What to Do if You Lose Your Credit Card

Not knowing if you have lost your credit card or whether it’s been stolen from you without your knowledge proves a stressful situation for anyone. It is important to act quickly and sensibly to ensure your losses and stress levels are kept to a minimum.
As with many things in life, prevention is better than cure, so you should first of all take some steps to minimise the possibility of losing your credit card, or being the victim of theft. Therefore, only carry those credit cards which are essential to you, and never leave personal belongings unattended. What's more, keeping a close eye on your credit card activity and ensuring your account number and pin are closely guarded are other important measures.
If you are unfortunate enough to lose your credit card or even have it stolen, the most important thing to do is call your credit card provider immediately. That way, any fraudulent transactions can be halted or insured against by your provider. Once you have informed your credit card provider, you can be safe in the knowledge that nobody is spending hundreds of pounds on your account.
Next, you will need to arrange for replacement cards to be issued so that you can start re-using your credit card. However, this may take up to a week to process, so it's important that you have a back up card for use in such situations. Your bank or credit card company may be able to arrange cash advances should you be without a back up card or account.
Of course, you can reduce the number of phone calls you have to make in such situations if you have suitable card protection in place. This is typically arranged by your credit card company and ensures that the security of your credit cards and store cards are managed by one company.
Therefore, if any of your cards are lost or stolen, one phone call to your card protection provider will be all that’s required in order to make sure that any cards are immediately cancelled.
Preventing the loss or theft of your credit cards should be an important consideration to all. But knowing what to do in the event of a loss or theft of credit card can not only minimise your financial risk, but will also serve to reduce the level of stress incurred in what can be a distressing situation.---Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.