Comments on: Properly Destroy A Credit Card

By: centsandthecity

centsandthecity — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:21:59 +0000

I cut mine into tiny pieces, but I’ve never thought to deactivate the strip.

By: CJ

CJ — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:37:11 +0000

Paranoia

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:36:12 +0000

I guess then one for good measure!

By: Susie G

Susie G — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:38:53 +0000

Not that it matters – but in that illustration each set of four numbers is cut into 9 pieces.

By: Wizard Prang

Wizard Prang — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:08:07 +0000

Poetic Justice!

By: Wizard Prang

Wizard Prang — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:06:33 +0000

I cut mine into four pieces (number groups), their away three and keep one, which I dispose of a few weeks later.

By: Posco

Posco — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:36:09 +0000

I guess I’m not as paranoid. Although I did learn the credit card cutting procedure from my dad way back when I was in high school (including distributing the pieces across multiple trash cans), I only make the vertical cuts that you show. Since the mag-strip data is mostly stored horizontally across the strip, cutting it horizontally doesn’t actually destroy the data.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:51:42 +0000

What is the make and model?

Good tip on burning ink…

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:32:23 +0000

Just call me Fawn Hall. I love to shred because I am not paperless w/my bills and statements.

I destroy regular paper shredders quite easily.

I plunked down about $200 for a waist high *continuous* shredder that takes 7 sheets at a time. ‘Tis teh aw3s0m3. It’s the first shredder that I have overheated, but not broken in the 2 years I’ve had it. Most others aren’t worth a damn.

This shredder is bigger than a college dorm fridge, but worth it because it will shred a credit card and whole envelopes of crap without you having to tear stuff apart.

FYI – Burning ink can be hazardous to your health and the environment because many laser printer inks are actually a form a plastic. I wouldn’t do that.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:54:37 +0000

Great picture of where to cut. That’s pretty scary that people can still use cards even after they expire. More the reason to make sure we properly dispose of our credit cards.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:05:00 +0000

Yeah my shredder has been having problems too lately, I use WD-40 on it but I can’t do more than a page or two. I don’t really know what the suggestion is… sometimes, when it’s a lot of paper to shred, I burn it in our fireplace (I’ve only done this once but it was like 400 pages of old credit card and cell phone statements).

By: nrm

nrm — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:58:18 +0000

I have a cat and the pieces of expired cards get added in with the dirty litter.

By: Modder

Modder — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:07:11 +0000

Good point on credit cards, but what do you do with paper work?

All my experiences with shredders from Staples etc have been disappointing. The damn things don’t have enough oomph to shred more than a 5-6 sheets of paper at once and then they crap out after a mere 200-300 sheets.

I have burned thru 3 shredders this way in the last 2 years, each one more expensive that its predecessor (in the dumb assumption that paying more would buy me quality), all with a security level that was not really satisfying (nothing some patient criminal couldn’t piece together).

I am loath to buy another one.

I don’t have a full fire place (just one of those silly gas ones), but I do have a gas grill. Maybe I should buy a steel box into which I can stuff the paper, seal the box semi-airtight and then leave on the grill on high for a couple hours. This way it will turn into leafy charcoal with little smoke development (burning it outright would piss of neighbors and fire dept). Then give the charcoal a stir with a stick to break-up the physical structure and then chuck in the trash.

I can already hear my wife’s eyes rolling.

You guys have a better suggestion?

By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:16:08 +0000

I haven’t started doing it yet (no expired cards in a while), but I plan on shredding the cards. Multiple times, if possible. Then separating the shreds into different trash cans on different days.

I had a friend that had her identity stolen. Like Jim said, you’ll only spend a minute or two to destroy the card. It’ll take weeks or months trying to get your identity fully back.

By: auntiemichal

auntiemichal — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:18:38 +0000

To further foil the dastards fishing in your trash, throw out the pieces over several weeks (or months if you have monthly pickup). As an alternative, throw some pieces away in random trash cans (relatives, friends, work, etc).