
There are plenty of credit cards that might be worth applying for. To make a good decision, it?s important to take into account practical considerations like your credit score and what you spend most of your money on – gas, groceries, travel, etc.
Unfortunately, even after narrowing down on the cards you can get and examining a card’s financial value based on your particular spending habits, you may find that the actual card you ultimately receive in the mail doesn’t seem to weigh up to the financial value if offers you. Even cards that have excellent perks and benefits are often made out of weak plastic material or otherwise poorly constructed.
However, there are a handful credit cards that are both a savvy financial decision and also built to last; in particular, they tend to be made out of metal. These cards don?t wear out so easily and are also frankly just more impressive when you whip them out of your wallet.
To find out which top cards appear the most valuable, in addition to backing up their impressive appearance with real financial value, we looked at the most popular metal credit cards on the market to help answer your questions about which cards are worth getting and what makes them well constructed.
First, let?s get to some common questions.
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Can you get a 24k gold credit card?
Yes. There is a 24k gold credit card from Luxury Card issued by Barclays called the Mastercard? Gold Card?. The Gold Card is made with a 24k-gold-plated stainless steel front and a carbon back. This card has a $995 annual fee, and it’s $295 to add each authorized user. In our opinion, this card is not worth the annual fee unless you overvalue the fact that it contains gold. Here are the details:
Mastercard Gold Card Review
Rating: 4 Stars
Bottom Line:
Luxury Travel Perks For Gold Fans
Annual fee: $995 ($295 for each Authorized User added to the account)
Credit Needed: (740 – 850) Excellent
Regular APR: 16.49% (Variable)
If you like the Gold Card’s features and benefits (which you see on the card details page by clicking the link above) – which we do think are excellent for luxury customers who travel regardless of the card’s flashy construction and high price – Luxury Card has two other models that offer a similar value at a lower annual fee that are built with less valuable metals. There is the Mastercard? Black Card?, composed of stainless steel, with a $495 annual fee, and the Mastercard? Titanium Card?, composed of brushed stainless steel, at a $195 annual fee.
The stainless steel Black Card actually offers the same features and benefits as the Gold Card, but for $500 less, presumably partly due to the cost to gold-plate the front of a credit card. If you don’t think gold plating a credit card is worth $500, you’ll want to get the Black Card.
Mastercard Black Card Review
Rating: 5 Stars
Bottom Line:
Luxury Travel Perks
Annual fee: $495 ($195 for each Authorized User added to the account)
Credit Needed: (740 – 850) Excellent
Regular APR: 16.49% (Variable)
Mastercard Titanium Card
Rating: 4 Stars
Bottom Line:
Luxury Travel Perks
Annual fee: $195 ($95 for each Authorized User added to the account)
Credit Needed: (740 – 850) Excellent
Regular APR: 16.49% (Variable)
Are there any credit cards that are entirely metal?
There are no major credit cards that are entirely metal. Most cards are made with metal-alloy. This means the metal that the card is titled after, for example, in the case of the Mastercard? Titanium Card that would be titanium, is only one component in the mix of metal materials composing the card. In other words, the metal alloy comprising Mastercard? Titanium Card might contain just a trace of titanium. The exact alloy used in the Mastercard? Titanium Card is stainless steel, which is used in several popular metal credit cards. Although it’s often asked, we’re not aware of any credit cards that contain aluminum.
The one challenge with stainless steel is that with a lot of use it can rust and show scratches. The rust could begin at the corners of your stainless steel credit card, although it’s rare for rust to occur at all. If the card doesn’t rust and you mostly use it for chip and pin or contactless transactions where it won’t have the danger of getting scratched during the swipe, it will look new for a long time.
Note that there are a couple of differences in the type of stainless steel used in cards. For example, the Mastercard? Titanium Card has a “brushed stainless steel front,” while the Black card and Gold card have just a “stainless steel front” (the stainless steel on the Gold card is gold plated and the Black card is PVD-coated). The brushed stainless steel on the Titanium card is even less likely to rust and could stay even more scratch-free as you use the card a lot. It’s also less reflective, and it can look cleaner, because it hides fingerprints.
If you’re curious as to what the Luxury Cards cards look like, take a look at these videos. The first video shows the MasterCard Gold Card, and you can notice at 31 seconds into this unboxing video that the gold plating is definitely reflective.
In contrast, the Titanium card is non-reflective. It has brushed stainless steel to make it less likely to corrode. You can see how dull and non-reflective it looks in the light at 17 seconds into this video.
Meanwhile, the Black card is not brushed. It’s PVD-coated. Physical vapor decomposition helps the card resist wear-and-tear. At 21 seconds into the last video you can see the PVD-coated stainless steel front and the carbon fiber back layers clearly.
If you like a slightly reflective look – but again, Gold is too much for you – then the Black card may be the best choice. At 18 seconds into this video, you can see the slight reflectivity of the non-brushed stainless steel on the Black card.
The Luxury Cards are by no means the only cards made of metal, or even the only cards made of stainless steel in particular. They happen to specifically highlight their construction as a key feature in both their name and in their promotional materials, so they are good cards to demonstrate different stainless steel finishes used in other cards.
While the Luxury Cards are on the MasterCard network, there are a number of cards on the American Express network. The most famous metal card from American Express is the Centurion? Card, also known as the Amex Black Card.
American Express Centurion? Card

Rating: 4 Stars
Bottom Line:
The Most Exclusive Credit Card
Annual fee: $5,000
Credit Needed: (740 – 850) Excellent
Regular APR: None, Pay Over Time May Be Available
The Centurion? Card is by invitation only; however, if you have an American Express credit card, you can request an invitation here.
One very popular stainless steel card in wide circulation that anyone can apply for is the American Express Platinum Card?.
American Express Platinum Card
Rating: 4 Stars
Bottom Line:
Perks For Frequent Travelers
Annual fee: $550
Credit Needed: (670 – 850) Excellent/Good
Regular APR: Not Stated In Terms and Conditions
Another major stainless steel card is the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite?.
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite
Rating: 5 Stars
Bottom Line:
High Travel Rewards from Mobile Wallet and Travel Purchases
Annual fee: $400, $75 per additional card issued
Credit Needed: (670 – 850) Excellent/Good
Regular APR: 17.24% (Variable)
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by the issuer. Any opinion, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed on this page are those of the author?s alone, and may not have been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer.
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