Do You Know Your Credit Card Expiry Date?

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April 29, 2008

When you shop for dairy products, for instance, you pay attention to the best before date. If this date slips your attention, it might have grave consequences for your health. And that is no news. But why do we forget about expiration dates when it comes to our credit cards?

Credit cards just like food or any other products have their life time, and when it expires credit products lose their useful properties. It might sound like nonsense to you, a credit card cannot turn sour or grow mold. But a plastic's magnetic stripe gets abraded after some period of use. But it is not the only reason for credit card companies to set expiration dates on credit cards.

The first reason for you to remember renew your credit card after it expires, is identity theft and credit card fraud protection. Every time you renew your plastic, your personal credit card information is updated, so it is changed. This way frequently changing information raises more difficulties for ID thieves and fraudsters to carry out their criminal practices. But this is what concerns offline transactions. As you understand, when it comes to online shopping your credit card magnetic stripe has nothing to do with money transactions and will not save you from fraud.

Another and the most obvious reason to renew your card, as it was mentioned above, is magnetic stripe's abrasion. Just think how many times a day you swipe it. The magnetic stripe is subjected to mechanical wear, it gets scratched or cracked. Especially if you are a keen rewards points collector, your airlines credit card, for instance, can suffer from active use. So, in order to have a well-functioning credit card, you are to renew it when the time comes (in other words, when it expires).

Expiration date can also remind you about the credit card existence in case you forget about it or if you just have not used it for a long period of time. Sometimes creditors contact their clients a couple of months before the expiration date to remind them that the plastic is still available and offer them to extend the contract. This smart marketing move is taken for special attention to a customer by card holders and very often such offers result in extension of the contract.

The regular credit card life is about 3 years. But still, generally, this depends on the credit card issuer. You can find your plastic's expiration date in your credit card contract or just call up your credit card company and ask the exact date.

As a rule, one month before the expiration date you get a new card from your issuer by mail. As you get it, check the card's terms and conditions. You can find some changes there. If you find some obscure credit card terms or your new terms do not suit you, notify your lender in writing. In this case your credit card company can make a concession to you and allow you to pay off the balance under the terms you had before.

However, with constantly developing credit card industry and permanently growing retailers' desire to sell more goods and services to customers, credit card expiration dates might sink into oblivion. Some of the big wigs in the U.S. consumer-sales industry have already worked out informal agreements with credit card issuers to allow making charges to consumers' plastics without specifying the credit card expiry date. This way a transaction can be made even after the card expires.

So, you see that knowing your credit card expiration date is questionable must. But just in case...