I hate metal credit cards!
There, I said it. I don’t care about the material a credit card is made of. It’s no matter if it’s made of plastic, aluminum or titanium; I care more about the benefits the card provides than the material it’s made of.
That doesn’t keep banks from making metal credit cards. In their minds, a metal card is impressive and will make a cardholder more likely to keep it in their wallet.
For me, a metal credit card is just an additional annoyance when I have to ask a bank how I’m supposed to dispose of it when it’s expired.
But what do you do when a bank sends you a disposal envelope for a non-metal card?
My Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business card from Chase came up for renewal. In the envelope with the new card, Chase sent me a return envelope for my old card, which is a nice gesture if your card is made of metal.
This would be a nice gesture if the expiring card was the Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred or even the discontinued Marriott Bonvoy Chase Visa card which is made of metal. However, the discontinued Marriott Bonvoy Premier Business Plus card is still, and has always been, plastic.
In fact, here’s how I disposed of my card, which was expiring in December 2022.
I understand if banks like Chase can’t keep track of which cards they issue are metal or plastic. In fact, I’d prefer if they did away with metal cards, because I wouldn’t have to worry about how to get rid of them when they expire.
But for the time being, I’m going to keep the envelope from Chase to mail back a metal card when I want to downgrade or cancel my Sapphire Reserve or Preferred cards.
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3 comments
I don’t care the material it is made of either… though the metal card has made a good ice scraper in a pinch and getting gum off a shoe once on a plane.
I am still shocked at the reaction of cashiers and servers and those accepting payment when I hand over the card. Maybe it’s a function of where I have lived that it is not a common sight, but in downtown Baltimore, cashiers at stores/quick serve food outlets especially younger ones seem amazed and for whatever reason continually tap it against the side of their heads. Don’t know the reason for this but it happens often enough I notice it.
I think there are plenty of folks who do care about the card material. Metal cards absolutely look and feel more substantial, and are more costly to produce, which can only be justified for premium cards with annual fees. Although not a credit card, my (plastic) Bank of America ATM card cracked along the magnetic stripe line after 4 years in my wallet.
We accepted a Capital One Savor card for payment at my gallery last week. It was metal. I’m still trying to figure out how that happened.