Whether your credit card has expired or you’ve decided to cancel to avoid paying an annual fee, you need to know the proper way to get rid of it. You don’t want that credit card information (even if outdated) falling into the wrong hands. The best practice is to destroy that old card.

But what if you have one of those fancy travel credit cards, the type that’s made out of metal? A standard paper shredder won’t get the job done. Thankfully, you’ve got a few options that are nearly as effortless for destroying metal credit cards.

Related: Metal credit cards explainer: What are they and how do they work?

Metal credit cards are becoming more ubiquitous. Some of the best credit cards on the market, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and The Platinum Card® from American Express, are garbed in shiny armor impervious to the likes of a common pair of scissors.

You don’t need a circular saw or an induction furnace to dispose of your metal credit cards. Here are a few easy ways to do it.

Issuers know that destroying a metal credit card isn’t as straightforward as plastic credit cards. When your metal card expires, you’ll likely receive a prepaid envelope with your new credit card. Just insert your old or expired card into the envelope and drop it in the mail.

If you’re canceling your credit card, you probably won’t receive a prepaid envelope, but you can still call the phone number on the back of your card to request one.

Note that there’s always a risk of fraud when mailing any sensitive information, including an old credit card. Replacement cards can arrive before your old card expires, which means someone could steal your old card in the mail and use it fraudulently. This could also damage your credit score if it goes unnoticed and increases your credit utilization or causes you to miss payments.

Related: How to protect yourself against credit card fraud — and where you're most at risk

If you have a rewards credit card that’s issued by a bank with physical branches, you can swing by and drop it off at a nearby location:

• Chase locations (metal cards include the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve®)

• Capital One locations (metal cards include Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card, and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card)

• Citi locations (metal cards include Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®)

In many cases, the bank will take necessary measures to safely dispose of your card with no further action required from you.

Note that American Express (Amex) doesn’t have physical banking locations, but you can send metal Amex cards, such as The Platinum Card from American Express and American Express® Gold Card, back to American Express for proper disposal.

Related: Best rewards credit cards

If you’d rather handle the matter yourself, you can quite easily slice through a metal credit card with a pair of metal shears, such as tin snips or steel-cutting pliers. You can find these at hardware or home improvement stores.

Just remember that a simple halving of your credit card isn’t good enough; you should make ribbons out of it, deliberately cutting through the EMV chip and the metal stripe multiple times. For further protection, sprinkle the metal confetti into multiple trash bags.

Beyond dulling scissors and jamming paper shredders, there's one absolute "do not" when unloading your metal credit card.

Throwing away your inactive credit card without any effort to prevent fraud is tempting the universe. Again, it’s not likely that something may happen, but who knows?

When you’re mailed a new credit card to replace an expired one, your credit card account number stays the same — only the expiration date and security code change. In other words, someone experienced in identity theft could pick up your active card number.

Of course, you can always choose to keep your old card. If you’re not worried about the real estate it occupies in your home, there’s no harm in storing your metal credit card somewhere safe.

Related: 6 tips to avoid credit card fraud and scams

FAQs about destroying metal credit cards

These are typically the three safest ways to dispose of a metal credit card:

1. Return to issuer: Many credit card companies provide ways to send them your old metal cards, so they can dispose of them safely and securely.

2. Visit a branch: You can visit one of your card issuer’s local branches to have them destroy your metal card.

3. Use a DIY method: You can dispose of the card yourself if you have tin snips or another tool that can effectively destroy your metal card’s magnetic stripe and EMV chip, as well as all identifiable information.

If you’ve requested a replacement card, Capital One will send you a return envelope with prepaid postage to return your old metal credit card. Capital One will then dispose of it for you.

Strong magnets could affect the magnetic strip on your credit card, damaging it or making it not function properly. However, most credit card companies issue cards with EMV chips as well, which aren’t affected by magnets.

You typically have to apply for metal credit cards, but you may be able to request one as a replacement in certain situations. For example, your card issuer may now offer a credit card you have in a metal format, but yours is still plastic, so you can request a replacement as an existing cardholder to receive the new metal version.

If your old metal credit card is worn and close to becoming unusable, you might also want to request a new one.

Related: How to apply for a credit card

You can destroy old plastic credit cards by cutting them into small pieces with scissors, using cross-cut shredders, or destroying magnetic strips and EMV chips with any number of other various tools, such as hammers and magnets.

You can destroy metal credit cards by sending them back to your credit card company, dropping them off at a local branch, or using tools like tin strips or heavy-duty metal shredders.

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