single receipt from you can be the first clue to a problem affecting a whole chain.

If you are already in a class for a specific store and did not opt out, that settlement resolves your claim against that store for its class period. For how that works, see whether you can be bound by a class settlement.

The statute sounds generous, but class payouts are modest. For a willful FACTA violation, 15 U.S.C. 1681n allows actual damages or statutory damages of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000 per consumer, plus punitive damages the court allows and attorney fees. A negligent violation allows actual damages only, which is why these suits focus on willfulness.

Settlements are negotiated well below the statutory range because of litigation risk. In the Godiva case, the Eleventh Circuit noted the claimed exposure was more than $342 million, yet the parties settled for $6.3 million, with $2.1 million requested for class counsel. Trader Joe's estimated about $102.45 per claimant because relatively few people file. Sprouts payments are pro rata and depend on the claim rate. For why the math works this way, read why payouts are smaller than expected.

No one can promise an amount. If you suffered real fraud traced to a receipt, your actual damages could matter more than the statutory range.

Settlement payments in these cases often do not require you to still have the receipt, because the store's own transaction records identify which cards were affected. Class members are often notified by mail or email when the merchant has contact information, and others can file a claim form attesting to a purchase during the class period. Claim rates in receipt cases are often low, which is why per-claim estimates like Trader Joe's figure can be higher than people expect. Filing is still free and should be done only on the official settlement website named in the notice.

After the Supreme Court's 2016 decision in Spokeo v. Robins, a plaintiff in federal court must show a concrete injury, not just a statutory violation. That has hit FACTA receipt cases hard.

On October 28, 2020, the full Eleventh Circuit held in Muransky v. Godiva Chocolatier that a receipt showing the first 6 and last 4 card digits, without more, did not give the plaintiff standing, and it vacated approval of a $6.3 million class settlement. That ruling binds federal courts in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Other federal appeals courts have reached different results depending on how many digits were printed and what the plaintiff alleged.

Two practical effects follow. First, many new FACTA suits are filed in state courts, which can have looser standing rules. Trader Joe's and Sprouts were both resolved in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Second, complaints now often allege concrete harm, such as time spent monitoring accounts or buying credit monitoring, as the Tavistock complaint does. For background on how class cases move through courts, see how a class action works.

The Godiva ruling is also a reminder that a settlement is not final until appeals end. In that case, the district court had already approved the $6.3 million deal, and objectors appealed. The full Eleventh Circuit then held that the named plaintiff lacked standing, which meant the federal court had no power to approve the settlement at all, and it sent the case back with instructions to dismiss without prejudice. With the approval order vacated, that settlement could not go forward. For consumers, the practical lesson is that where a FACTA case is filed can matter as much as what the receipt shows, and that a case in a circuit with strict standing rules faces more risk.

• The rule, 15 U.S.C. 1681c(g): no more than the last 5 digits and no expiration date on electronically printed point-of-sale receipts.
• Willful violations, 15 U.S.C. 1681n: actual or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, punitive damages, and attorney fees.
• Negligent violations, 15 U.S.C. 1681o: actual damages and attorney fees.
• The 2008 fix for expiration dates: Congress added 15 U.S.C. 1681n(d), which says a business that printed only an expiration date between December 4, 2004 and June 3, 2008, while otherwise truncating the number, was not a willful violator for that reason alone.

Willfulness includes reckless disregard of the law. Plaintiffs often point to card network rules, processor notices, and the long history of FACTA litigation to argue a merchant should have known. Our FACTA explainer walks through the law in more detail, and the FCRA guide covers the broader statute it amends.

Under 15 U.S.C. 1681p, a FACTA suit must be filed by the earlier of 2 years after you discover the violation or 5 years after it happened. Because the receipt is in your hand, courts often treat discovery as the date you got it, so the practical window is frequently 2 years from the purchase. This statute of limitations is why the Tavistock complaint defines its class as receipts within 2 years before filing.

• Sprouts: final approval hearing November 19, 2026. Check the official settlement website for any remaining claim window.
• Trader Joe's: claims, opt-outs, and objections closed June 9, 2026.
• New receipts: the clock starts on each transaction, so keep any receipt showing extra digits now.

Because the deadline to sue can be as short as 2 years from when you discover the violation, act on a bad receipt promptly.

1. Keep the receipt. Do not write on it or throw it away. Photograph both sides.
2. Check your statements for unfamiliar charges, and consider a fraud alert if you see any. Our guide on protecting yourself after exposure of card data lists steps.
3. Look for an existing settlement for that merchant on our open settlements list. If one is open, file only on the official settlement website.
4. Do not sign anything from the merchant that releases claims before you understand it.

If a store or restaurant printed too many digits within the last 2 years, independent attorneys who handle consumer privacy cases may want to see the receipt. A free case review takes about two minutes.