Discover Adds On/Off Switch “Freeze It” To Their Credit Cards For Consumers

Discover has announced the launch of a new tool titled “Freeze It” which allows credit card holders to freeze their credit card temporarily. Cardholders are able to freeze their card online, by phone or via the mobile application. The premise is that if you simply misplace your credit card, you can freeze it until you find it again. This saves you from having to cancel the card and request a new one, even when chances are you’ll find it.

In addition to this, if the card is used while frozen they will receive an alert that notifies them of this (obviously indicating that the card is mostly likely stolen). It will also allow some activity to continue, for example recurring bills will continue to be processed as they represent legitimate charges. You’ll also continue to be able to use some features such as returns and reward redemption while the card is frozen.

We’re giving our cardmembers a fast and simple security feature that gives them more control over their accounts and more peace of mind if a card goes missing,

The Freeze It feature adds another layer of protection to Discover’s continued efforts to increase cardmember security and help prevent fraud.

Julie Loeger, senior vice president of marketing

I’m a big fan of this new feature by Discover, it’d also be awesome if they could tie the card location to the phone so that if the card was outside a distance of say 100ft the transaction would be declined, although this would require an upgrade a physical to the card as well. The promotional video for this feature is below.