A credit card usually lasts you about 3 years or slightly less before it becomes too worn out.
And most of the time, the credit card programme may also have become obsolete.
While you can always get new cards or replacements easily from the credit card company, it is a little trickier to get rid of the old ones.
Credit cards contain sensitive information like account numbers and your signature that can be picked up by unscrupulous identify thieves who could wind up with you with debts you never knew you had.
Most people are aware of cutting up their old credit cards before disposing of them.
However, simply cutting them up isn't going to deter even the less determined of identify thieves.
It won't take dumpster vultures much effort to put together a few pieces of your cut up card.
To safeguard your sensitive information, there's how to properly dispose of old credit cards.
Shred your cards, mess them up real bad It doesn't take much to realise that the more pieces your cards become, the less likely someone can piece them back together.
Scissors can do the job very well if you make sure to cut up the most sensitive parts (signature, account number) as finely as possible.
And of course, if you have a shredder lying around, that should of course be able to do better than what hands can manage.
Demagnetize the card strip While cutting the cards up real bad should already make sure that the magnetic strip is almost unrecoverable, you don't lose anything from being extra careful by demagnetizing the strip first before you cut it up.
Rub a very strong magnet along the magnetic strip up and down slowly to be extra sure that all the information contained within is destroyed.
Trash the bits separately Cutting them up makes it difficult to find all the pieces.
But dumping them at different places and at different times makes it a certainty that even all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't piece them altogether again.
Throw part of the pieces out in week and the other another week later.
Leave some in your own trash bin, and some in the public bin.
That way, you can be sure that no one can trace your trash to your address.
Ashes to ashes If you're really so insecure about your sensitive information leaking out your expired card, you can try burning them.
Fire reduces the plastic cards into mere ashes.
If anyone can still retrieve your information from the ashes, then nothing you can do will stop them anyway.
Plastics don't burn very cleanly and may sometimes give off poisonous gases.
So if you're burning your old credit cards, make sure to burn them in a metal bin with your windows open.
Even better, burn them outside of your house.
(Most credit cards are made of PVC and don't burn well.
It will take a combination of fuel and card to reduce it totally.
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