Everyone knows you’re not supposed to care what your credit card looks like, it’s the rewards that matter! Except that part of being human is that the look and feel of people, places and things matters quite a lot. So it appeals to us in ways we’re not quite comfortable admitting.
So you get this sort of online discussion
I just got my freedom flex, and ngl, it’s kind of an ugly card. Flimsy, weird iridescent teal color, green edges, cluttered front with the number on it. My Citi cards also feel like cheap plastic.
In contrast, my WF Autograph I got last month is a beautiful card. Lovely color and it’s actually got some weight and firmness to it.
I know it’s a pretty meaningless thing to care about, but it honestly might make the difference in which card I pull out to get 3% dining.
One of the things that is striking is how much people admit to liking the look and feel of the Bilt Mastercard, which is black, understated and metal – despite being a no annual fee card.
The Bilt MasterCard looks so classy and heavy and well… built.
…Right?? I’m shocked a $0 AF card feels and looks so premium. Also the synchronized sliding panels in the welcome package were cool.
…Will aesthetics ever affect my choices? Not in the slightest. Do I absolutely love the heft and look of my Bilt card? You’re damn right.
…I didn’t until I got complemented on my metal Bilt Mastercard.
American Express also reaps praise for the limited-edition Delta card made with a bit of Boeing 747 metal as well. There’s a real lesson in both of these.
- One brings something that once conferred status to a more mass consumer price point
- The other takes something that’s become commonplace and elevates it with design, not just heft
Credit: Delta
Composecure drives over $50 million a year in revenue making metal credit cards. They argue cosumers move metal cards to top of wallet, and shift their spend onto those cards. Behavior by American Express, Chase, and Capital One – using metal on cards, and indeed for more and more cards – suggests they believe this is true.
Twenty years ago there was only the Amex Black Card. Now there are at least two dozen cards heavier than standard plastic, probably many more. Even the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card clocks in at the weight of a Sapphire Reserve card.
When everyone’s cards are metal, it’s no longer driving share shift and becomes purely defensive. You don’t want your cards to look cheap!
Metal cards are no longer special, since they’re so common. When they were first available they felt nice in the wallet and in the hand, and they said “this is a unique card.” It was a conversation piece, which is exactly what issuers wanted:
- to make customers feel good about their card
- so they’d want to pay with the card
- and even talk about it (the best salespeople are customer evangelists)
Sure, some people delighted in marveling store clerks, which is awkward at best. But mostly it was about a person’s personal narrative that the card said something about them (a non-metal card, Barclays’ old Arrival+, promoted “I’ve Arrived”).
However I don’t remember the last time a metal card caused a reaction of a raised eyebrow. If you’re looking to feel better about yourself impressing a store clerk it’s just not going to do that very often anymore, probably because store clerks have seen so many of them now and possibly because trying too hard to impress them just makes you look like a jerk.
Still, a quick search of TikTok shows that the young people do see metal credit cards as a status thing.
@fareedabedini Still got a long way to go but we on the right path 😉 #moremoneymatters #creditcards #financialfreedom #creditscore ♬ original sound – Rene Lacad
So the question is, how should credit cards be designed? There’s still a need for physical cards, even as much of commerce moves online – where top of wallet is only metaphorical and you’re not impressing your online shopping cart. Many in-person payments now get made via app. You want a card that doesn’t look cheap as a starting point, and cards still do attach to consumer identity. But metal doesn’t stand out. Everybody offers metal.
And these cards are more difficult to dispose of. One reader used a blow torch rather than returning his card to Chase. But how often do you dispose of a credit card? I’m not sure it’s often enough to matter.
Some issuers have let consumers customize the design of the card but that can lead to controversy when they choose designs that are polarizing or contrary to the issuer’s values. It’s also controversial when telling consumers they can design their card any way they want, except for the way that they want.
Maybe it’s still true that heft matters, but it’s not going to matter for long as in-person transactions are reduced and will continue to be less common, and as in-person mobile wallet and tap to pay displaces carrying physical cards. That’s not to say physical card use goes away, but that the incremental value of card design and heft has certainly peaked.
I’ve long wanted issuers to think of the card in a consumer’s wallet as a mobile advertisement. Why not message the key benefits of the card.. on the card itself? Airlines miss out of an opportunity for advertising on aircraft lavatory walls. It’s a generally missed opportunity in marketing:
Metal is so 2010s and is no longer unique. And when so many transactions are card not present, the physical manifestation of the payment mechanism influences card choice less. So should issuers ditch metal? Not necessarily, but for the period of time where we still need physical cards they should get more creative about design if the goal is to stand out or help consumers tell a story about who they are.
So consider metal from a 747 in a beautiful design to appeal to a certain segment of customers, but more broadly a design that is unusual that speaks to the target consumer in ways that other products don’t. Move beyond mere metal if you’re looking for it to elevate a premium price point card.
Metal alone is now meaningful only in a no annual fee product, so if you’re not going to elevate the design then consider messaging on the physical card instead.
In 2024, to me, it is no longer important. I generally get irritated these days when I have to pull out my card. 90% of my charges are all tap-to-pay (Apple Pay) so I barely ever reach for a card anyway.
If you’re making me go through the effort of locating a card and having to finagle it with your machine/reader, I am going to judge you as a business and look down on that.
