How to Activate My Credit Card

How do I Activate my Credit Card?

When you qualify for and receive your brand new credit card, you may be excited to get started with your new payment method and begin using it immediately. But if you don't take the time to activate credit cards correctly, you may find that you run into trouble the first time you try to make a payment!

Even if you have had a credit card before, you may find you have difficulties. If you have just received a new credit card from a new bank, you may be puzzled over exactly how to activate it. You may find that the activation process for a Chase Activate Credit Card will be different from that of Bank of America or American Express cards.

Below we will look at the various ways to activate your card over the phone, activate your card online, and what to do if you are struggling to activate your new credit card account on your mobile banking site.
 

Activating Your Credit Card Online on the Bank Website.

The quickest, easiest, and most efficient way to activate your credit card is probably online. You won't have to wait for hours on hold to customer service and all the instructions will be set out clearly on the screen in front of you. This should prove pretty simple as long as you have chosen to be enrolled in the online banking scheme.

- Your first step will be to log into the Bank's Website using your online banking ID and temporary password.

- When you first log into online banking you may have to complete some preliminary security checks including inputting your date of birth or receiving a confirmation phone call from the back.

- Once your log-in and security checks have been completed, you will be presented with a screen that should show the option of "Card Activation" or "Activate Card." Select this button and click.

- At this point you will be asked to input your ATM pin. You should have received this with the letter that came with your card. (If not, you will need to make a call to the customer service phone number before you can proceed.)

- Once you have confirmed you will be sent an OTP (One Time Password) message to your phone number registered with the bank. This is so that you provide confirmation of your identity. Input the OTP when prompted to proceed.

- You should now get the notification screen to confirm that your Credit Card has been activated.
 

How To Activate your Credit Card on a Bank Mobile App.

As long as you have enrolled in the online banking scheme, you should also be able to activate your new card using a Bank Mobile App. The mobile banking apps of all the major US banks will be available to download onto your smartphone from the App Store or Google Play.

- Once the mobile banking app has been downloaded, you will need to register your online account in the app and log in.

- In order to do this, you will need to create a log-in account using your email address or user ID and your password for your account. You will also have to either answer or create security questions to ensure that your app can’t be used by anyone else.

- You will then be able to select the "Register Card" option. On this page, you will then discover the "Activate Card" section.

- To do this you will need to enter your ID details and the card details such as the card number along the front of the card and the CVV number which can be found on the back of the card.

- Then choose the next option, which should be to send the OTP.

- The One Time Password will be sent to the mobile phone you have registered with your bank. You will be prompted to enter this password into the mobile banking app.

- Select "OK" or "Next" and you should see a confirmation screen to confirm this process has been set up.

If you are struggling with the process, if the app isn't working, or your details are not being recognized you will need to call the number for the bank's customer service department. 

How to Activate Your Credit Card on The Phone.

if you are unfamiliar with using the internet or mobile apps, are having difficulty, or would just prefer to be guided through the process by a human, then you should contact the bank's customer service department. The customer service assistants will be well practiced in activating credit cards and the process should not take more than a couple of minutes to complete.

To find the customer service department phone number for your bank you can visit their website.

Credit Card Activation by SMS Text.

Your chosen bank may have a facility to allow you to activate your new credit card by text message. You will need to contact your bank ahead of time to see if they offer this service. This process involves sending a text to your bank's customer service department. The message of the text will be predefined by the bank and needs to be sent to a special card activation phone number.

Once you have sent the text successfully, you will receive an immediate text response which will update you on how to proceed further to confirm and activate your card.
 

Takeaway - How do I Activate my Credit Card?

Activating your credit card should not be a stressful process. If you are struggling, then following our guide above should help to make the whole procedure a lot easier! There are different methods of activation so that you can select the method which is best suited to your available technology and computer knowledge.

If you are having trouble with activating your credit card, then you may find that the old-fashioned approach is the most effective - calling customer service! A customer service agent will know exactly what to do to make sure that you activate credit cards successfully.