When you decide to close a credit card or receive a new one after fraudulent activity, it’s essential that you destroy your card to prevent identity theft. It’s easy to cut up or shred most credit cards, but what do you do if the credit card is metal? Popular premium credit cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Ritz-Carlton Rewards are made of a thick metal that adds to their allure but is no match for a pair of scissors or a paper shredder.
After applying for Chase Sapphire Reserve, I decided to downgrade my Chase Sapphire Preferred card which is also made of metal. Since it’s hard to dispose of on your own, simply contact Chase customer service or send a secure message to request a prepaid envelope to mail your card back. Pop it in the mail and Chase will handle the rest! The process is similar for the American Express Platinum Card. For both Chase Sapphire and American Express Platinum, if you get a replacement card in the mail, it comes with a prepaid envelope to send the old one back.
I also have an old Capital One Venture card lying around. This card is even thicker than Chase Sapphire Preferred! I contacted Capital One to see what I should do with it. The representative kept telling me to destroy it and I kept responding, how? After a five-minute hold, they said that if I cannot destroy the card then I could return it to this address:
Capital One
P.O. Box 30285
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0285
Unfortunately, Capital One doesn’t provide a prepaid envelope, but I think it is worth the postage to ensure that the card is destroyed properly.
For metal credit cards from other companies, contact customer service for advice on how to destroy the card.
Do you have any creative ways to destroy metal credit cards?
Step 1: Punch a hole in the metal chip, twist it, ruin the chip
Step 2: Put the card in a fire which will obliterate the readable data printed on the card.
I put my Amex Platinum (metal) on a stove burner. I turni it around a few times with kitchen tongs. It took care of it beautifully, the chip dissolved, the plastic coating melted, the two metal plates looked raw. Only issue the tongs were bitten up, but what the hell.
That’s definitely one way to do it!
I put my metal Amex card in a bench vice oriented as it sits in your wallet. (ends of the card between the vice jaws. Being sure that the scan strip will be on the inside of the folded card close the vice to that the card then is folded in half like a book. Reposition in the vice to further compress the fold. Remove from vice and use vice or hammer to flatten the card again. It should break in the middle and you can peel the backing off in one piece with some effort (careful of broken metal edge). Cut up the backing with scissors, gouge the chip out of the metal part with a screw driver.
There are common and inexpensive cutters called tin snips. They will cut a metal CC into small pieces in less than a minute, just make sure you don’t cut yourself on the sharp edges..