We are introducing a new way to activate physical cards. Instead of dedicated activation codes that need to be added to the card carrier you are able to activate cards via API based on the last four digits of the card's PAN.

Using refNum to activate physical cards

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To change the way your card manufacturer is preparing cards before shipping them out please consult directly with your contact person there

Previously it has only been possible to activate physical cards with a dedicated activation code that was provided by the card manufacturer when shipping the cards. This special (one-time) activation code needs to be added to the card carrier (e.g. sticker) and is sometimes overlooked by end users.

To address this issue we are enhancing our POST /cards/{cardId}/activate endpoint with a way to activate cards based on the last four digits of the PAN (which in our API we call refNum )

• Added a request body property called activationMethod with allowed ENUM values activationCode & refNum
• Allowed to provide activationCode values with 4 digits (previously 6 digits)

This applies to cards with the following TYPEs:

PHYSICAL
BLACK

Important: Once cards are replaced (currently only supported on the Pliant Platform; soon to be added to Pliant API) the activation method of the new card will match the one used for the replaced card.