Locking Your Credit Card: How it Works, When To Do it

Recently after my son asked me to buy him something for the 417th time that hour, I threatened to lock up my credit card and throw away the key. Since he's too smart for his own good, he reminded me that it's stored on Amazon, so that very literal kind of credit card lock would be pretty useless.

There is another kind of credit card lock, however, that can be a lot more effective. While many people don't realize this, you can actually contact your credit card company to lock your card and prevent any new purchases from being made.

This isn't just designed to thwart tenacious six-year-olds, though. The purpose of a credit card lock is to stop your card from being misused if you misplace the card, are afraid you've been a victim of identity theft, or can't curb your impulsive spending.

Here's how a card lock works, along with some details about when you can use this option.

What is a card lock?

Credit card lock is a security feature that some credit card companies offer. It prevents any new purchases from being made on your credit card, either online or in-store. Typically, card lock also prevents cash advances.

However, card lock won't prevent any recurring purchases or autopays you've already set up, such as recurring payments for a streaming service that you make automatically with the card each month.

When it's available, you can typically activate card lock using your credit card company's mobile app or using your online account. Your credit card company may also lock your card for you, even without a specific request, especially if you call them and let them know that you've lost it.

Depending on your card issuer's policies, your card could be locked for a set period of time or could remain locked until you manually unlock it.

When you should lock your credit card

Contacting your card issuer to lock your credit card may seem like a drastic move since all new purchases will be blocked. But there are plenty of situations in which requesting a lock makes sense, including the following reasons.

You misplaced your credit card

Since I'm not the world's most organized person, I've temporarily misplaced my credit card somewhere between two and 232 times (depending on whether you ask me or my husband).

When my card is misplaced but I feel reasonably confident I'll find it eventually, locking it makes more sense than cancelling it, getting sent a new card, and having to change my credit card number for dozens of autopayments.

This is, in fact, one of the situations when locking your card makes the most sense since you can make sure it's not misused if it's actually lost. You don't have to go through the hassle of getting a whole new card when the odds are good it'll turn up in your couch cushions eventually.

You're worried about fraud

If you suspect you may have been a victim of fraud or identity theft, locking your card will stop criminals in their tracks. They may try to use your card number or swipe your card for their nefarious purchases, but card lock will come to the rescue and thwart them.

So, if you get a notification of a data breach or accidentally type your card number into a website at midnight because they have the cutest designer jeans only to realize the next morning that the site is super sus, you can go ahead and request a card lock until you're sure that all is well.

Just be aware that locking your card isn't a substitute for reporting unauthorized charges. If someone used your card without your permission and you don't want to be held accountable, you must report this to the card company and probably close the card down for good.

You want to limit another cardholder's access

If you have authorized users on your card but you want to limit their access temporarily to make sure they can't charge anything, you can accomplish this by locking the card. This works because even authorized cardholders can't make a purchase on a locked card without you unlocking it first.

This can be a good option if, for example, you give your child a card to help them build their credit score but you don't want them actually using it to buy Robux or a "6-7" T-shirt (at least not until you figure out what those things actually are).

You want to keep an old or seldom-used account open safely

If you have an old card or a card that's fallen out of favor and you don't use it much any more, it still may be wise to keep that card open. Closing it could cause your credit score to take a hit as you change your credit utilization ratio by giving up access to the credit, shorten your average age of credit, and lose the positive payment history record.

Unfortunately, keeping a dormant card open can create a risk because if someone steals the number and starts using it, you may not even notice. The good news is, locking the card ensures that no one can do that.

One great technique to keep dormant cards open involves charging a single recurring monthly expense on the card, setting up autopay, and then locking the card. The recurring expense will continue each month even when the card is locked, the card will stay active, you'll benefit from the on-time payments, and you won't have to risk it being used by the wrong people.

You want to prevent impulse spending

Credit cards can be great tools to build credit, earn rewards, and take advantage of consumer protections. But if you can't trust yourself not to charge too much, they can become a major problem for your financial stability.

Locking your card could help you to avoid impulse spending while still getting the benefits cards offer.

Since you can't just charge something without unlocking the card first, you have plenty of time to think before you make an impulse buy. And, for many, laziness will win out and it will be too much trouble to go unlock the card just to charge something you don't really need.

How credit card locks work

Card locks aren't complicated, which is a good thing. Here's how they work.

• You contact your card issuer and ask to have the card locked (or your issuer locks it for you because you report that you misplaced it)
• Your recurring purchases continue
• You can't use your card any more for new purchases online or in-store, and you can't take out a cash advance
• Any past purchases won't be affected

If you decide you're ready to use the card again, you can unlock it. Otherwise, it will stay locked until you request that it be unlocked or, if your card issuer has a time limit, until the time runs out.

Which transactions are declined during a credit card lock?

If you lock your card and try to use it, most transactions will be declined. This includes:

• New purchases in-store
• New purchases online
• Cash advances

If you have set up autopay or recurring transactions on your card, they will still go through.

How to lock a credit card

There are several different ways you can lock a card. Here are two of the most common.

Mobile app

Most card issuers that offer card lock allow you to both lock and unlock it using the mobile app. For example, Capital One explains you can sign into your app to ask the card issuer not to allow any new charges.

Over the phone

If you are not a stereotypical millennial like me and you actually like to use the phone to talk to real human people, you can typically call your credit card company and ask them to lock your card. This could be a good option if you also need to alert customer service to a more serious issue such as fraudulent charges.

Which issuers offer card lock

Many card issuers offer card lock including:

• Apple
• Capital One
• Chase
• Citibank
• Discover
• Navy Federal Credit Union
• State Employees Credit Union
• U.S. Bank
• Wells Fargo

You can call or contact your card issuer online to see if locking your card is an option for you.

Credit card lock vs. credit freeze

A card lock and a credit freeze are both tools you can use to protect your identity and make sure criminals can't steal from you. But they work very differently.

So, what is the difference between a credit freeze versus a lock? Card lock stops the use of one card that you ask to have locked. It doesn't prevent thieves from opening new credit in your name.

A credit freeze, on the other hand, prohibits access to your credit report. If a lender or card issuer or anyone else asks for your credit report or history, they'll be met with a big "Nope" from the credit reporting agencies (at least the ones you froze your credit with).

After freezing your credit, anyone trying to open new credit in your name will be stopped when the lender tries to check your credit during the application process. However, if they have an existing card of yours that's not locked, they can use it to their heart's content.

If you think you were the victim of identity theft, locking your current cards and doing a credit freeze could both be important steps in making sure criminals can't go hog wild with your cards like a six-year-old left unsupervised in a toy store, if such a thing existed anymore!

FAQs

Bottom line

As it turns out, card lock is the solution to stopping my child from impulse buying every item he sees — and it's the solution to a lot of other situations where you may not want your card to be used.

If you want to prevent future purchases on your card for any reason and your card issuer is one of the many that offers the service, you can sign into your app or call today to put a lock in place.

If your card issuer doesn't offer this security tool, consider checking out some of the best credit cards to explore some issuers that do. 

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