How to Dispose of a Credit Card: 6 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow (2024)

FAQs

How do you properly dispose of a credit card? ›

“We recommend that consumers cut through the EMV chip, then further cut the card a few times along the short side, and dispose of the sections in more than one trash bag,” says Sarah Grano, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association. Or feed plastic cards into a paper shredder designed to handle them.

It's best to cut your card into pieces, making sure to cut through the chip and magnetic strip and put the card in with your normal waste, rather than your recycling. It will still biodegrade more quickly than any other debit card plastic.

To render your expired or damaged debit card unusable, start by cutting it into several pieces. Use a pair of scissors or a sharp object to carefully cut through the magnetic strip, chip, and embossed numbers on the card. Make sure to cut through the card in multiple places to destroy its integrity.

Using Tin Snips

If you have a pair of tin snips, that's probably the easiest way to destroy a metal credit card on your own. Tin snips should make quick work of most metal credit cards. If you don't have a pair of tin snips yourself, check with friends and family to see if you can borrow a pair.

Regular scissors likely won't get the job done, depending on what kind of metal your card is made from and how thick it is. However, tin snips are designed for cutting metal — if you go this route, cut the card up thoroughly enough that you destroy the magnetic stripe and EMV chip for maximum security.

Consider downgrading the card to a no-annual-fee version if possible. Pay off any remaining balance before closing the card. If you can't do this, consider transferring the balance to a low interest rate credit card, or talking with your card issuer about a payment plan. Redeem your rewards.

When you have finished using a card and no longer need it, (for example, if you've changed account or the card has expired), for your personal safety, you should destroy the card. Never throw a card away in a bin in its whole form without destroying each feature and function of the card first.

Old Greeting Cards

They are not keepsakes to be stored or framed. You aren't throwing away someone's love by throwing away a Hallmark card that they picked out. Unless the card had something particularly sentimental and meaningful written inside, throw it away.

Can you discard cards from your hand? ›

Discarding (Japanese: 捨 す てる suteru) is an action that sends a card from the hand to the Graveyard. Cards can only be discarded in two ways: By card that specifically uses this term (as a cost, effect, or as part of a Summoning condition). During the End Phase due to hand size limit.

While they won't be able to use the card to make transactions, someone could use the personal information listed on the card or the data stored in the card's magnetic strip to commit identity fraud. Instead of throwing your card away, you should destroy it first so that no one can use the information from your card.

Your data could be at risk of falling into the wrong hands if you are not destroying your credit card securely. Utilising a professional credit card destruction service can help you out.

Can You Recycle Credit Cards? Without question, you should destroy cards and throw them away; do not recycle them.

Closing an unused credit card causes that account to stop aging, which can negatively affect your average account age and hurt your credit. If the account you close is one of your oldest accounts, that damage can be even worse.

A credit card can be canceled without harming your credit score⁠. To avoid damage to your credit score, paying down credit card balances first (not just the one you're canceling) is key. Closing a charge card won't affect your credit history (history is a factor in your overall credit score).

Can plastic credit payment cards be recycled? The answer is YES, but it's not that obvious. Every banking card is a well-designed compound made up of metals (copper, nickel, gold, aluminum, iron), resin, glass, silicon, and plastics (PVC, PET). This complexity makes recycling payment cards challenging.