Activate, suspend, or revoke a card

Last updated: March 12, 2025

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

Inactive – The card is awaiting activation and is unusable until activated.
Active – The card can make payments.
Suspended – Incoming authorizations are temporarily declined until the card is reactivated or revoked.
Revoked – All payments are permanently declined and the card cannot be reactivated.

You can manage the status of a card at any time as follows:

Activate a card that was inactive or suspended.
Suspend an active card.
Revoke an active or suspended card.
Schedule a date for card revocation.

You can also receive webhooks about status changes.

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
Suspended cards

You can activate a card using:

Alternatively, the cardholder can activate the card by performing their first Chip and PIN transaction at a point of sale (POS), or by withdrawing cash at an ATM.

You need the Admin role or a custom role with the Manage Issuing data user permission.

Sign in to the Dashboard.
Go to Issuing > Cards.
Select the card you want to activate.
In the Card details screen, select Activate card.

Call the Activate a card endpoint, and provide the unique identifier for the card as the {cardId} path parameter. For example, crd_fa6psq242dcd6fdn5gifcq1491.

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, stolen, or used for fraudulent activity, you can suspend the 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

You can suspend a card using:

You need the Admin role or a custom role with the Manage Issuing data user permission.

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

Call the Suspend a card endpoint, and provide the unique identifier for the card as the {cardId} path parameter. For example, crd_fa6psq242dcd6fdn5gifcq1491.

In the request body, set the reason field to one of the following reasons for suspending the card:

suspected_lost
suspected_stolen

post

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


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}

You can now 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 the card to permanently freeze it and automatically decline any new transactions.

You do not need to suspend an active card before revoking it.

Note

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

You can revoke a card using:

You need the Admin role or a custom role with the Manage Issuing data user permission.

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

Call the Revoke a card endpoint, and provide the unique identifier for the card as the {cardId} path parameter. For example, crd_fa6psq242dcd6fdn5gifcq1491.

In the request body, set the reason field to one of the following reasons for revoking the card:

expired
reported_lost
reported_stolen

post

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


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


1{
2  "_links": {
3    "self": {
4      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491",
5      "actions": [
6        "GET"
7      ],
8      "types": [
9        "application/json"
10      ]
11    },
12    "controls": {
13      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/controls?target_id=crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491",
14      "actions": [
15        "GET"
16      ],
17      "types": [
18        "application/json"
19      ]
20    }
21  }
22}

To help decrease the likelihood of fraud, you can schedule cards to be revoked automatically using:

You can also set a revocation date or a lifetime value when you first issue a card.

Note

If you schedule a revocation date after the end of the card's lifetime, the card is revoked when it expires.

You need the Admin role or a custom role with the Manage Issuing data user permission.

Sign in to the Dashboard.
Go to Issuing > Cards, and select the card you want to auto-revoke.
On the Card details screen, select the Revoke card dropdown, and then select Schedule revoke date.
Select the revocation date, and then select Confirm.
A revocation timer appears next to the card summary on the Card details screen.
To update or remove the revocation date, select the date in the revocation timer.
To update, select a new date.
To remove, select Clear.
Select Confirm.

Call the Schedule card revocation endpoint, and provide the unique identifier for the card as the {cardId} path parameter. For example, crd_fa6psq242dcd6fdn5gifcq1491.

In the request body, set the revocation_date field to the date when you want the card to be revoked, in YYYY-MM-DD format.

You can also use this endpoint to update the revocation date any time before it arrives.

post

https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/{cardId}/schedule-revocation


1{
2  "revocation_date": "2025-01-27"
3}


1{
2  "_links": {
3    "self": {
4      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491",
5      "actions": [
6        "GET"
7      ],
8      "types": [
9        "application/json"
10      ]
11    },
12    "controls": {
13      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/controls?target_id=crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491",
14      "actions": [
15        "GET"
16      ],
17      "types": [
18        "application/json"
19      ]
20    }
21  }
22}

Call the Delete scheduled revocation endpoint, and provide the unique identifier for the card as the {cardId} path parameter. For example, crd_fa6psq242dcd6fdn5gifcq1491.

delete

https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/{cardId}/schedule-revocation


1{
2  "_links": {
3    "self": {
4      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/cards/crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491",
5      "actions": [
6        "GET"
7      ],
8      "types": [
9        "application/json"
10      ]
11    },
12    "controls": {
13      "href": "https://api.checkout.com/issuing/controls?target_id=crd_fa6psq42dcdd6fdn5gifcq1491",
14      "actions": [
15        "GET"
16      ],
17      "types": [
18        "application/json"
19      ]
20    }
21  }
22}

After you've integrated the Card Management Android SDK or iOS SDK, you can activate, suspend, and revoke your cardholder's cards in your mobile app.

