Dispose of Your Credit Card Without Burying It
Disposing of unwanted items in our lives often means simply throwing them into the garbage or recycling bin — or, if they’re still useful, giving them away. It’s different with old credit cards, which should be destroyed so nobody can use them fraudulently (欺诈地). 13 Here’s how to get rid of an old card.
First, contact the issuer
If closing the account is your goal, you’ll have to call the number on the back of your card and ask to do so. If your card is a rewards card, remember to first redeem points or cash back. Change any automatic payments to a different card, and be sure to pay the final card bill.
Cut up plastic cards
Sharp scissors and smart trimming will do the job here. “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. 14
Send back metal cards
15 Contact your issuer. Typically, you can mail it back for disposal. “For example, when American Express sends a replacement card, it also sends an addressed return envelope to mail back an old metal card for destruction,” says Heather Norton, spokeswoman for American Express.
Check back on your account
Don’t obsess about identity theft of an old credit card. You generally won’t be responsible for fraudulent charges anyway. 16 It’s a good idea to check your account statement to make sure there’s been no fraud.
Closing an account can hurt you
Closing a credit card account can lower your credit rating. That’s because credit scores consider your “credit utilization ratio’”, or how much of your available credit you’re using. And when you close an account, you have less available credit. 17 Closing an old card decreases the average age of your accounts.
A.It could be worth closing the account anyway. |
B.Scores also consider the length of time you’ve had the card open. |
C.Or feed cards into a machine designed to handle them. |
D.Take care with debit cards and other plastic where fraud means you might be missing money. |
E.But how to destroy a payment card properly is not obvious, especially with new metal credit cards. |
F.Destroying a metal card by yourself is harder and potentially dangerous. |
G.Skip this step if you’re simply replacing an expired card or one that has been compromised. |