Target Circle Card's account management system will be down for a week starting Tuesday.

That means customers will not be able to pay bills through the site or conduct any other business in regard to the card until the following Tuesday, March 18.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said the site work will not affect people's ability to use the card, and if customers want to pay their bills, they can mail a check or pay in one of the stores. They will not be penalized late fees if they want to wait until the site is up again.

And when the site is live again the week after, it will have a new look, Target said.

Following the update, Circle cardholders can expect some changes to the current features. Target urges cardholders to familiarize themselves with the new layout following the maintenance.

The retailer declined to provide details on why the maintenance is happening.

The maintenance comes less than a year after the RedCard was rebranded to its current name as part of the Target Circle 360 launch. The change in name was meant to reflect the company's overhaul of its previous loyalty program.

In 2022, Target extended its contract with TD Bank through 2030.

Ted Rossman, senior analyst at Bankrate, said a week offline is abnormal, but it could be that Target is replacing outdated technology or the retailer is launching a mobile app to make payments easier.

"Sometimes even these big well-known companies are running on far older systems than we realize," Rossman said.

It's unlikely the outage signals the retailer is partnering with a new vendor for the card. Those kind of changes typically play out publicly over the span of a few months, similar to Apple and Goldman Sachs.