Credit & Debit Cards Changing?

[Jacob Petersheim]

I recently received a new credit card.

I haven't handled it much, but this one and second a recent card (within the last two years, new expiration and such) no longer have a strip on the back for yo to write your signature. No idea when this requirement went away.

But this new card is different in more than that way.

• There are far more contacts for the chip (in the contact-pad on the face of the card).
• It is more rigid, though the same thickness. Almost as if made of metal.
• It is heavier.
• One the back you can see the small square where the chip is by slight indenting, as on my other cards. However there is also a slight outline of a far larger rectangle. Not extending to the card edges, and wider than the magnetic stripe, nearly twice so.

I got out the scale, found batteries for it ( ) and weighed several credit and debit cards:

1. 5.10 grams
2. 5.10 grams
3. 5.05 grams
4. 5.20 grams
5. 4.90 grams
6. 12.65 grams

That's right. This new card is more than twice the weight of the other cards!

Has anyone else seen this? Any clue what it might be? It may simply be a metal card.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

During this process I got motivated to put on a headlamp and take a flashlight in hand and go spelunking my car seats.

The other day I had my wallet out to get out of a parking garage and it had fallen and spilled. I knew something was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I finally realized that it had to be a debit card that I rarely use, since it wasn't anywhere else likely inside the house.

Sure enough, with some contortions I located it underneath the passenger seat. Then came the fun of actually retrieving the thing from where it had lodged under there. Grr.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I have one of those new credit cards, too, @Jacob Petersheim . This is actually my second one, and when the first one expired, they sent me an envelope and asked me to return the card, as opposed to cutting it up like you could do with the old type of cards.
I only have one card that is this way, the others are still the regular type. I think it did say that it had metal in it, and it is definitely a lot heavier. The only place I use it is on Amazon, so I do not carry it around, just keep it put away.

 

[Don Alaska]

None of the new cards here as far as I can determine. I don't know what the reason would be to put metal in the cardf except to make it more durable. I guess there could be some tracking mechanism included, but they can pretty much track your spending anyway with the old type cards. Has anyone noticed the rise in requests to "scan your ID"? I have seen this in grocery stores mostly for booze , cough syrup, and anything that requires an age requirement. Some banks are also requiring a scan to cash a check, even if it is on an account in their own facility. I am not completely clear as to the reason for this, but I suspect that it is a way to track what you buy and to sell that info to someone, perhaps insurance companies. I don't mind showing an ID to verify age or residency, but I don't allow a scan except at the airport, where it is pretty much required to fly. There is much more information on a Real ID other than your date of birth/age, and you never know what they are taking from that card when they scan it.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Because Bobby hates to go shopping , I usually order everything online, so I am seldom even in a store where someone might ask me for an ID. About the only time we actually go to a store is when Bobby needs to go for some reason, like to Lowe’s or Walmart for some tool that he needs, and then I will usually shop while he is getting whatever we went there for.

I mostly buy just food items, and have not had anyone at Walmart ask for any kind of identification. Actually, it is good to even have a cashier there at all, since almost all the lanes are now a self-checkout lane.
If a person is using that, no one would even be there to ask for any ID.

I think that they maybe explained about the new card when they sent me the envelope to return it with, but I actually have forgotten whatever it was that they told me, and just sent the old card back.
It is just here at home because I only use it online anyway, so I never have to use the actual card.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I think it might just be marketing, trying to make it feel "worth more." An appeal to vanity?

I normally use a debit card when I go out on a grocery run. No other ID has ever been requested. Maybe buying booze and smokes would be another story?