What To Do When Your Credit Card Is Lost Or Stolen?
Posted July 16th, 2009
and last modified March 7th, 2010A stolen credit card or a lost credit card is an event we wish will never happen. Sadly though thousands of consumers have to experience the stark reality of this scenario each and every day.
While a stolen credit card is not always the fault of a user, often it happens because of personal neglect e.g. when you don’t guard your card properly.
Action steps to deal with a stolen or lost credit card
If you feel your card has been stolen, tampered with, or lost, do not hesitate to act. You rather cancel a card by mistake than get thousands of dollars in spending racked up on your card by some stranger who poses as you.
Stolen credit card in Australia: Your first action step is to call your credit card issuer which is usually a bank or a financial institution of some sorts. It pays to keep those emergency phone numbers in your wallet or stored in your mobile phone. These are accessible 24-7 to help you act fast if you suspect misuse or theft. If your wallet gets stolen, phone directory assistance and ask to be connected with your bank. In that case you’ll also want to protect yourself against identity theft.
Stolen credit card overseas: If you are overseas on holidays you should call your issuer’s 24-hours Global Customer Assistance phone number.
What happens next?
As soon as you report the theft your card will be frozen and cancelled, which means thieves can’t do any further damage to you with the card. Your credit card provider will have to re-issue a new card to you and that can be a lot of hassles because it takes a while and most likely you need to pay bills in the meantime. In some cases you also have to pay a fee to get a new card issued to you.
If you find yourself stuck in a precarious situation like this you might need to ask your family or friends for help or else speak to your bank to give you some leeway with your payments.
The problem here is that phone companies and other service providers don’t care about your loss. They just want to be paid their money and if you are late with your payments because of a stolen credit card you will get a bad credit file report. This is not exactly what you would want.
Therefore you need to take steps to protect yourself against any eventualities as the ones mentioned above before your credit card is stolen or lost.
A word on consumer protection against theft
If your bank can prove you acted with negligence you can be made liable for all losses that occur through a lost or stolen credit card. If on the other hand you guard your card well and are a victim of some unlucky circumstances you should be protected against all misuse if you act fast enough. A Dispute Investigation will be commenced upon your report which can take weeks.
Your responsibilities:
- You need to thoroughly check your credit card statements each month and scan them for any unauthorised transactions. If in doubt, contact your bank at once.
- Treat your card with cautious alert. Don’t trust it to anyone.
How to prepare yourself against potential hassles with a stolen or lost credit card
There are some things you can do to be prepared should this nightmare ever happen to you to reduce your stress and worries to a minimum.
- Make copies of all your sensitive documents and keep them stored somewhere safe away from your wallet. When an emergency presents itself you have all the necessary details at hand which will help the issuer to deal with the matter fast and professionally.
- Always carry a back-up: This means you should have a combination of credit card, cash, cheques or debit cards in your wallet to have an escape payment route if need be.
- Double-check your credit card statements for the next few months to make sure no unauthorised payments have been made. Theoretically there shouldn’t be as your card was cancelled and frozen, but one can never be too sure. If you see suspicious behavior and transactions, report them immediately to your card issuer.
How not to get your credit card stolen
A near foolproof way to avoid a stolen or lost credit card is to treat your card like a national treasury. Keep it away from all prying eyes, even those of your immediate family. Husbands and wives are an exception if you trust them. But there should be no handing your card to your kids to pay at the supermarket checkout just for fun.
- Always shred your financial statements at home before placing them in the bin.
- Use antivirus and firwall protection on your computers to protect against malicious hacking of your online accounts.
- Don’t fall prey to phishing attempts. Read more about secure Internet banking.
Another thing you can do is to make sure you keep your wallet locked somewhere safe at home and at work. Prying colleagues and relatives are often not to be trusted.
NAB offers two-factor Authentication
NAB is one of the only banks in Australia offering three-factor authentication on transactions, where 75% of customer transactions are protected by a single use password sent via SMS.
- $49 annual fee
- 0% for 6 months p.a. on purchases
- 20.74% p.a. on cash advances
- 4.99% p.a. for 6 months on balance transfers
Related posts:
- Visa Credit Card Tips
- How to Protect Important Credit Card Details
- Credit Card Feature: Travel Delays And Lost Luggage Protection
- Credit Card Services & Customer Service Contact Details
- Is There a Point of Writing ‘CHECK ID’ on the Back of your Credit Card?
- Protecting Your Credit Card
- Credit Card Protection Tips
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December 3rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
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