The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice; instead, it is for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not be current. This website may contain links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser; we do not recommend or endorse the contents of any third-party sites. Readers of this website should contact their attorney, accountant or credit counselor to obtain advice with respect to their particular situation. No reader, user, or browser of this site should act or not act on the basis of information on this site. Always seek personal legal, financial or credit advice for your relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney or advisor can provide assurances that the information contained herein – and your interpretation of it – is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within the site do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website owner, authors, contributors, contributing firms, or their respective employers.
Credit.com receives compensation for the financial products and services advertised on this site if our users apply for and sign up for any of them. Compensation is not a factor in the substantive evaluation of any product.
I was incredibly lucky. But should you find yourself in a pickle after losing your wallet or having it stolen, here’s a step-by-step on how to protect your money and identity immediately. The overarching tip here is: ACT FAST.
[Tool: Quickly assess your risk of identity theft for free]
Cancel All Debit and Credit Cards. Keep a list of all your credit card company phone numbers and bank numbers so you can quickly call them in case of an emergency like this. The Fair Credit Billing Act says that your credit card liability is capped at $50. Meanwhile your debit card liability is up to $500– if you inform your bank of your missing debit card within two days of noticing it. If you wait more than 60 days to report a lost or stolen debit card, you may face unlimited liability. Visa, MasterCard and American Express also offer zero-liability protection on unauthorized debit card transactions, though some restrictions apply.
Report Incident to Credit Bureaus. Set up a fraud alert with one of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The law requires each agency to report your loss to the other two and a fraud alert will be placed on all three of your credit reports initially for about 90 days. If you are a victim of identity theft and you file an identity theft affidavit, you can place an extended fraud alert on your credit reports for free. This lasts for seven years and entitles you to two free copies of your credit reports within the first 12 months.
File a Local Police Report. This is to cover your bases, in case your wallet gets in the wrong hands and that person steals your identity and begins to make charges to your credit card down the road – after fraud protection is lifted. With a copy of your police report, you can prove that those charges don’t belong to you.
For more tips on protecting yourself from identity theft, check out these Credit.com resources:
Image by rachel_titiriga, via Flickr
October 19, 2023
Identity Theft and Scams
May 17, 2022
Identity Theft and Scams
May 20, 2021
Identity Theft and Scams