Metal Credit Cards You Can Get Right Now

The American Express Centurion Card (or “black” card) was one of the first metal credit cards. Unfortunately, it’s invitation only and costs $5,000 per year.

Banks have started offering more metal credit cards in recent years, and the annual fees are much lower.

Some people like the feel of a metal credit card and the reactions they get when making purchases. Metal credit cards are usually heavier than regular plastic cards. You may want one for the practicality: members of our team have used a Chase Sapphire Preferred to scrape ice off a car window in the winter, and to open a door after getting locked out.

Here’s a list of our favorites that you can actually apply for directly, followed by a full alphabetical list of 24 metal cards.

Best Metal Credit Cards of 2020

• No Annual Fee: Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card
• Biggest Travel Credit: Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Most Airport Lounge Access: The Platinum Card® from American Express
• Food & Entertainment Spending: Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card
• Heaviest (All weigh 22g):
  • Mastercard® Titanium Card™
  • Mastercard® Black Card™
  • Mastercard® Gold Card™

Metal Credit Cards (Alphabetical, Personal)

If you’re a Prime subscriber, there’s pretty much no reason not to get this card. You’ll get 5% back on Amazon purchases and there’s no annual fee for the card.

This is probably cheapest option if you’re trying to get a metal card without paying a high annual fee as long as you’re subscribed to Prime. Read our full review of both Amazon Visa cards here.

 

The Gold Card is a charge card designed for frequent travelers and people who spend a lot of money at restaurants. In 2018, this card replaced the plastic Premier Rewards Gold Card with the new metal design available in gold or rose gold, although the rose gold version is no longer available for new applicants.

 

The Platinum Card is a high-end charge card designed for frequent travelers. This card’s been around for a while, but was refreshed in 2017 and changed to a metal design.

It includes many travel benefits, like airport lounge access, Uber credits, and a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit. It earns travel rewards. There’s a $550 annual fee (Rates & Fees), but if you use all the benefits the card can be well worth it. Read our full review here.

 

The newly-launched Apple Card is designed to be used primarily through Apple Pay. However, cardholders also get a minimalist titanium card that they can use for in-person transactions at the lowest 1% cash back rewards rate.

There’s no annual fee for this card. You can’t apply directly online, but you can through the Wallet app on iPhone.

 

The Savor card is designed for foodies, with bonus categories that include dining and grocery stores. Capital One began issuing metal versions of this card in January of 2019; current cardholders will receive metal versions when their cards expire, or when they request replacements.

The Savor now has a stainless steel veneer front, produced with 75% recycled materials. The back half of the card has a layer of plastic.

This card has a $95 annual fee, waived the first year, making it one of the less expensive metal cards you can get.

Learn more in our full review of the Capital One Savor Cash Rewards card here.

 

This card is designed for travelers, but it doesn’t have the same benefits as some of the other premium travel cards listed on this page.

Like the Savor card above, this card has a $95 fee that’s waived for the first year.

See our full review of the Capital One Venture Rewards here.

 

The Sapphire Preferred is a metal card with a blue finish. It earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points, with 5X Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on Lyft rides (through March 2020) and 2X points on travel and dining purchases.

This card has a much lower annual fee than the premium Chase Sapphire Reserve, but does not have all the same benefits and rewards. You can see our full review of the Sapphire Preferred here.

 

This card is loaded with benefits like airport lounge access and travel credits. It’s made of metal and has a dark blue and black design. When you look at benefits and cost, it’s in the same category as the Platinum Card from American Express. The Sapphire Reserve offers 10X Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on Lyft rides (through March 2020), 3x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on travel and dining, compared to 2X on the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

It has a relatively high annual fee of $550 compared to most credit cards, but you can easily make up for that if you use all the benefits, credits, and rewards. Read our review of this card here.

There’s another fancier-looking version of this card called the JP Morgan Reserve, but it is only available to JP Morgan Private Client customers. Rumor has it you need to have $10 million in assets with Chase to be able to get the JP Morgan Reserve.

 

This premium travel card for flying American Airlines is made of metal, and offers 2X miles per dollar spent with its co-branded airline.

It also provides Admirals Club access for the primary cardholder as well as up to ten authorized users, a better airport lounge offer than most other cards. But you’ll need to pay $450 per year for the Executive World Elite Mastercard.

 

The Citi Prestige® Card (Review) is an excellent card for travelers who book long hotel stays thanks to its 4^th night free benefit. It also provides a $250 travel credit and a Priority Pass Select membership.

 

The Crystal® Visa Infinite® Credit Card is quite the rewarding luxury card, with annual airline and lounge credits, plus Priority Pass Select membership and a bevy of other travel perks. You’ll need to be an existing bank client to apply.

