why do credit cards have an expiration date?

Question

I get needing expiration dates back when they first came out, but it seems sort of antiquated in today’s world.

In: 17

Answer 1

I think if you don’t use a card for a period of time, they don’t send you a new one when it expires, and then your card/account becomes inactive, and then it eventually drops off your credit report. If they relied on people to cancel their cards, they’d have a bunch of people walking around with open lines of credit, which is a fraud risk.