I Did Something Stupid Today…

The title of this post pretty much said it all.

For the first time ever, I misplaced lost one of my credit cards. How did I manage to do that, you ask? Well, for starters; I went shopping today. I went out to my regular cosmetic store to purchase something that I had run out on. I remember handing over my credit card and showing the cashier my driver license to confirm my identity. After the transaction, I don’t remember if I was handed back my card or if I just shoved it in my backpack.

I didn’t notice that my credit card was missing until a few hours after arriving home and looking through my receipts and thought it was odd that that credit card wasn’t in its usual slot in my wallet. I literally took everything out of my wallet and backpack and couldn’t find it. I then logged onto my account and found that there were no suspicious charges. That was good news, but just to be on the safe side I called my issuing bank and reported the card lost.

The rep was friendly and confirmed that there were no suspicious charges. He then cancelled my credit card, confirmed my mailing address & advised that I would receive my new card with a new number in 3-5 business days. He also mentioned that if I have any recurring payments, I should cancel those.

I feel like a total noob after all of this. I am normally so good with my credit cards, placing them back in my wallet after a purchase. But this could happen to anyone so here are a few steps to follow if you find that your credit card is lost or stolen:

1. Look again – More times than none, it is simply misplaced in a different slot of your wallet or you shoved it in one of your purse pockets (I do this a lot). Nothing is more frustrating than to find the “missing” card after you report it lost/stolen.
2. Call the credit card issuer – Make sure to report it stolen/lost to cancel the card so if someone happen to find it and want to use it, it won’t work.
3. Monitor your account(s) – Make sure there are no suspicious charges, sometimes charges don’t show up right away so I would recommend checking to be on the safe side.

Until next time,