When Credit Card Expires

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When Credit Card Expires

When a Credit Card Expires?

What does it mean for a credit card to expire? The answer to this question is almost immediately known.

Each card that is issued to a user comes with an expiry date. The date can be located either on the front side of the card or on the back side depending on the design and artistic nature or feature of the card. The way it is written makes it easy to locate. It normally is in the form of a month/year and you will see it as such. For example, if your card will expire in October 2026, you will see it as 10/26. What this means is that at the end of the month of October in the year 2026, the card will cease to work and must be replaced.

This expiration does not in any way affect the account to which the card is linked. It is only the card which will cease to work.

Credit cards normally would expire between three and five years depending on the issuing company or bank. Before banks for example will put expiry dates on a card, they consider a number of factors. These include the durability of the card and its security features, and then users are also given the opportunity to assess their usage of the card to know if they would want to upgrade the card or even continue to use it.

The question now is exactly what happens after the card has reached its expiry date.

Now, when a card reaches its expiry date, you are not going to be able to use it to buy anything. This is because the card will not work in any online store/shop or in any physical shop as well. Also, it will not be able to do any other payments like school fees.

Most card-issuing companies will send their card users a message to replace their cards 30 clear days ahead before the card expires. This ensures that they replace their cards before they are unable to use it anymore. When a new card is issued, it will have a new card verification value (CVV) code.

Except in cases where the user decided to upgrade his or her card, the number of the card (normally 16 digits) will be the same as the old one which expired.

In some cases, the issuing companies or banks do send out letters to the users to physically be present in the bank or company premises to have their cards renewed. In this instance the user might have the opportunity to assess the account to find out if it is something they want to continue using, this is especially if the account is in a very poor state or the account is not active.

The next question about expired cards is What do you do when you receive a new card?

Are there any special things to do?

If there is anything you should do, is it to ensure that the new card is active and can work? Sometimes, there will be a number to call to have it activated, other times and depending on the company or bank, you will have to visit the premises to have your new card activated for you to use.

But why should credit cards expire in the first place? When Credit Card Expires

Can’t cards be made for permanent usage? It is a thing that many people still cannot understand. Indeed there are many reasons why credit cards are made to expire. Here are a few reasons.

  1. One major reason why cards are made to expire and then renewed is that there are features of the card that may wear out. A credit card has a strip on it made from magnetic material and with time, it gets worn out and must be replaced. Also, the card has a microchip inserted in it and with time, it might also ware out or worse still, it could fall out. With all of these, the best way to keep your card in a good condition is to have it renewed every now and then.
  2. An expiry date helps to keep fraudsters away. In addition to the CVV code on the card which is supposed to provide further security in addition to the password on it, the expiring date on it helps to keep fraudsters away from being able to use your card. Whenever you renew your card frequently, it helps to shut off fraudsters.
  3. Renewing expired cards helps the issuing company to take stock of active users. Whenever your card expires and you go to renew it, it helps the issuing company or bank to know the number of active users of its cards. The moment you stay inactive or refuse to go and renew your card, you actually give the bank or the company that gave you the card a good reason to take you out of their database. This helps them to keep an accurate record of the number of users they have.

 

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