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Not many people know what to do if their credit or debit cards are lost or stolen. Here are the steps recommended by the Fair Credit Billing Act
(FCBA) and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) if this happens to you.
Immediately report the theft or loss of your card to the card issuer. You can do this easily using the toll-free numbers and 24-hour hotlines that most issuers have set up for this purpose.
Try to follow your phone call with a letter. The letter should have your account number, the date you found your card missing, and the date you initially reported the loss of the card to the card company.
When you lose your credit card, according to the FCBA, by reporting the loss prior to anyone else using the card the issuer can't make you responsible for any of the possible unauthorized charges. The limit for your liability for unauthorized charges, in the event the card is used before it is reported missing, is $50 per card. The same limit applies for card used at an ATM machine to withdraw money from your account.
Be sure to review the next month's billing statement in detail. If there appear any unauthorized charges on the statement, write a letter to the issuing card company listing the unauthorized charges. Indicate the date on which you noticed your card was stolen or lost and the date that you first reported the loss. Send the letter to the address your issuer indicates for billing errors and not the address for sending payments.
When it is your ATM or debit card that is stolen or lost, also report this loss to the issuer right away. When you report the ATM card missing before someone else uses it, you will not be held liable for any unauthorized withdrawals. When your card is used prior to you reporting the loss, however, you may ave a limited amount that you are responsible for. As an example, reporting the loss two days after it occurs could leave you responsible for an amount of $50 of the unauthorized use.
If you report the loss of your card beyond the first two days after you discover it missing, your liability could extend up to $500. BY reporting beyond sixty days from the date of loss, you could be opening yourself to an unlimited liability amount, particularly if you do not report an unauthorized withdrawal or transfer within 60 days fro the date your statement is sent to you. It is possible that you could be unable to recover any loss of amounts in your bank account or any unused balance of a line of credit used for overdrafts.
If any unauthorized debit transactions appear on your monthly bank statement, be sure to report them immediately to the card issuer. After you notify the issuer of your loss, you cannot be made responsible for additional amounts, even in the case that there are more unauthorized transactions to your account.
These time limits, set by law, make it important that you check your statements and make sure you don't misplace or lose your cards.
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