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Activate a physical card

Physical cardsPhysical Card A payment card that is printed or embedded in wearables and sent to customers directly. Physical cards are created by first creating a virtual card and then upgrading it to a physical card. They are sent in an inactive state and must be activated by the card assignee before first use. are shipped in an inactive state. The card assigneeCard Assignee The person that a card is assigned to and who will use the card. For consumers, the card owner and card assignee are the same person. For corporates, the card assignee and card owner are different entities - the corporate is the card owner and the person using the card is the card assignee. Card assignees must be created as Authorised Users. must activate the card before first use.

Activation enables the card for physical use, such as point-of-sale (POS) and ATM transactions. Until the card is activated, it cannot be used and its API state is reported as BLOCKED - see the lifecycle overview for the full state machine.

Why activation is required

A card should only be activated once it has been delivered to and is in the possession of the card assigneeCard Assignee The person that a card is assigned to and who will use the card. For consumers, the card owner and card assignee are the same person. For corporates, the card assignee and card owner are different entities - the corporate is the card owner and the person using the card is the card assignee. Card assignees must be created as Authorised Users.. Requiring an explicit activation step is an essential risk control as it prevents a card that is intercepted in transit from being used by a fraudster before it reaches your customer.

For this reason, we recommend that you only let a customer activate a card once they have it in hand.

Choosing an activation approach​

When you implement the activation feature, you have two options for how the card assigneeCard Assignee The person that a card is assigned to and who will use the card. For consumers, the card owner and card assignee are the same person. For corporates, the card assignee and card owner are different entities - the corporate is the card owner and the person using the card is the card assignee. Card assignees must be created as Authorised Users. proves they hold the card:

  • Activate on demand: let the customer activate the card at any time from your app, without requiring proof that they physically hold the card. If you choose this approach, make sure your user experience clearly instructs the customer to activate the card only once they have received it.
  • Activate with an activation code: require the customer to enter an activation code that is delivered with the card. You set the code when you upgrade the card to physical, and we can configure it to be printed on the card carrier. Because the code travels with the card, this approach gives you stronger assurance that the customer is in possession of the card. To have the activation code printed on the card carrier, contact our support team.

Activate the card​

POST/managed_cards/{id}/physical/activateTry it
{
  "activationCode": "string"
}

If an activationCode was specified when the card was upgraded, the same code must be provided when activating the card. The activation code is returned in the response of the physical card upgrade endpoint.

After activation, the card transitions to the ACTIVE state and can be used for purchases.