Identity Theft how to Limit the Damage if you Lose your Purse or Wallet

It is a sickening feeling when it happens. Usually, people start to panic and search the same places over and over again hoping and praying that their purse or wallet will be found. The loss of a purse or wallet occurs everyday. Sometimes, you lose these things by accident, but sometimes you are a victim of a pickpocket, purse-snatcher, or some other type of thief. Sometimes, you get really lucky and a Good Samaritan will notify you that he/she has found your lost property. However, should you lose your purse or wallet, it is probably not the best idea to wait for an honest person to notify you that he/she has found your property. As such, there are certain steps you should take in order to minimize the damage that can occur from losing your purse or wallet.

First and foremost, you need to know everything that you keep in your purse or wallet. This may be a tedious process, but if you know what was in your purse or wallet, you can notify those credit or banking institutions or those insurance companies as soon as possible in order to avoid any fraudulent transfers or situations of identity theft. In order to achieve this goal, you should keep a list of every card that you have in your possession and the contact information of the same. Obviously, you should not store this list in your purse or wallet because it would be useless to you if your purse or wallet was stolen. As such, you should store such a list in a safe place in your home.

It is important to remain calm during this time. It is a terrible situation when you lose your purse or wallet, but behaving erratically is not going to solve your problem. As such, remain calm and do what is necessary to put all of your financial accounts on hold, have new debit and credit cards issued, have your insurance account information changed, and have new insurance cards issued. It may be a tedious process, but it is not a difficult one. Remember, you are not the first person to lose her/his purse or wallet and therefore, the financial institutions know how to deal with this problem.

If after a diligent search you cannot find your purse or wallet and believe that there is a chance that it could have been lost or stolen, do not hesitate to contact every company on your list. You may find your purse or wallet later that day, but always remember that it is better to be safe than sorry.