One of the most stressful situations someone can find themselves in is losing a credit card or having one stolen. The amount of damage a thief can do to someone’s financial situation is tremendous. Thankfully, there are things you can do to minimize the harm to your credit, and hopefully stop the thief before he thinks he has gotten away with using your stolen credit card.
First of all, in the event your credit card is lost or stolen, contact the card issuer as quickly as possible and have them cancel the account. Many card companies have a twenty-four hour number available that you can call in case something like this happens. Immediately report that your card has been stolen or lost, and have the following information available for the customer service representative handling your case: your account number, the exact, or close to exact time your card was stolen, and the date when you last used your card.
The next step is to file a police report. This is extremely important since it will give you extra protection just in case your lost or stolen card becomes an instance of identity theft. Also, if you have problems with your credit report in the future due to this unfortunate event, having a police report will definitely help you resolve any problems you may have when dealing with a false statement on your credit report. Credit report bureaus are notorious for painstakingly handling claims of untrue bad credit marks. They want detailed accounts of incidents leading up to the cause of the bad credit report and if all the information is not presented to them, they will refuse to remove the bad credit mar. If unauthorized purchases are made on your account before you are able to report the card lost or stolen, however, you are protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act and you will only be accountable for the maximum of $50. Also, some credit card companies offer fraud liability, and you might want to ask about this when talking to the company representative about cancelling your lost or stolen credit card.
While losing or having a credit card stolen is an unforeseen misfortune, there are ways to help prevent it from happening. If you have several credit cards but only use one or two regularly, just carry the cards you frequently use and keep the others in a safe location. If you are purchasing something online, make sure the site is the actual site of the place you are using your card number to purchase from. There are many scammers out there who can make a website look like the real thing, when in fact it is just a sham. When you receive your credit card bill at the end of the month, don’t just glance at the balance—carefully read the list of purchases to verify that all the purchases were one you and only you made. By taking the time to use preventative measures, you will be saving yourself a lot of stress in the future when managing a lost or stolen credit card.