Crystal Cox/Business Insider
Metal cards like the Amex Platinum are eye-catching - and they're not easy to destroy by hand.
- Plenty of top card issuers have rolled out premium credit cards in the last decade, and some of the most popular are made of heavy metal, from the Chase Sapphire Reserve to the American Express® Gold Card.
- Metal cards are notoriously difficult to destroy when you want to cancel your card or when it's simply past its expiration date.
- You can contact your card issuer to receive a postage-paid envelope and mail your metal card back for them to destroy, or you could drop into a local branch for the issuing bank and ask them to destroy the card.
- Especially if your card has expired, there's no harm in keeping it - though it's good to know you do have options if you want to get rid of it.
- See Business Insider's list of the best rewards credit cards.
Since most metal credit cards come with superior perks and the potential for a high spending limit, they are seen by some as a "status symbol" of sorts. After all, you typically need a reliable income and excellent credit to qualify for the top travel and rewards credit cards that come in heavy metal form.
As silly as it seems, carrying a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Platinum Card® from American Express can be seen as somewhat impressive for this reason, albeit mostly to cashiers and waiters who actually handle your credit card.
Still, there is a major downside that comes with metal credit cards, and it's one you might never think of until your card expires and you receive a new one or you decide to cancel your account. Whereas traditional credit cards can easily be destroyed with scissors or a paper shredder, metal credit cards can be an enormous pain to get rid of.
How to get rid of metal credit cards
Since you can't just throw your credit card with all your account details in the trash, you need to know your options when it comes to disposing of old or expired metal credit cards. Here are all the ways you can consider ditching your metal credit cards:
Mail it back to the card issuer
Major banks that issue metal credit cards have their own solution to your indestructible card dilemma. Each one is happy to send you a postage-paid envelope so you can mail your card back to them for proper disposal.
While this may not be as fun as seeing if you can melt your American Express Gold Card with a blow torch, this solution is considerably safer and most likely what the card issuers intended for customers to do in the first place.
Drop it off in your local branch
If you live near a local bank branch that carries the metal credit card you need to destroy, you can also pop in and ask your banker to destroy it on your behalf. You could drop off your old Chase Sapphire Reserve card at your local Chase branch, or pop into your local Capital One branch to get rid of an expired Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card.
Chances are good they'll know where to mail your credit card so that a corporate office can properly dispose of your card for you.
File it away for safekeeping
You don't necessarily have to throw your card away or destroy it at all. Instead, you can find a place to store it where it won't be in the way. Fortunately, credit cards are compact and light, meaning they don't take up a lot of space.
You could put your metal credit cards in a plastic baggie in your garage or in a desk drawer, or you could create a file in your filing cabinet where you store them for the long haul. Heck, you could keep them in a shoe box in your closet. As long as they're out of sight and stored where nobody will get their hands on your credit card number, that's all that matters.
Use industrial shears
If you're feeling adventurous, you can also head out to the garage and see whether a pair of industrial pliers or shears is enough to do the trick. There are all kinds of stories online of people finding creative ways to destroy their metal credit cards, but most of them involve heavy-duty shears that are meant to cut metal in the first place.
A final word of warning: Don't try disposing of your metal credit card with a shredder - it won't work, and some cards even come with warnings indicating that you shouldn't try to shred them.
Click here to learn more about the Platinum card from American Express »
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