Follow these steps:

Call the getCards() method to get a list of the cardholder's cards:


1cardManager.getCards { result: Result<List<Card>> ->
2  result.onSuccess {
3    // You receive a list of the cardholder's cards that you can display in your UI
4    // Returned card details include the last four digits of the PAN, expiry date, cardholder name, card status, and card ID
5  }.onFailure {
6    // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more information
7  }
8}


1cardManager.getCards { result in
2  switch result {
3  case .success(let cards):
4    // You receive a list of the cardholder's cards that you can display in your UI
5    // Returned card details include last four digits of the PAN, expiry date, cardholder name, card status, and card ID
6  case .failure(let error):
7    // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more information
8  }
9}

Call the Card.possibleStateChanges() method to request the possible statuses you can change the card to:


1// Returns a list of possible states you can change the card to
2val possibleNewStates = card.possibleStateChanges
3
4// You can activate the card, if the state was returned by possibleStateChanges
5if (possibleNewStates.contains(CardState.ACTIVE)) {
6  card.activate(completionHandler)
7}
8
9// You can suspend the card, if the state was returned by possibleStateChanges
10if (possibleNewStates.contains(CardState.SUSPENDED)) {
11  // Optionally, you can pass the reason for suspending the card
12  val reason: CardSuspendReason? = CardSuspendReason.LOST
13  card.suspend(reason, completionHandler)
14}
15
16// You can revoke the card, if the state was returned by possibleStateChanges
17if (possibleNewStates.contains(CardState.REVOKED)) {
18  // This is a destructive and irreversible action - once revoked, the card cannot be reactivated
19  // We recommended requesting user confirmation in the UI that they intend to perform this action
20  // Optionally, you can pass the reason for revoking the card
21  val reason: CardRevokeReason? = CardRevokeReason.STOLEN
22  card.revoke(reason, completionHandler)
23}


1import CheckoutCardManagement
2
3class YourObject {
4
5  // Returns a list of possible states you can change the card to
6let possibleNewStates = card.possibleStateChanges
7
8// You can activate the card, if the state was returned by possibleStateChanges
9if possibleNewStates.contains(.active) {
10    card.activate(completionHandler: cardStateChangeCompletion)
11}
12
13// You can suspend the card, if the state was returned by possibleStateChanges
14if possibleNewStates.contains(.suspended) {
15    // Optionally, you can pass the reason for suspending the card
16    let reason: CardSuspendReason? = .lost
17
18    card.suspend(reason: reason, completionHandler: cardStateChangeCompletion)
19}
20
21// You can revoke the card, if the state was returned by possibleStateChanges
22if possibleNewStates.contains(.revoked) {
23    // This is a destructive and irreversible action - once revoked, the card cannot be reactivated
24    // We recommended requesting user confirmation in the UI that they intend to perform this action
25    // Optionally, you can pass the reason for revoking the card   
26    let reason: CardRevokeReason? = .lost
27
28    card.revoke(reason: reason, completionHandler: cardStateChangeCompletion)
29}

Complete the change to the relevant status:


1fun cardStateChangeCompletionHandler(result: Result<Unit>): Unit {
2  result
3    .onSuccess {
4      // The card state is successfully updated and reflected by both the back end and the SDK
5    }.onFailure {
6      // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more details
7    }
8}


1func cardStateChangeCompletion(_ result: CheckoutCardManager.OperationResult) {
2    switch result {
3    case .success:
4        // The card state is successfully updated and reflected by both the back end and the SDK
5    case .failure(let error):
6        // If something goes wrong, you receive an error with more details
7    }
8}

You can configure webhooks to be notified when cards are activated, suspended, or revoked:

Activate, suspend, or revoke a card

Activate a card

Activate a card in the Dashboard

Activate a card using the API

Response example

Suspend a card

Suspend a card in the Dashboard

Suspend a card using the API

Request example

Response example

Revoke a card

Note

Revoke a card in the Dashboard

Revoke a card using the API

Request example

Response example

Schedule card revocation

Note

Schedule card revocation in the Dashboard

Schedule card revocation using the API

Request example

Response example

Delete scheduled revocation using the API

Response example

Manage card status in your app

Set up webhooks