[pbreit]

I think it was just a convention and made people feel better about having entered the form correctly. It makes sense to tell a merchant what type of card you are using even though someone "in the know" might know that it can be sussed from the digits.

Most payment gateways still require it even though it's probably superfluous.

I've also wondered why forms ask for name on card even though I'm pretty sure it's not checked by most/all processors and would never lead to a decline. Worse is that hardly any merchants pre-fill it if they've already collected your name.

[ilamont]

Many years ago, I worked on an online donations form that did not ask this (wasn't a requirement). But soon after launch, users asked if the form was broken or missing some important part, so we added it to make them feel more at ease.

[joevandyk]

The name on the billing address is handy if you need to contact the person making the purchase.

[pbreit]

Well, then you'd need to ask for their email or phone which I've never seen.

[joevandyk]

most online purchases ask for the person's email address.

Also, you've never shopped at Amazon? They ask for the phone number for the billing address. https://www.monosnap.com/image/4QZmCDNdlsqei8BLIsjw6Z3q00tml...

[pbreit]

I was referring to when merchants ask for the name on your credit card. I can't recall that ever being accompanied by email or phone. Here's Amazon's form: http://imgur.com/Azd1VKZ