Unfortunately, it’s highly likely that a lot of people have been in a situation where their wallet or purse has been stolen.
When it happens to you, it’s not a nice feeling, you can feel targeted and you have the hassle of cancelling your cards, ordering new ones as well as making sure you haven’t been part of any fraud or fraud cases.
If you are in a situation where your wallet or purse has unfortunately been stolen, below we have put together our guide on three things to do.
Cancel your cards
To start with, one of the first things you need to do is contact all your banks and tell them your cards have been stolen.
By contacting your banks, they can put a block on your account, in case the person who has stolen your card tries to spend on it.
Unfortunately, in today’s world, it’s easy to use a card as contactless payments can be made without needing a pin. They may also go down the route of trying to use your card online as they will have the CSV number.
Depending on your card provider, you may find you can cancel your cards and order new ones by using their app on your mobile phone – providers like Starling, Chase or Revolut all offer this.
Check your Credit Score
In a lot of cases, when your wallet or purse is stolen, your driving licence or ID will be inside it. By them having access to this, they will know your address and could potentially take out credit cards in your name.
By signing up with a credit report company, you can keep checking if any soft or hard searches have been taken out in your name. Fingers crossed there are none, but in the case that there is, you can report it.
When checking, you can also see your score and see if you can make any improvements. Some of the major companies will let you check your score for free.
Report it to the Police
Having your wallet or purse stolen is a criminal offence, so for this reason it’s important you report it to the police.
By reporting, they can keep track of if anything suspicious comes up with your details on their end. It also means that you can easily prove to creditors that you have been a victim of fraud should the fraudster try and use your details.
You can either ring the police on your mobile device, visit your local police station to file a report or go online to fill out a form.
Don’t think you are wasting police time by reporting it to them, by doing so, you may help reduce the chances of someone else having their wallet/purse stolen.
The last thing you would want is someone targeting younger people like teenagers.
We hope our guide has given you some advice on what to do if your wallet or purse has been stolen.
Have you had your wallet or purse stolen before and what advice would you recommend?
Are there any tips that you think we should be adding to our list above?