Updated: July 5th, 2023

Using a Chase Credit Card via Digital Wallet Before Receiving the Card

Yesterday, I wanted to add my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card to my Apple Pay wallet so I could have the option to use it for promotions without having to actually carry the card in my wallet.

Chase Now Lets You Add Your Credit Card to Your Digital Wallet Without Having the Card in Hand

When I’ve had to replace my iPhone, it’s always frustrating having to find all of my physical cards to re-add because with Citi and Amex you need your 3 or 4 digit security code.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card

From my Chase app, I was able to add it with verification done via text message instead of needing the CID number. How great, I thought. I wonder if you could do this with a brand new card as well?

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And right on cue, in my Twitter feed, was today’s post from Doctor of Credit that you can now, in fact, add a brand new card to your digital wallet without having the card in your hand.

This is extremely valuable because when you apply for a new credit card, the clock starts ticking on your bonus offer period – the amount of spend you need to make in a fixed amount of time – once you are approved. And you may well be applying for the card specifically because you have some payments you want to make.

Here’s where to look inside your Chase app.

What Digital Wallets Can You Add Your Chase Card To?

You can add any of your personal Chase credit cards, like a Chase Freedom Unlimited, to Apple Pay, G Pay, or PayPal. It will text you a code (or you can get a voice call to your number on file).

For a while in 2021/2022, you could add business cards from the app once you’d activated the physical card, but at some point unknown, they’ve taken that feature away.

Chase will generally let you call and request your card expedited anyway – which is great – but this will give you an even greater head start on your spend.

American Express will almost always give you a digital number you can use right away, but only for personal cards. Citi, by contrast, will almost never expedite your card and you cannot add Citi cards to your wallet.

While not life changing, this is a nice new feature and good to know about.

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Have you done this?

Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.

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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.

17 COMMENTS

  1. I added my new Hyatt card to Apple Wallet, but it only showed the last 4 digits of the new card number, so I couldn’t use it to order stuff online.

  2. @sharon. That’s right – it will allow you to use it inside a wallet only. It won’t give you the card number. If you need it outside of the three wallets, you’d need to ask to have the card expedited in ~2 days.

  3. I tried to add my new account to the Chase digital wallet since I haven’t received my card yet and it won’t let me. It’s saying that I don’t have any eligible cards to add right now. Any idea why this might be happening?

  4. I’ve got Paypal and Google Pay installed on my device, but for some reason it’s only showing me Google Pay as a digital wallet…and even if I go to Google Pay, it’s saying I have no eligible cards (I only have personal cards). Wonder if they’ve started to close this loophole.

  5. I lost my card and had to order a replacement but now that I go in to add my new card I get a message stating card is already in wallet, but its not..

  6. I got an email from Chase a few days after instant online approval for a card. It said the new card ending in XXXX can be used prior to receipt via digital wallet. Only PayPal is listed as an available wallet when I attempted this. However, when I click on PayPal wallet to add the new card, the new card XXXX is not listed, so the Chase email is incorrect and I’m doubtful this method even works for using a card prior to receipt. BTW, I tried this using the Chase app and the Chase website. Fail both ways.

  7. This method worked great for me! It took me a couple tries. I had to do it from the Chase app and then selected which wallet I wanted to add it too. I chose google wallet, it asked for several prompts reading terms and conditions (the first time I tried this it said the card wasnt eligible, which turns out was because I didnt have NFC turned on in google wallet, once I did that it worked). Then it took me straight to google wallet and my card showed up and I can use it now! Note: with this method it said I could only use half of the total credit allowance, after that you have to wait for the physical card. Not a big deal for me, but good to know.

  8. This is not correct. I can add the card to a digital wallet, but can’t actually use it for any purchases. Adding to a digital wallet is all that Chase allows prior to the card showing up. If you can’t make a purchase, what’s the point?

  9. I have requested a new chase visa because mine was damaged but I cannot buy a physical card from my rewards. It only says digital which I do not want or use

  10. This seems to ONLY work if you already have a Chase account with an account number, since you can’t create an account without this info.

  11. This appears to only work for non-business cards. I added a personal chase card this way a couple months ago, and now I don’t see the option for my business card.

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