A magnetic card reader receives a magnetic card with a magnetic stripe through an entrance port, transports the magnetic card along a transport path by transporting unit, carries out a process of reading and writing information out of and to the magnetic stripe of the magnetic card by magnetic read/write unit located facing the transport path, cuts the magnetic card into at least two cards in the direction orthogonal to the card transporting direction by a cutter unit located in the transport path, and guides those cut cards to a card discharge path or a collector path, both being continuous to the transport path, by first path-selector unit located at the intersection of the card discharge path and the collector path. In the magnetic card reader, a distance between the magnetic read/write unit and the cutter unit is the sum of the length of the cut card which is the shortest of all of the cut cards when viewed in the transport direction and a braking distance of the transporting unit in a time from a constant transporting state of the transporting unit to a stop state of the transporting unit by a stop signal.