By| Updated: December 5, 2017 For most consumers, it's a familiar process: A new arrives in your mailbox, you open the envelope, and the card bears a sticker reading, 'Please call from your home phone to activate your card.' Until then, your brand new credit card is as useless as a paperweight -- and just as secure, right? Not necessarily. The startling truth is that while some unactivated cards are automatically declined, many others sail through a purchase without a hitch. In those situations, anyone could come along, take that new credit card from your mailbox and use it. 'Very few banks send out a card that can't be used, at least in low-risk situations,' says Scott Stevenson, founder and CEO of Eliminate ID Theft, a credit protection service. 'But I'd bet most Americans think you cannot use a card unless you call and activate it.' 'It went through' Linda Pack of Norfolk, Virginia, is one of the few who already knew that activation wasn't necessary. 'I was fairly sure that it would work because, as an insurance agent, I've set up payments via a credit card over the phone, and we were allowed to set up the payments with cards that were not yet activated.' So when she got a renewal credit card that required an activation phone call, she went ahead and used it anyway. 'I just changed the card information on Amazon.com, made a purchase, and it went through.' Mar 02, 2017 Attention American Express Platinum Card members: New perks and a higher fee are coming your way as the financial services giant battles increased. Other cardholders have used inactivated cards to buy cosmetics, clothing and restaurant meals. One details a woman charging more than $200 with no problem. Keep on shopping While certain card issuers, including and, mail cards that can't be used without activation, some, such as and, may allow small purchases -- a coffee at Starbucks, for instance, or an online buy. Still others, reluctant to slow down a dedicated shopper, will allow a handful of purchases before you're forced to activate. 'In the card world, there's a lot of issuer discretion, so this is one of those things where there's no hard and fast rule,' says Peter Ho, product manager for card services and consumer lending at Wells Fargo. 'Very few banks send out a card that can't be used [without activation], at least in low-risk situations. But I'd bet most Americans think you cannot use a card unless you call and activate it.' -- Scott Stevenson Eliminate ID Theft Chances are, you'll never know whether your card comes locked-down or ready to use unless you give it a try, as did Eva Graham, of Newington, Conn. She charged a few purchases, problem-free, using a newly arrived American Express card -- a replacement for one she had lost. After a few days, the card was suddenly declined. When she called for help, a customer service representative reminded her that she had forgotten to activate the new card. 'I then asked them why I was able to make the prior charges, and they told me they were allowed to go through as a courtesy. It did worry me a bit that I was able to use it without activating; however, AmEx is very good when there is a disputed charge.'
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