Creating cards

Learn how to create cardholders and issue cards.

Learn how to create virtual and physical cards in the Dashboard or API. Virtual cards can be used instantly after creation. Physical cards are sent to you by mail.

Create a cardholder

A Cardholder represents an individual or business entity that can be issued cards. To get started, create a Cardholder with name, billing information, and whether they’re an individual or company.

You can include additional information such as a phone_number or email; some features like digital wallets require a valid email or phone number.

Terminal

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/issuing/cardholders \
  -u sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "name"="Jenny Rosen" \
  -d "email"="jenny.rosen@example.com" \
  -d "phone_number"="+18008675309" \
  -d "status"="active" \
  -d "type"="individual" \
  -d "billing[address][line1]"="123 Main Street" \
  -d "billing[address][city]"="San Francisco" \
  -d "billing[address][state]"="CA" \
  -d "billing[address][postal_code]"="94111" \
  -d "billing[address][country]"="US"

Stripe returns a Cardholder object that contains the information you provided and sends the issuing_cardholder.created webhook event.

Stripe must screen cardholder identity information in accordance with legal and regulatory guidelines. This may affect cardholder attributes and block authorizations. Learn more about watchlist reviews.

Create a card

Create a Card and assign it to the cardholder. This request contains the ID of the Cardholder object, currency, and type (either virtual or physical) of the card. If you’re creating a physical card, a shipping address is required.

Terminal

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/issuing/cards \
  -u sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "cardholder"="ich_1Cm3pZIyNTgGDVfzI83rasFP" \
  -d "type"="virtual" \
  -d "currency"="usd"

Stripe returns a Card object upon creation, and sends the issuing_card.created webhook event.

Activate the card

In order for authorizations to be approved on a card, its status must be set to active.

Activate on creation

The card can be activated when creating it using the dashboard or the API. In the dashboard, when creating a card, click Activate card. Using the API, set status to active when using the create card endpoint.

Activate after creation

Alternatively, after creating an inactive card, the card can be activated using the dashboard or the API. To activate using the dashboard, select the card you wish to activate, then click Activate card. To activate using the API, use the update card endpoint to set its status to active.

Terminal

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/issuing/cards/ic_1CoYuRKEl2ztzE5GIEDjQiUI \
  -u sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "status"="active"