What to Do When Your Credit Card is Lost or Stolen?

You should necessarily follow the steps mentioned below after losing your credit card:

Hotlist Your Credit Card

The first and foremost thing that you should do is get your credit card hotlisted. Call the credit card customer care and block your credit card instantly. You can get your credit card hotlisted both temporarily as well as permanently. In case there are chances that you will get your credit card back, you can block your credit card temporarily.

Most banks offer zero lost card liability which means that any transaction carried out after reporting the loss of the credit card to the bank would be covered by the bank. Some banks put a cap on it varying from Rs. 1 Lakh to Rs. 10 lakh.

Report Your Credit Card Loss to Police and File an FIR

It is always recommended that you report your credit card loss to police and file an FIR. It can be shared with the bank as well. Any serious transaction carried out from your credit card after reporting it to the police and the bank clears you off the risks of being framed for any unscrupulous activities.

Request for a New Credit Card

Once you have hotlisted your credit card permanently, you need to get a new card issued. You have to request the bank to issue you a new credit card with a new credit card account. You can do it either by calling the hotlisting number or by visiting the bank.

Some banks also provide the facility to hotlist the credit card through netbanking and mobile banking as well. It is worth noting that your new credit card is already mapped with the previous credit card.

Check Credit Card Statement

Check your credit card statement as soon as it is generated. Properly analyse all transactions in your statement and if you find transactions which were not carried out by you, you can get it rectified with the bank or raise the issue with them.

A new credit card statement is generated for your new credit card account as well. You should also check all entries in this statement to track if any entry from the previous statement has been carried forward to this statement.

Set Auto-Pay on Your New Credit Card

Auto-Pay or standing instructions give you the facility to give an instruction to the bank to debit the statement amount directly from your savings account. It ensures that you are never late with your credit card bill payment.

Your bank gives you the facility to setup auto-pay for a fixed amount or minimum amount due as well. However, it is recommended that you register auto-pay for the total amount due.

Update New Credit Card Details for Third Party Payments

There might be a number of services such as mobile and internet services, utility services, monthly magazine subscriptions, etc. for which you have registered your credit card to make monthly payments for uninterrupted service. You can update your new credit card details with those providers and prevent from missing out on monthly bill due date.

When you travel within India, you can call the customer care and get your credit card blocked instantly. However, most banks have separate portals for providing these services when the cardholder is travelling abroad. There are specific numbers on which the cardholder has to call to get the credit card deactivated.

It is recommended that you write your credit card number and the bank’s international hotlisting number and carry it with you so that in case if you lose your credit card, you can get it blocked instantly.

Most banks offer zero lost card liability on credit cards. The best option is to report the card loss as soon as you become aware of it. Any transaction carried out after you report the loss/theft to the card provider is covered by the bank.

However, if you see any such transaction even after reporting the loss of credit card, you can lodge a formal complaint with the bank. You can either send a mail to the bank’s customer service team or visit the bank and submit an application properly mentioning the issue along with a copy of the credit card statement.

There are a number of things that you can do to prevent the loss of credit card in future or prevent from any issue in future.

• Keep only those cards active that you need. Avoid having a number of credit cards and not using it or misplacing it.
• Keep your credit card secure and safe in your wallet. Follow the same rule every time for keeping your credit cards.
• Cut and destroy your old credit cards before throwing them away and also ensure the credit card account number cannot be deciphered
• Keep a track of all your credit card transactions and statements
• Write down credit card hotlisting numbers of all your credit cards along with the credit card number to hotlist the card in case you misplace it
• Do not share your credit card details with anyone, especially the CVV and other PIN
• Make sure you do not share OTP for transactions from your credit card with anyone

You can lose your credit card anywhere any time. But it is best to be prepared to take appropriate actions when any untoward incident occurs. You should follow the suggestions mentioned in this article and stay safe from any fraudulent activities.