Abstract: A method for personalizing flat supports by embossing, characterized by comprising the following stages: withdrawing a card to be personalized from a holder, transferring the card into an embossing station in which a bar code is embossed corresponding to data to be personalized, transferring the embossed card to a bar code reading station, and verifying that the bar code data read in the reading station corresponds to the bar code data memorized in a control unit. If the bar code and memorized data does not correspond then the card is eliminated, while if the data does correspond, the card is returned to the embossing station for completing the embossing cycle by embossing the card with alphanumeric characters corresponding to the bar code characters.