Misplaced Your Card? Discover Introduces an On/Off Switch for Its Credit Cards

Today, Discover announced that it was introducing a new safety feature they call Freeze It. The new, free feature acts like an on/off switch to block new transactions, so users can deactivate their cards if they have temporarily misplaced their card.

Until the freeze is lifted, the card can’t be used to make purchases, cash advances or balance transfers. Cardholders will receive alerts if transactions are declined while their account is frozen, but some activity–such as bills marked as recurring by merchants, returns and rewards redemptions–will continue to operate as normal.

Cardmembers can activate or deactivate this feature from their mobile device, online, or by calling 1-800-DISCOVER.

If a cardholder believes their card has been permanently lost or stolen, they should call Discover and receive a new card and account number, as usual.

While the Freeze It feature is intended more for lost cards than theft or fraud, consumers can use it for an extra level of security, should they so choose. Cardholders can, for instance, lock their accounts when they know they won’t be using their card to reduce the risk of fraud, and unlock it when they are ready to use the card again.

Freeze It does not apply to Discover business cards.