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How much punishment can a credit card
take?
By Jay MacDonald • Bankrate.com
"Cool,
man, these thing are really way tough," Travis Staebell, 11, and
his brother Jacob, 8.
How much abuse can your credit card stand before
it bites the dust?
We take a break from the pressing concerns of
finance and commerce to answer the burning question that has surely
occurred to every credit cardholder at one time or another.
Perhaps your card accidentally went scuba diving
with you. Or basked in the sun on your dashboard one triple-digit
afternoon. Or entertained your schnauzer in your absence.
The question is, will it still work?
To conduct our own independent credit card crash
test, Bankrate enlisted top demolition experts Travis Staebell,
11, and his brother Jacob, 8, of Naples, Fla.
We asked the brothers how tough they thought the cards would be.
"Pretty tough!" said Jacob.
"No," countered Travis, "I think you could bust
them."
Takin' it to the limit
The brothers put four cards through independent endurance tests.
Card One
they baked in an oven at 300-degrees uncovered for five minutes,
then cool and serve.
Card
Two the boys cut in half across the magnetic stripe and taped back
together.
Card
Three they submerged in a swimming pool.
Card
Four the brothers wheelie-pounded, scraped and skidded on with the
full fury of their BMX bikes.
All in the name of science, of course.
The next morning, we took the cards to the bank.
The results were somewhat surprising.
Card One, our
baked entrée, had shrunk to half its horizontal size but
retained its length without undue warping. The hologram was destroyed.
The embossed numbers had fallen but remained readable.
Because of its size, it wouldn't swipe through
a card scanner, nor would it be usable at an ATM. But a merchant
could read all the necessary information, even the tiny signature
and expiration date, to complete a transaction.
Card Two, which
we cut, registered invalid when taped together and swiped.
Card Three was
unaffected by its pool time.
Card Four, which
had been reduced virtually to rubble, its magnetic stripe scuffed
and cracked, surprised our teller by registering as valid when swiped.
The Staebell brothers had given it their best,
but three of the four cards had survived.
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