When you get your new credit cards in the mail, most of the time the credit cards comes unactivated.  Meaning if you want to use the credit card, you have to activate it first to use it.  If you don’t activate the credit card, the credit card will be declined.

There are usually 2 ways to activate your credit cards:

1. via Phone: The credit cards usually come with a sticker on the card with the telephone number to call to activate
2. via Online: Usually you can log in to your credit card online account to activate the credit cards.  Alternatively, the sticker on the new credit card in the mail will have the website address to activate your new card