Hello, Dinks. Having a credit card stolen from you is very stressful. It sucks that people are so money hungry that they will do whatever they can to try and get more. Luckily, I haven’t had my credit card physically stolen. Someone did hack my number before. In today’s post, I will be going over some things that you need to do if your credit card is stolen.
Call your credit card company
This is one of the most important things you can do. The sooner that you call the credit card company, the quicker the chances are of getting your situation taken care of. When you call to report the card stolen, the credit card company will want to know your social security number, when the card went missing, how it went missing and the date of your last purchase. If you have any unauthorized charges, you may be responsible for up to $50. That all depends on how long it takes you to report it missing. Make sure you follow all the steps that your credit card company asks you to complete.
Watch your credit card statement
After a credit card theft, you want to pay attention carefully to your credit card statement for the next month. You also want to make sure that no unauthorized transactions show up. Sometimes transactions can take some time to process.
Fraud Alert
Fraud can mess up your credit report. You will need to call one of the three national credit reporting companies and let them know that your credit card has been stolen. You then want to ask for a fraud alert to be placed on your credit report. A fraud alert will notify lenders and creditors to take additional steps to verify your identification before they extend a credit line or loan in your name. A fraud alert can help prevent a thief from opening any new accounts in your name.
There are three types of fraud alerts. They are initial fraud alert, extended fraud alert and active duty military alert.
Review your credit report
The next thing that needs to be done is to review your credit. As you are probably aware, the three credit companies are Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. You are entitled to one free report with each company per year. Order your reports and review them carefully. You are looking for charges for purchases that you didn’t make. You’re also looking for accounts that are in your name that you didn’t open. If you see one of those contact the FTC.
Contact the FTC
The FTC is the Federal Trade Commission. One of the things they do is protect people from fraud. When you contact the FTC, you will need to create an Identity Theft Report. The Identity Theft Report will help you prove that you weren’t the person who made those fraudulent purchases using your name. The Identity Theft Report is made up of two parts. The first part is an Identity Theft Affidavit. The second part is a police report.
In summary, you want to call the credit card company, check your credit card statements, put a fraud alert on your credit report, check your credit report and contact the FTC.
Have you ever had your credit card stolen?
Jason Butler
Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.
I see this information repeated over and over on many sites, so much so that I feel like people are just cutting and pasting Blog entries they’ve seen and not actually understanding the reality of the situation.
While you have the first two steps correct, in the event of a lost or stolen credit card call your credit card companies fraud department and monitor your statements to make sure any fraudulent charges come off. Unless the thief actually stole your wallet along with the card and now has your Drivers License, Social Security Card and other personal documents that could be used to open new credit lines, the rest of the steps in this article are just WRONG and a waste of time.
Other then the name on your credit card, there is NOTHING to tie the thief to your credit report, home address or any other personal information needed to open NEW credit accounts. You might as well call and put a fraud alert on your credit reports because someone you just met now knows your first and last name.
Having a credit card stolen is NOT identity theft. If I have my Bank of America Visa stolen (card or just the number), there is zero fear that the thief now has a magic ticket to open NEW accounts at Citibank, Chase, etc. To think otherwise is silly and counter productive to the real threats associated with actual identity theft.
If you do have a card compromise it’s the Bank that needs to sweat it, you’re playing with their money after all. Call the bank, file a fraud claim, get a new card and go on with your life!
What John said.