Credit Card Number Stolen? Reminders & Tips

My husband’s credit card number was stolen yesterday. It wasn’t online – he never buys anything online. We’re not sure how someone got the number. He first learned of the problem when First Command Bank called about some of the charges. Of all the credit card companies I’ve ever worked with I prefer First Command. This only solidified my preference.

First Command Bank caught the problem quickly and we canceled the card. That was simple. The next part isn’t. Many people (like us) automate payments with a credit card. That means the mortgage, insurance, and other payments are charged to a credit card automatically. But now that credit card is canceled. And it will be about 10 days before we get a new card. That’s a problem.

Tip: Make a list of all of your credit card auto drafts with contact information. Put it in a secure place – like a safe.

Did you know that you’ll get charged service fees (about $25 a pop) if your card is declined? Even if it was canceled. Even if it wasn’t your fault. If you think of all of the various accounts that use this card, it could get very expensive. So you have to manually call each one and set up another way to pay those bills. Then when we get the new card we’ll have to call again. It will save you a lot of time if you have a list.

Getting a credit card stolen is stressful. Luckily it’s more hassle than cost in the end – but we learned some things going through this. Hopefully you can avoid having this happen to you.

(Brought to you by the Utah Financial Planner blog)

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