Apparatus and method for indirectly determining activation status of newly issued financial presentation devices that replace existing financial presentation devices such as credit cards that are about to expire. The apparatus includes a computer device having an account update module that receives an account identifier for an existing credit card, determines a new expiration date associated with a newly issued credit card that replaces the existing credit card, retrieves transaction data associated with the new credit card and examines the expiration date of the retrieved data. If the expiration date associated with the retrieved transaction data matches the new expiration date, then the account update module determines that the newly issued card has been activated.