You should probably buy a shredder today.



I get a heck of a lot of credit card applications in the mail.

A bunch for Visa, quite a few from Mastercard and tons of them from American Express.



I almost always tear credit card applications in half and throw them away. Sometimes, if I am feeling particularly paranoid, I'll tear them into little bitty pieces.



Is that good enough? Could a determined and dexterous criminal gather all the bits, tape them together and apply for a credit card in my name? Would a credit card company balk when confronted with an obviously resurrected application? A test was in order, and when the latest application arrived from Chase Mastercard, I was equal to the task.



