It’s natural to panic when you realize you’ve lost your wallet. After all your wallet is stuffed with money and all the essentials of your daily life. Your credit cards and so much more, that you can’t afford to lose. Inconvenience aside, a lost wallet means the keys to your life could be in the hands of a crook, you may be a victim of identity theft and fraud that could have repercussions for years.
You naturally delve into your pocket and bag and ultimately you retrace your steps and call any stores you might have left it at. But, if you fail to find it back even after all this, relax because here’s how to get back in control of your identity before someone else does.
Top Six Things to Do When You Lose Your Wallet
1. File a Police Report
Report about your missing wallet specially your identity cards, like Voter’s Id, PAN card, Aadhaar card to your local law enforcement agency, no matter whether it was lost or stolen, is imperative. The police report will include details of where or how it went missing, and you may be asked to produce a copy of it when replacing some of the items from your wallet such as your driver’s license. Don’t leave the station without a copy of report as the police report can also come in handy in case you need to dispute criminal charges or anything else perpetrated in your name as a result of your loss.
2. Report and Replace Credit, Debit and ATM Cards
When you lose your cards your bank accounts are at the greatest risk, this is the first thing a thief will do with a stolen wallet with credit/debit cards inside it. So you must immediately inform your bank card issuer so that they can cancel or freeze it quickly and issue a new one.
3. Report a Stolen Driver’s License
You need to visit the RTO office in your Jurisdiction and fill the Form of “Intimation of loss, mutilation or destruction.” Once you have filled this form you need to submit it with an “Affidavit sworn by the applicant before an executive magistrate or a first class judicial magistrate or a notary public for having lost the driving license.” Most of the state have these rules to obtain a Duplicate Driving License. However, it may differ from State to State. You may check at your RTO Office for the Same.
4. List out All Your Subscription Services
These days, if you are an active netizen, chances are that you use your credit cards for a array of online services. It’s a good practice to maintain a list of all your online subscriptions generally, and in the event of the loss of your credit cards this list will seem like a boon! You still have to take the trouble of notifying these service providers though and may lose out on a subscription or two till you update the information about your new card.
5. Put in a Request for Your Cybil Report
Even after you have cancelled all your active credit cards, it may be a good idea to pull out your Cybil report post 30 days of the theft. Once you receive this report, scrutinize it carefully to see if there are any suspicious transactions post or any inquiries for loans or credit cards that you have not applied for post the theft. If you find anything at all that seems like a fraudulent transaction notify both the concerned card issuer or lender and Cybil immediately.
6. Cancel Any Other Important Cards or Documents That Were in There
If you kept rewards cards for your favorite retailers and restaurants, you’ll want to make sure any points you’ve earned don’t get spent by someone else. In some cases, it might be easier to just get a new rewards card, but for something like a hotel rewards account where you’ve accumulated serious points worth a high monetary value, you will definitely want to report the loss and get a replacement card instead.
