The card lock feature is not unique to Cash App, but it can be very useful when you need it. While the feature sounds very straightforward, the separate function that lets you disable the card makes the entire thing a bit more confusing than it should be.
That begs the question: what happens when you lock your Cash Card exactly? How is locking your card any different from disabling it, and how do you go about the process of locking your card? As is our tradition here, we have answers to all your pressing questions.
In this article, I’ll show you what happens when you lock your Cash Card on Cash App. Also, you’ll get answers to some crucial Cash App questions that will make you a smarter user of the Cash App debit card going forward.
Can You Lock Up a Cash App Card?
Yes, you can lock your Cash App card. To temporarily lock your Cash Card, tap the Cash Card tab on your Cash App home screen, toggle Lock Card.
It’s crucial to note what locking up a card means and how we can appropriate that to Cash App. Only then can we accurately answer if you can indeed lock up a Cash App Visa debit card using the industry standards of card locking.
Card locking is a feature that prevents you from authorizing new transactions on your debit card. When you have a locked card, you’ll be unable to complete online transactions or make online payments using the card, even if you know the correct PIN to it. You just can’t authorize it to make the transaction.
Locking your card should be an effective security measure if you lost your card, as it would prevent any bad agents from using your card to pay for new transactions, even if they knew the security number of the card. However, recurring payments that you’ve set up before the fact should work just fine.
If you’ve messed around with the Cash App interface for some time before, you should know there’s an option that lets you lock up your Cash Card. From that, you can already guess it’s possible to lock your Cash Card, but this article is giving you extra assurance that your guess is right.
What Happens When You Lock Your Cash Card?
When you lock your Cash App card, any new transactions will be declined. However, you can unlock it at anytime and start using the card again.
Follow the steps below to temporarily lock your Cash App Card:
- Login to your Cash App account.
- Next, tap the Cash Card tab on your Cash App home screen
- Toggle Lock Card
The most noticeable difference after locking your Cash Card is that you’ll not be able to authenticate new transactions as long as the lock stays on. If you or anyone else tries to pay for a product or service using the said card, the transaction will be declined and you may receive a notification.
With this explanation, however, you may be wondering about the differences between locking your Cash App card and simply disabling it. It may seem unbelievable at this point, but there are a host of differences between the two, as you’ll come to see in a moment.
While disabling your card makes it impossible to complete any form of transaction whatsoever, some transactions can still go through with a locked Cash Card. Recurring transactions that have been authorized before the card was locked will still work fine because locking your card doesn’t render it useless.
For instance, if you have an ongoing subscription to your Netflix with your Cash Card, disabling the card will prevent the subscription from renewing as when due. If you’ve only locked the card, however, the transaction will go on successfully, while new transactions will continue failing.
It’s crucial to note that the merchant on the other end must set up the recurring charges properly for it to work as intended. If they rely on charging you manually each month, locking your card may still prevent you from being able to access the service, contrary to what’s above.
How to Lock a Cash App Card?
If you’ve been following this article, you should already know that it’s both possible and easy to lock your Cash Card, but all those still don’t guarantee that you can do it with no help. So, how do you lock a functional Cash App card to avoid unauthorized transactions?
Follow the steps below to temporarily lock your Cash App Card:
- Login to your Cash App account.
- Next, tap the Cash Card tab on your Cash App home screen
- Toggle Lock Card
Note that you don’t have to lose your card to lock it. If you’re trying to control your spending habits, locking your card might be a very effective way to go about it. Also, locking your Cash Card might be a good option if you don’t use it for transactions frequently, and you want to prevent a scam proactively.
Will Locking My Cash App Card Stop Automatic Payments?
As explained earlier, locking your Cash App card will do nothing to stop automatic payments if they’re set up correctly. Since you’ve already authorized the payment the first time, you can pass the authorization process, which makes it one of the transactions that will work regardless of your card’s lock status.
If you do want to stop automatic payments on your Cash App card, you may need to disable the card. As long as the card stays disabled, the automatic payments will stop working.
Conclusion
Locking your Cash App card works in a very unique way, and as you’d expect, it’s very different from disabling your Cash Card. If you’re looking to know what happens when you lock your Cash Card, this article is a complete guide.
Suzan was born in 1969 in Los Angeles and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She attended UCLA, graduating in 1992 with a BA in Social Welfare.
From 1999 to 2004, Weiss was a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins’ Krieger School of Arts and Social Sciences and an adjunct professor of creative writing at The New School’s Eugene Lang College. She has also taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, New York University, and Columbia University.
She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.