And if they get their hands on a card that you already own, forget about it:
http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit_card/

In this situation, how is shredding better than tearing it up? Shredded documents can be reassembled with tape too, right?

Yeah, this is true with almost anything you throw away though. I've heard plenty of tales in olden days of shady waiters/waitresses who used to piece together the old carbon copies of credit card receipts.

In my case, the person would be lucky if the c.c. company actually approved me. Plus, wouldn't they be suspicious if someone mailed in an application that has been taped together in a hundred different pieces?

I guess I should actually read the stories before commenting.

AUA - wow, that guy sounds like a dick

Matt - I would think it would be much harder, especially with lots of different shreds mixed together.

Phil - ha, too funny

Yikes. That will change the (rip in half, throw in mailroom trash) way I do business.

Holy Shit! I do it the way mystergirl does, I just rip them in half and throw them away. I guess now, I will have to shred & burn them. That credit card company should be alerted about what happened. I mean, who the hell approved a ripped up and taped up application. That person should be fired!

Aren't we overlooking the fact that this guy still just filled out his own credit card application, mangled as it was? I mean, he had all the information one would need (on himself) to complete an application. I'm not saying this isn't scary, or that this shouldn't have raised suspicions at AMEX, but you still need a social security number, date of birth, etc. to get a card under someone else's name. Not that someone can't get ahold of those too...

Wow, stop checking the internet for a few days and notice you've been linked, thus squandering any chance of developing new readers. Oh well.

I think it's important to point out that not only did he rip it up and tape it back together, he also changed his address with the same application. That really ought to be rejected out of hand by any reputable CC company.