How to Dispose of Old Credit Cards

Are you getting rid of your expired credit cards in a way that will prevent identity theft? These tips will help you make sure your information is safe after a card is no longer in use-and ready to be thrown away.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• A strong magnet
• Optionally, a heavy duty cross cut shredder

1. Run a strong magnet over the magnetic stripe on the back of the old card. There is data stored there that could be useful to a thief. The magnet will make the data unusable.

2. Use scissors to cut up the old card. Cut the numbers apart, cut up your signature on the back, cut up the magnetic stripe. Cut and cut-and then cut a few more times-until you have no useful hunks of plastic left.

3. Dispose of the pieces in separate trash bags. Throw some away this week and some next week. This prevents a patient thief from putting all the pieces back together again like a jigsaw puzzle.

4. Cross-cut shredders that are strong enough to handle credit cards are available, usually for under $100. Using a cross-cut shredder is even safer than using scissors.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't toss anything related to your credit card or personal account information in the recycling, unless it has been shredded by a cross-cut shredder. If shredded, the plastic can be recycled.