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Have you received your new credit card? Before you can take advantage of it, you need to activate it. Whether you’re a CIBC, TD, BMO, RBC, Scotia or American Express customer, each bank has its own methods for activating a credit card. Let’s take a look at each of them.
Activating a credit card guarantees that the rightful cardholder receives and wishes to use it. This is a crucial step in security and fraud prevention.
As a general rule, the following information is required to activate a credit card:
Generally, there are three main ways to activate a credit card in Canada:
The easiest way to activate an American Express credit card is to use the AMEX mobile application.
If you are a new user, create your online profile and activate your American Express credit card. You can also visit this site or call 1-800-869-3016.
Activation of your Scotiabank credit card can be started online, especially if you already have access to Scotiabank online banking. If you have a Scotiabank credit card, call 1-866-220-5355 or go to this page.
You can activate your National Bank credit card via NBC online banking:
Alternatively, you can activate your NBC credit card by calling 1-800-268-0808.
To activate your BMO credit card, you can do so via the BMO website or the mobile application. For BMO credit card activation by phone, the numbers vary depending on the type of card.
For example, for BMO Mastercard credit cards, call 1-800-263-2263.
Online activation of a CIBC credit card is available but requires creating a CIBC online account. If you prefer a traditional method of activating your CIBC Credit Card, call 1-800-385-2582.
Start the activation process for your RBC credit card online if you already have access to RBC Online Banking. Otherwise, call 1-877-900-5900 to activate your RBC credit card.
Unlike other banks, TD does not offer online activation. To activate your TD credit card, call 1-877-491-6062.
Your Mastercard credit card will be activated directly with your Visa credit card issuer (BMO, National Bank, MBNA, etc.).
Your Visa credit card will be activated directly with your Visa credit card issuer (BMO, RBC, Desjardins, etc.).
Savings this way:
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