There is a wide range
Between myth and reality. Sometimes the myth may contain tiny bits of truth which are then blown out of proportion and everyone gets scared. Soon the gossip channels are afire with the misrepresented details and no one learns the actual truth.
A cell phone can demagnetize a credit card but only if the card is exposed to the phone’s magnetic field for a long time. Cell phones and credit cards should not be stored together when not in use, but they may be used alongside one another for short durations without incurring damages.
To learn how phones demagnetize credit cards, just continue to read our article. It explores this topic letting you know once and for all if it is a myth or reality. Take a few minutes and see what the answer is.
Will a cell phone damage a credit card?
The source of the myth comes from the fact that credit card magnetic strips are made up of millions of microscopic magnetic particles. Then cell phones do have small, not so powerful magnetic forces inside of them.
When we say small, not so powerful, we mean that the magnetic field generated by a cell phone is so weak, you couldn’t even move iron filings across a table with a cell phone.
While long-term exposure to magnetic fields can demagnetize the credit card magnetic strip, that exposure to a cell phone’s magnetic field would have to be so long that you never use your cellphone again.
The possibility is there, although the reality is not. Chances are you will move your phone long before any possible damage will occur. Then most people do not put their credit cards in the same location as their cellphone.
It is easier to lose those cards if you do. Keeping your cards in another wallet is just smart decision-making. If you lose your phone, you still have your cards to buy another one.
Is it safe to put your bank card in your phone case?
From a demagnetizing viewpoint, yes it is. The magnetic field coming from the phone is not powerful enough to go through the card holder’s protective cover or vinyl slot. While there is a magnetic field to all cellphones, it is only strong enough to power the phone and does little else.
From any other viewpoint, no it is not safe to put your credit card in your cellphone case. There are so many situations where you could lose or have your cell phone stolen that if you do this, you lose a lot more than a cellphone.
Then if you simply misplace your phone, you are without any credit card support and will spend a long time searching for your misplaced phone. keeping credit cards safe is not always easy as one can lose or have their wallet stolen just as quickly as they would their cell phone.
There is no completely safe place to keep credit cards if you use them on a daily basis. If you want to keep your cards in your cell phone case, there is nothing wrong with doing just that.
Like a wallet, you just have to be extra careful how you handle the case and how you handle your credit cards.
Do credit cards get demagnetized by phones?
Prolonged exposure will be the only way a cellphone will demagnetize your credit cards. The magnetic fields produced by these phones are just not powerful enough to do any real damage.
There are other magnetic fields you should be more concerned about and careful when you handle your credit cards around them. here is just a list of a few of those magnetic forces:
- fridge magnets- far more powerful than a phone magnetic force
- MRIs- but then, you do not usually carry your wallet into the room where an MRI is located
- A store’s tag demagnetizer- these are usually called an electronic article surveillance tag demagnetizer and you have seen them used on those tags attached to clothing you want to purchase.
- magnetic clasps- these are found on wallets and handbags and they are more powerful than a phone magnetic field
- other magnetic strips- these have the power only if there is direct contact between magnetic strips. In other words, the backs of cards have to be facing each other to demagnetize each other
What you should be worried about even more than a cell phone damaging your credit card, are all the other more harmful means that ruin credit card magnetic strips. Those items that can cause scratches should be a bigger concern.
Or long term use creates enough wear and tear that makes your magnetic strip unreadable by the terminal.
Do cell phones demagnetize hotel keys?
If this happens to you, the culprit or the aspect that is responsible will not be your phone. The weak magnetic field your phone has would only work if the hotel operator used poor and low-quality equipment to encode their cards.
Or they used a card type that was not designed to be encoded multiple times. Since most hotels do not have as large of a budget that a credit card company has, they often buy inferior equipment and supplies making those hotel key cards vulnerable to a multitude of demagnetizing sources.
The key to magnet strip security is found in the word Coercivity. That is the measuring stick for magnetic strips and what it does is measure the amount of Oersteds (Oe) found on those magnetic strips.
A coercivity score means that the card is very vulnerable to demagnetization. A score of 300 OE is considered low and is often used on those cards, like hotel key cards, which have their data changed frequently.
A high OE score, like credits cards, have, reaches 2,750 OE or higher. That high score makes it difficult for cellphones to demagnetize credit cards. the higher scoring magnetic strips are still vulnerable to erasure but you need to be near a very powerful magnetic to get that job done.
There is some more good news here. A credit card is not powerful enough to demagnetize a hotel key card. That is so despite the claims made by many hotel managers.
A magnet will erase your phone’s data
Now that we have warned you about all the magnet possibilities that may ruin your credit cards, there is the topic of losing your phone’s data. This is another myth that makes its way along the gossip channels and gets spread faster than anything else.
The good news is that to erase your phone’s data you would have to put in direct contact with the most powerful magnet ever invented. Since cellphones use magnets for orientation and navigation a small magnet like a fridge one will not harm your phone or clear its data.
The reason for saying this is that most modern phones made today use solid-state drives or flash drives to store your information. These drives work on an electrical signal, not a magnetic one.
Magnetic fields do not usually interfere with electrical signals. You can place a fridge or other magnet next to your phone accidentally and your data will still be there when you return.
Just do not do that when you store your credit cards in your cellphone case. or you will have some problems paying for your next purchase.
Magnets and credit cards may become a moot point
You may not have long to worry about placing your credit cards next to your cellphone. technology is moving away from magnetic strip use and moving towards using another type of method to encode your data.
At least in Europe anyway. The trend is to go to contact and contactless chip cards that store your data better and makes sure it is safe from accidents like being placed next to magnets.
However, right now America is a little slow in making this switch due to the fact that the magnetic strip option has a large support infrastructure. It would cost American governments and merchants a lot more money to make the switch at this current time than it would to replace demagnetized cards on an individual basis.
Also, those tiny magnetic strips tend to hold a large amount of data on them and it does not cost anyone a lot of money to encode them with that data. These two facts are also reasons why American banks, governments, and merchants are slow to make the switch.
The day will come when smart cards do replace magnetic strip cards but that day may be a few years off yet.
Some final words
Even though it is hard to demagnetize your credit card by storing it next to a cellphone if the card has a low OE score it doesn’t take long for the damage to occur. In some cases, 30 minutes is all it takes to do a little damage to those magnetic strips. Each card is different as are the situations doing the possible damage.
Different cards will be affected in different ways. In the end, it is always best to be safe rather than sorry. Make alternative credit card storage plans even though it may only take a few seconds longer to reach for your card and make your purchase.