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 have no idea how accurate this is but I remember reading somewhere that the expiration date was just a suggestion at first based on how long the mag strips would last but that the date didn’t actually mean or do anything. Then people realized that the card still worked after the date and it lead to a bunch of fraud or something so companies started actually shutting the card off at that date.