An apparatus and method for activating and using a transaction card comprising two storage media is provided. A composite transaction card comprises a transaction portion detachably coupled to an activation portion. The transaction portion comprises a substantially planar transaction portion substrate having a machine readable transaction storage medium applied thereto. The transaction storage medium has transaction card data associated with an account stored therein. The activation portion comprises a substantially planar activation portion substrate having a machine readable activation storage medium applied thereto. The activation storage medium has activation data associated with the account stored therein.