How To Pick A Lock With A Credit Card

picker of locks feature image credit card

The Ultimate Guide On How To Pick A Lock With A Credit Card

We have all been there outside our door looking in our wallets and wondering, how to pick a lock with a credit card… Well, you need not look any further because we have the definitive guide to get you in that darn door! Note: This method only works on knob locks and lever locks (not deadbolts). This is the most simple method for picking a door lock. Learning how to pick a lock with a credit card will help you get past those low security locks that you often find on residential or house door knob locks. Although this method is simple and a bit caveman-like, it still takes a little practice to get it right. But it’s time to learn how lock picking works with credit cards- so here we go!

Step 1: Get A Credit Card For Picking That You Don’t Mind Destroying

This card is going to get jacked up for real, so don’t use that AMEX black card. Gift cards, membership cards or other thick plastic cards will work perfect for this if you don’t want to ice one of your nice cards. Make sure that card is flexible and sturdy, thick plastic ones work the best but you want to make sure that it is strong enough to press against the latch of metal inside and pop the door open eventually. This is the basic idea of this guide walking you through how to pick a lock with a credit card.

You’d really be surprised at how many door knob locks are easy to pick with a credit card, particularly the ones that you find inside homes and often times on apartments and condos. If you don’t have a credit card or some other type of card to pick the lock, you can fashion one from a plastic bottle of pop or thick clear plastic packaging – these often work even better than cards because they are large and therefor you can get more leverage on the object itself.

Step 2: Pop the card between the door and the door frame

Put the credit card in the slit just between the door and the jam, try to get it in there as far as you possibly can. Make sure you are inserting the credit card at a ninety degree angle along with the door. You can push on the door itself with the force of your body to reveal a piece of the door jam. This method is the easiest when the lock is slanted towards you and a bit more difficult if the lock that enters the door frame is facing away from you.

In the image down below, you can see what I mean by the “slanted” part of the lock that enters the door frame. Again, this method only works with certain types of locks and certain configurations of said locks. Generally you want the card to be hitting the lower portion of that lock slope because this will enable to card to completely slide between the locking mechanism and the hole in the door frame that it resides when it is locked.

Step 3: Tilt the credit card close to you

The card should be almost touching the door knob itself, remember this card is flexible for a reason so don’t worry because they are pretty hard to break. Now, push the credit card while pushing on the door with your arm and/or body until you feel it start to slide further into the door. Once you get the side of the card close to you, it might start to touch the doorknob which is perfect because it will then slide the credit card into the perfect position to force the bolt of the lock back downward towards the ground. Only one last step before you pop that pesky door open and get back inside your house!

If you are having trouble sliding in the card, push your body against the door. That will help create a little gap where you can insert your door picking tool, the credit card. Pressure is key here. It is key to be patient during the process. It may take up to five or ten minutes to get into the door. So keep trying and sliding until you hit it right.

Step 4: Bend the credit card back the reverse way

Doing this makes the credit card go underneath the curved end piece of the bolt which will force the bolt back inside the door. Push hard on the door while moving the card up and down and then open the door quickly. When I say push hard on the door it helps a lot to use your entire body to lean on it. Once you get the card and pressure in the right proportion and place, the door will pop open audibly. Keep jiggling that credit card and put the pressure on until you succeed. It is just a matter of time before you crack that door open.

If you get desperate, try cutting a V into the card and repeating the steps outlined above. And if you have followed this entire guide to a tee and opened that locked house door, then congrats! You have now learned the easiest way to pick a lock with a card. We hope you enjoyed out How To Pick A Lock With A Credit Card Guide – for learning how to pick more complex types of locks, please check out our How To Guides.

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Yes, this sounds crazy I know. But we are here to tell you that the old hotel ket card in your wallet is useful. It can get you into all kinds of doors. You will be breaking into a door in no time after following this guide. There are some amazing picking sets which are of course the best tools. However, with this simple tool you can get into your apartment. The best part about this method is that it will not damage your door at all! Don’t believe us? Try it out for yourself and report back.

Bad Locks For Picking With A Credit Card

There are some locks that you will not be able to open with a credit card. No matter what you do, that will take a more advanced lock picking technique to break in. So if you don’t succeed with this method, don’t fret. Because not all locks will open with this, you can check out our more advanced How To Guides for lock picking here: PickerOfLocks.com/How-To-Guides. In case you are wondering how to pick a deadbolt lock with a credit card, these are some of the more difficult or completely impossible locks figure our how to pick a lock with a credit card:

All Types of Deadbolt Locks
Knob locks when the slant is pointed away from your direction
Plate blocking locks (you can easily spot these)
Molding blocking locks
Slide locks behind the door on the inside that you cannot see (obviously)

If all else fails, you can buy a lock picking set. If the door is too advanced for this technique, there are millions of other ways to get inside, trust us on that one. Happy picking to you all!