What I did when my wife lost her wallet

There's never a good time to lose a wallet or a purse. Here are the steps we went through when we had a lost wallet to deal with …

“I lost my wallet.”

Not the worst words to hear over the phone on a Friday afternoon, of course, but certainly not the best, either.

Almost ten years ago to the day, my wife lost her wallet while visiting some friends in DC. She had all of her credit cards, her ATM/debit cards, and her driver's license in that wallet. I found this out about 1:30 PM Friday, right before the weekend.

What to do if you have a lost wallet

Here are the steps I went through:

• I tried to help her as much as I could over the phone. (I was at work.) If she could have found the wallet, then the problem's solved.
• I submitted a lost and found claim with the transportation authority in case someone turned it in. I later followed up with a phone call but it would take around five business days for the item to reach the central office.
• I took off the rest of the day. Thankfully I could do this.
• I went to our primary credit union and withdrew some cash and asked how to cancel their debit/ATM cards. At this point, my wife was still looking for the wallet, so I thought I might give a little more time (maybe an hour) just in case.
• Once I got home, I wrote down who I needed to call up. This included our credit union (for an ATM/Debit card and a credit card), a bank for a business ATM/Debit card, Chase for our main credit card, a department store, and a credit union from my childhood hometown that issued the one credit card we didn't lose (because I was the only one with one of those).
• I prioritized who I needed to call first.
  • First, I called my hometown credit union. I hadn't used that account for quite a while, and it would be our only source of credit until the new cards came in. I made sure that the card was still active and that the automatic payment in full from the linked checking account was shut off because I hadn't had any reason to keep money in that account for a while. I verified that my mailing address was current so I could receive the bill.
  • Second, I reported my current credit union's ATM/Debit card and credit card as lost.
  • Third, I reported our Chase card as lost.
  • Fourth, I reported her business ATM/Debit card as lost.
  • Saturday morning she reported her department store credit card as lost.
• Since we were both going to be in town that evening visiting other friends, I called up our friends in town and asked them to pick her up when she got back from DC on the train. Reporting credit cards as lost is one part. Getting around legally without a driver's license is another problem to address.
• I investigated how to get her license replaced. Thankfully we could do it Saturday morning.
• Now, with my wife on the way to town from DC on the train, I looked through our primary credit card statement (the Chase card) for recurring payments that were connected to that card. Since that card was canceled, all of the services that had that credit card linked for recurring billing had to be changed to an active credit card, or else a lot of late charges and service interruptions would begin. (Update: Depending on the credit card, they may let some recurring charges go through even if the credit card was canceled. I later found out that Chase was one of these credit card providers.) There were a couple of yearly charges that I just remembered as I was writing this! Here's what I “unhooked” from the canceled credit card:
  • PayPal accounts. There were several subscriptions and a preauthorized billing arrangement that needed to be reset individually.
  • Amazon Prime, and a Subscribe and Save service.
  • My eBay seller fees.
  • Our cell phone plan.
  • Our long-distance
  • My web hosting accounts.
  • Our broadband.
  • A couple of membership websites.
• Even though the DMV website said that my wife did not need proof of legal status to get her license replaced, we took proof of identity, residency, birth, etc. the next day anyway. Turns out the website was wrong, and we actually did need that proof. The lesson here is that it doesn't hurt to bring more backup paperwork than you think you need. The fact that the website was wrong wouldn't have mattered, and my wife would have been without a license until at least Tuesday.

Now, we're just waiting for cards to come in again. I received a call from my hometown credit union's credit card issuer as fraud prevention (since I hadn't used the card in so long, all of the activity on it looked suspicious).

Ways to prepare before you lose your wallet

I think we've gotten through this one all right so far. Here's what I'd do the next time around as preparation:

• Make sure we have up-to-date copies of the front and back of every card in our wallets. I had one but it was over a year old. My wife didn't have one at all. This makes calling up places to report lost cards much easier.
• I wouldn't carry so many cards. It's convenient to have everything in one place, but is it really necessary all the time? When I go on vacation, I purge my wallet of about half of what's in there because I know that I won't need everything in there.
• I'd investigate theft protection. Several of the companies I called up had something to sell me while I was trying to report things. One of the things they offered was – surprise! – fraud protection. I didn't take it at the time but it may be worth looking into once I have the terms and conditions in front of me.
• I'd have a list of automatic payments coming out on our cards so I wouldn't have to look them up from the statements. Or, alternatively, I'd call up my credit card providers to ask whether or not they will honor recurring charges following a lost card.

Any other tips or suggestions?