Issue a card
Last updated: July 3, 2024
You can create physical or virtual cards to issue to an individual or a business.
Before you can issue physical cards, or virtual cards that are exposed to cardholders through a UI, your card design must have been approved by Checkout.com and the card scheme.
To create a card, you must first create a cardholder to issue it to.
To create a card in the Dashboard:
- Go to the Issuing > Cards screen.
- Select Create card.
- Select the type of card to create.
- In the cardholder dropdown, select the cardholder you created in the previous step.
- Fill out the optional Display name and Reference card details.
- In the card product dropdown, select the Card product to assign to the new card.
- Select Create card.
Alternatively, you can create a card using the API.
Use the id
returned in the create a cardholder response to create a new card and associate it with the specified cardholder.
When you create a new card, you must specify the card type
:
virtual
: virtual cards are activated upon creation by default, allowing the cardholder to begin performing transactions immediatelyphysical
: the cardholder must wait until they’ve received their physical card and PIN in the mail, and until their card is manually activated, before they can perform a transaction
If the entity you're issuing the card on behalf of has multiple card products configured, you must also specify the card product to assign to the card. To do this, use the card_product_id
field. The chosen card product will determine the characteristics of the issued card, including the currency and available card types.
To find a card product's ID, navigate to the Dashboard and:
- Go to the Issuing > Card products screen.
- Select the required card product.
- In the Card product details screen, copy the value displayed in the Card product ID field.
post
https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards
Note
Before you can begin to issue physical cards, you must submit a card design to your Onboarding Manager and have it approved by Checkout.com and the card scheme.
1{2"type": "physical",3"cardholder_id": "crh_d3ozhf43pcq2xbldn2g45qnb44",4"card_lifetime": {5"unit": "Months",6"value": 67},8"reference": "X-123456-N11",9"card_product_id": "pro_7syjig3jq3mezlc3vjrdpfitl4",10"display_name": "John Smith",11"shipping_instructions": {12"shipping_recipient": "John Paul Smith",13"shipping_address": {14"address_line1": "Checkout.com",15"address_line2": "90 Tottenham Court Road",16"city": "London",17"state": "London",18"zip": "W1T 4TJ",19"country": "GB"20}21}22}
1{2"id": "crd_fa6psq242dcd6fdn5gifcq1491",3"display_name": "John Smith",4"last_four": "1234",5"expiry_month": 5,6"expiry_year": 2025,7"billing_currency": "GBP",8"issuing_country": "GB",9"reference": "X-123456-N11",10"created_date": "2019-09-10T10:11:12Z",11"_links": {12"self": {13"href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491"14},15"credentials": {16"href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/credentials"17},18"revoke": {19"href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/revoke"20}21}22}
After you've created a card, you can retrieve its details or credentials using the API. The credentials endpoint will only return the card number and CVV.
Unlike virtual cards, physical cards are not automatically activated when created.
Before the cardholder can begin performing transactions, you must manually activate their physical card after they've received their card and PIN.
To activate a card in the Dashboard:
- Go to the Issuing > Cards screen.
- Select the card you want to activate.
- In the Card details screen that appears, select Activate card.
The cardholder can also activate the card themselves by performing their first Chip and PIN transaction at a point of sale (POS), or by withdrawing cash at an ATM.
Alternatively, you can activate a card using the API:
post
https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/{cardId}/activate
1{2"_links": {3"self": {4"href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491"5},6"revoke": {7"href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/revoke"8},9"suspend": {10"href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/suspend"11}12}13}
If you want to expose a card's details to the cardholder through your app after you've issued it, you can use our iOS SDK to securely display sensitive card information.