Activate, suspend, or revoke a card
Beta

Last updated: March 22, 2023

You can manage the status of a card by activating, suspending, or revoking it at any point.

The card’s status determines whether any restrictions are placed on it:

inactive: awaiting activation, unusable until activated
active: no restrictions applied
suspended: incoming authorizations will be declined
revoked: all transactions will be declined

By default, new cards are marked as inactive.

The following cards must be activated before the cardholder can perform transactions:

newly created physical cards
virtual cards created using the API with "activate_card": false in the request
suspended cards

To activate an inactive or suspended card in the Dashboard:

Go to the Card 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 suspect your cardholder's card has been lost or stolen, or if there's suspected fraudulent activity, you can suspend a card to temporarily freeze it and automatically block any new transactions.

The following actions are still allowed on a suspended card:

authorization requests linked to a previous transaction, for example, an incremental authorization
recurring payments through merchant initiated transactions (MITs)
refunds
reversals
chargebacks

To suspend an active or inactive card in the Dashboard:

Go to the Card Issuing > Cards screen.
Select the card you want to suspend.
In the Card details screen that appears, select Suspend card.

Alternatively, you can suspend a card using the API:

post

https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/{cardId}/suspend

You can supply one of the following values in the request's optional reason field to state why you've suspended the card:

suspected_lost
suspected_stolen


1{
2  "reason": "suspected_lost"
3}


1{
2  "_links": {
3    "self": {
4      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491"
5    },
6    "activate": {
7      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/activate"
8    },
9    "revoke": {
10      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491/revoke"
11    }
12  }
13}

At this point, you can either reactivate the suspended card, or permanently revoke it.

If your cardholder reports their card as lost or stolen, or if there's confirmed fraudulent activity, you can revoke a card to permanently freeze it and automatically decline any new transactions.

You do not need to suspend a card before revoking it.

Note

Revoking a card is a one-way action. The card cannot be reactivated.

To revoke an active, inactive, or suspended card in the Dashboard:

Go to the Card Issuing > Cards screen.
Select the card you want to revoke.
In the Card details screen that appears, select Revoke card.

Alternatively, you can revoke a card using the API:

post

https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/{cardId}/revoke

You can supply one of the following values in the request's optional reason field to state why you've revoked the card:

expired
reported_lost
reported_stolen


1{
2  "reason": "reported_lost"
3}


1{
2  "_links": {
3    "self": {
4      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491"
5    }
6  }
7}

We've made some changes to our API

Activate, suspend, or revoke a card
Beta

Activate a card

Response example

Suspend a card

Request example

Response example

Revoke a card

Note

Request example

Response example