I still occasionally get “wow that’s heavy” when I use a metal card, but I really don’t acre about that. I have two metal cards, the Sapphire Reserve and Citi Prestige. Physically, I hate both. When it’s in my wallet, I want a card that’s as light and thin as possible, easier to carry. And I want a card that’s light or brightly colored. These two cards are black or very dark blue, and more than once I’ve left them behind after paying, either sitting on a dark wood bar or in a black leather check folder.
Want to impress me the cardholder? Give me a highlighter-yellow feather-light card.
@Gary, yes, but I’d prefer you write and article with top 10 best card designs from a look and feel perspective. Also 10 worst. My faves include historic cards like SPG Amex obvi. I also miss the pre-Bonvoy Chase Marriott design.
On the more controversial side, I like the Kehinde Wiley Amex Plat, and the Sjöman Bonvoy Amex.
On the miss side, the feel of USBank Altitude Reserve is perfect finish, except the giant RESERVE on the front is a bit garish.
Also, hot take, but I never liked the CSR’s almost-black look. Always looked like a printing accident. I much prefer the CSP’s look. I hope Chase’s “Project Emerald” updates the CSR look or launches a new card with better look.
I often think about asking if there is any way to replace metal cards i have with plastic ones. I don’t carry a wallet anymore and just have the magnetic slip on the back of my phone. it fits three cards, but if i have a metal one in there it is really tight and heavy. I agree with SWAG, make them as thin and light as possible.
I want cards that are half size, so two cards can fit in one slot in my wallet. Cards don’t need to be that big. Can still have chip, and just a half length magnetic strip. This to me would also look cool.
There is too much fraud risk with physical cards, and refuse to use one.
Unfortunately in backwaters USA it’s sometimes a struggle, but it’s a breeze everywhere else in the world (heck, in advanced Europe they’ve had mobile terminals at restaurants for decades!)
Not everyone agrees with this. The most important thing to me is for my wallet to be light and thin. Because of that, I only carry (and use) light, plastic cards. I have an Amex personal Plat and Biz Plat at home that I’ll occasionally use for online purchases, but they don’t get everyday use because they’re heavy and I don’t want to carry them. Plus – there’s nothing worse than the douchebag in front of you at the checkout line who likes the sound of his metal card clanging on the counter.
FYI – Chase will replace CSR and Ritz metals cards with plastic versions via secure message if you ask.
@Mantis yes, you can request a plastic version of any of those silly DYKWIA cards for the utterly insecure.
It’s the first thing I did a decade ago when I incidentally got a card that unbeknownst to me was metal (Chase Sapphire Reserve)
These cards are a waste and extremely annoying to carry, as you correctly pointed out.
People comment on my J P Morgan card all the time. I tell them it’s the same deal at the end of the month Which always gets a laugh
Funny timing: a cashier told me the over the weekend that my card was really heavy and that caught me off guard since I never really think about these things. A card is a card for me, I too mobile pay when I can but I feel the same about my plastic one design wise when I use them physically — maybe I need to enjoy the finer things in life more!
I want lightweight cards in my pocket, not more weight. Give me a card that I can destroy easily and not need to take to me bench grinder when it’s expired or no longer usable.
For as much as the annual fees are for these damn things, they should be made from carbon fiber or Kevlar.
Metal design is a negative for air travel as you have to remove them for WTMD security checkpoints. Just went through today with my card wallet full of plastic (chip) cards and not a peep from the machine,
Used to get comments on my JPM Reserve card but that is rare now as almost every merchant is tap/chip and pay (even Marriotts). So the “ego” value of metal cards is pretty much gone.
Metal cards mean one thing; getting wanded by TSA if you forgot to put your wallet in the tray with your gear.
Not exactly a premium frictionless experience.
Most useless metal card? Marriott Lifetime Titanium. I mean, who even carries that around?
Wood
I much prefer thin plastic cards, metal is heavy and sets off metal detectors! Some banks used to be willing to send me a plastic version instead of metal. But no longer.
It’s not a premium card unless it says Delta on it .
Amex has gone the route of offering different designs for the Platinum, Gold, Business Gold, Delta cards, etc. Among the choices, Amex ought to include a plastic design for these cards. Like another reader, I’d opt for a thinner, lighter card.
@Gary,
Getting a metal card isn’t pretty, it’s just plain petty.
Status cards? My plain old free Amex Blue (it’s transparent) gets more reaction than any gold, platinum, or metal card I’ve ever had.
Metal filigree design would be nice.
Dispose of an expired credit card? Why? I have every one I was issued since 1968. Some people collect stamps, some whiskey bottles, others airline memorabilia . . . I save my expired credit cards.
I would prefer a plastic card, with NO magnetic stripe on the back. Any merchant that can’t take tap-to-pay or chip-in-the slot is a merchant I don’t want to deal with as their payment system is too insecure.
The biggest reaction I ever got because of a credit card was a Capital One card with my picture on it. One sales clerk would not believe it was me! I still have it on my desk, under plastic, with the hope it will be an option again.
What about the custom metal credit cards made by these third party companies? one service has been in business over a decade. I’ve seen all kinda of designs. They just can’t offer the NFC tap feature, but I didn’t care. I just pulled the trigger and what I got back is better than a Centurion (never had one lol) but I can honestly say that my card is 1 of a kind. That kinda matters to me. Oh and the card i sent them was my Amazon Prime card so I still get ALL the benefits. Which is also heavy but not like my custom card.
You said, “Metal alone is now meaningful only in a no annual fee product” I agree, facts. I took me a few years to get the custom metal card made, but now I’m like damn why is this not more know. Gary I guess I just wanted to turn you on to this option. They aren’t a big box company. And I love my card.