I heard that CSP and United Mileage Club cards are metal and don't have raised numbers unlike the traditional plastic cards. If a credit card terminal is offline, can an imprinting machine take these card. Can an ATM take these cards? And once it reaches its expiration date, how do you cut it in half? Just curious as I don't have one yet. 
@Angko wrote:I heard that CSP and United Mileage Club cards are metal and don't have raised numbers unlike the traditional plastic cards. If a credit card terminal is offline, can an imprinting machine take these card. Can an ATM take these cards? And once it reaches its expiration date, how do you cut it in half? Just curious as I don't have one yet.
1. No, they can't be imprinted as far as I know. The non-raised numbers was designed with several fraud issues in mind, and I'm pretty sure this is one of them.
2. Yes, ATMs can take these cards.
3. You can't cut them in half, and even a blowtorch won't destroy them. When your cards expire, you're sent return envelopes in the mail. You then send those cards back to the issuing bank.
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Angko wrote:I heard that CSP and United Mileage Club cards are metal and don't have raised numbers unlike the traditional plastic cards. If a credit card terminal is offline, can an imprinting machine take these card. Can an ATM take these cards? And once it reaches its expiration date, how do you cut it in half? Just curious as I don't have one yet.
1. No, they can't be imprinted as far as I know. The non-raised numbers was designed with several fraud issues in mind, and I'm pretty sure this is one of them.
2. Yes, ATMs can take these cards.
3. You can't cut them in half, and even a blowtorch won't destroy them. When your cards expire, you're sent return envelopes in the mail. You then send those cards back to the issuing bank.
Ha! I'm a fabricator of sorts and I can promise you I have dozens of ways to cut my CSP in half and a simple pair of hardware store aviation snips would work well. It wouldn't last a second under the flame of an acetylene torch or a plasma cutter. FWIW we don't call them blowtorches anymore.
@scenery_guy wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Angko wrote:I heard that CSP and United Mileage Club cards are metal and don't have raised numbers unlike the traditional plastic cards. If a credit card terminal is offline, can an imprinting machine take these card. Can an ATM take these cards? And once it reaches its expiration date, how do you cut it in half? Just curious as I don't have one yet.
1. No, they can't be imprinted as far as I know. The non-raised numbers was designed with several fraud issues in mind, and I'm pretty sure this is one of them.
2. Yes, ATMs can take these cards.
3. You can't cut them in half, and even a blowtorch won't destroy them. When your cards expire, you're sent return envelopes in the mail. You then send those cards back to the issuing bank.
Ha! I'm a fabricator of sorts and I can promise you I have dozens of ways to cut my CSP in half and a simple pair of hardware store aviation snips would work well. It wouldn't last a second under the flame of an acetylene torch or a plasma cutter. FWIW we don't call them blowtorches anymore.
That's good to know! I was reading a blog where a guy tried to destroy his that way, and there was a picture of the aluminum layer underneath with all of the plastic gone. Of course I'm guessing he isn't a professional like you are, so you probably have many more ways to destroy that thing.
It's like the old saying "there's more than one way to skin a cat".