 

The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card is a premium travel card that’s a step below the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve, with a different airport lounge program along with air travel and rideshare credits.

 

This card is designed for people who frequently stay at IHG hotels and want to earn lots of rewards points for spending at those hotels.

 

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (Review) is a premium hotel card designed for anyone who’ll stay with Marriott Bonvoy a few times per year. It offers plenty of hotel and travel perks, including a free night every year, airport lounge access, and complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status.

 

Unlike the Centurion card, this is a credit card instead of a charge card and anyone can apply for it. If you’re looking for a heavy, thick, metal credit card, it’s hard to beat the card construction of this one and the other two cards from Luxury Card: the Mastercard® Titanium Card™ (Review) and the Mastercard® Gold Card™ (Review).

It has a $495 annual fee, and comes with a set of high-end benefits, like valuable hotel discounts, but its rewards value doesn’t stack up well compared to other premium cards in this price range, like The Platinum Card® from American Express (Review) and the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Review). See our review of the Mastercard® Black Card™ card here.

 

This card is designed for people who frequently travel on United Airlines. There’s also a business version of the card.

It has a $450 annual fee, with benefits you’d expect, like United Club lounge access and the ability to check some bags for free. If you purchase United airfare frequently, you may be able to justify the annual fee, since it earns 1.5 United miles per dollar spent on all purchases and 2 miles on all purchases of United airfare.

 

Like several other cards on this page, it’s a premium card designed around travel benefits.

The unique feature of this card, which I’ve never seen on any other card, is a 3X reward point multiple for mobile wallet purchases. Many rewards cards offer a multiple on a certain category of purchase, but I’ve never seen a multiple based on how the transaction is processed. Maybe U.S. Bank pays lower fees to mobile wallet providers than when you swipe or dip your card, so they’re passing the savings along? Or maybe they’re just trying to be different.

Read our full review of the Altitude Reserve here.

 

This card offers 3 points per dollar spent on restaurants, gas stations, travel, and eligible streaming services. Points can be redeemed for 1¢ each, so that’s basically like 3% cash back in those categories.

 

Metal Credit Cards (Alphabetical, Business)

This is a great card for business owners who have Amazon Prime or Business Prime and spend a lot of money on Amazon.com or Amazon Web Services. It also provides the option to have more time to pay off the card without interest fees instead of getting rewards.

 

The Business Gold Card from American Express is unique because it provides 4X Membership Rewards points in the two categories you spend the most in, out of six possible categories (up to $150,000 in combined purchases per year, then 1X).

 

This business version of the Amex Platinum charge card costs $595 per year (Rates & Fees). It comes with benefits like Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors Gold statuses, airport lounge access, and more. Read our full review here.

 

This card business credit card is designed for people who frequently travel on United Airlines.

Like the personal version, the business card has a $450 annual fee, United Club lounge access, and the ability to check some bags for free. You may be able to justify the annual fee if you travel frequently on United, since it earns 1.5 United miles per dollar spent on all purchases and 2 miles on all purchases of United airfare.

 

Heaviest Metal Credit Cards

Not all credit cards are created equal — in particular, some metal credit cards are a bit stouter than others. While some only have a layer or veneer of metal, others are solid metal all the way through.

Related Post

Heaviest Credit Cards: 2020

The heaviest metal credit card is the JP Morgan Reserve Card, at 27g, but you can’t apply for that card directly. Most metal cards that you can apply for don’t weigh any more than 15g or 16g, with some exceptions, although that should do you just fine if you’re looking for a heavy credit card.

How to Destroy Metal Credit Cards

Unlike the plastic credit cards that find a home inside your wallet, you probably can’t grab a pair of scissors and simply cut up your metal card. Whether you’ve decided it no longer makes financial sense to keep open or have become the victim of a credit card scam and need a replacement, you’ll likely have to take a different approach. 

The safest way to destroy metal credit cards is to contact your card issuer directly and inquire about any disposal procedures it may have. Issuers like Amex and Chase will send you a prepaid envelope to return your metal credit card so they can destroy it for you. You may have even received a return envelope when you first got your card.

If you’re a DIY-kinda person and want to try destroying a metal card on your own, take note that you’ll have to be quite thorough — information is stored in the chip, the magnetic strip, and as text on the card itself. You could mangle the metal, but that won’t necessarily be enough. Do you know how to demagnetize a mag strip? Can you make sure no personal information can be retrieved? It might be harder than you think, so consider sending the card to the issuer.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, please click here.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, please click here.

For rates and fees of The Business Platinum® Card from American Express, please click here.

For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, please click here.