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Losing your credit card is upsetting enough, but if it is stolen, the experience is more distressing. There are several actions you should take immediately to report your stolen credit card, as well as to protect your account, your credit, and your identity. Once you've taken care of the damage control, you should do a credit report check to ensure the stolen card wasn't used to compromise your credit profile. 1. Contact the FTC Your first action item is to visit the website of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to file an Affidavit of Identity Theft. You can do this online at the FTC Complaint Assistant website. This site has a section specifically for those who lost their wallet or purse. 2. File a Police Report After completing the Affidavit of Identity Theft, you should report the theft to the police. While the police department may not retrieve your lost wallet or credit card, this is an important step in building an identity theft file to send to your creditors. Take a copy of the Affidavit of Identity Theft with you for the police and make sure to request a copy of the police report, or at least the file number, and file both documents in a safe place. The two documents together become your Identity Theft Report. 3. Report the Stolen Card According to the Federal Trade Commission, your liability for any unauthorized credit card activity is limited, depending on how quickly you report the theft to the card issuer. Most credit card issuers have 24-hour toll-free phone numbers that allow you to report the loss immediately. Be sure to document the date and time of your call, as well as the representative's name. Follow up with a letter confirming that you reported the loss. Keep a copy for your records, and use certified mail with a return receipt. According to the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), the most money you can lose from unauthorized activity is $50. If you report the loss before the card is used, you are not responsible for any unauthorized charges. Be sure to contact each of the three major credit reporting agencies in the U.S. (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) to notify them of the theft and ask each to post a fraud alert on your credit file. This alert will remain active for 90 days and any new accounts can't be opened without additional verification. As always, document the call, the name of the agent, and the results of the conversation; follow up with a certified letter, return receipt requested. 4. Review Your Credit Card Statement It's a good idea to have online access to your credit card statements and to check them daily. Consumers who give the paper statement a cursory glance when it arrives in the mail are open to a whole month's worth of fraudulent activity. If you don't check the statement at all, you run the risk of paying for a thief's ill-gotten gains or even being unable to pay for high-dollar items if you don't report the card stolen. Late payments and defaulted accounts are among the things that influence your credit score for the worse. Major factors that affect your credit score include payment history, debt level, and new credit inquiries. These factors can be negatively affected if the thief uses your credit card for unauthorized purchases or to steal your identity. 5. Monitor Your Credit Report Closely related to reviewing your credit card statement regularly is to keep a close eye on your credit report. A subscription to a 3-bureau credit report that offers alerts whenever there are changes to your report is a valuable way to identify or prevent fraudulent activity. You can set alerts to notify you when an inquiry is made on your report, personal information is changed, if your account balances change by a certain amount, or if a late payment is reported. While there are several measures you can take to report a stolen credit card, being prepared with the information can make this process more efficient and less stressful. Keep a list of your credit card numbers as well as each card issuer's phone number to report a loss in a safe and secure place (not in your wallet or purse). Making a photocopy of both sides of your credit cards and IDs, kept in a safe, is a good way to have this information available. By acting quickly, you can limit your liability for unauthorized charges, avoid an unearned hit to your credit report, and shut the thief down. Amy Johnson is an active finance blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance management tips to encourage people to manage their personal finances. More specifically, she advocates that people should check credit reports and scores regularly.
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