What to do When You Lose Your Wallet?

Losing your wallet can be a scary thing. After all, aside from your smartphone, your wallet contains all the most important things your carry with you on a daily basis. Along with this, the fear that it could also be stolen and used maliciously against you is something everyone could do without. This article is going to outline some simple and effective steps you can take when you lose your wallet in attempts to find it, prevent potential fraud, and ways in which you can help prepare better for potential wallet loss in the future.

Cancel your Credit Cards

Depending on how long ago you think you lost your wallet the best and safest form of action is to immediately cancel and order replacement credit and debit cards. Your bank will have emergency phone numbers that’ll make it quick and easy to do so.

If your bank has a smartphone app then sometimes you can cancel your cards directly from the app that can be a much faster process. Some of these apps also allow you to temporarily deactivate your cards. This means if you do eventually find your wallet then you can just reactivate your cards within the app. This avoids the need to completely cancel them and have to wait for new credit/debit cards to arrive. 

Retrace your steps

If you feel that you’ve recently lost your wallet (like within an hour) then it might be best to forgo step 1 and try and find your wallet. If you’ve lost your wallet then the chances are you’ve left it somewhere whether that be at a restaurant, a friend’s house, or public transport. Try hard to Retrace your steps and head back to these locations. 

Contact the Police

This step is only really necessary if you believe your wallet has been stolen or it’s been found and used for malicious activity. The police won’t actually do anything regarding finding your wallet for you, but they will take your details and be able to contact you directly if your wallet is found or handed into the police by a member of the public.

Write contact details in your Wallet

A simple, but not a foolproof solution, is to write contact details and store them with your wallet. This makes it simple and easy for anyone who finds your wallet to immediately get in contact with you. Most people in the world aren’t criminals so most will look through the contents of the wallet to find who it belongs to. Having a contact number, or even your address is a simple way to allow those who find your wallet to immediately get in touch.

Have Emergency Cash on hand

Another thing you can do is have emergency cash on hand in the event you do lose your wallet. This means keeping some cash in a separate place than your wallet. Losing your wallet usually means you have no access to cash anymore which will be perpetuated if you’re on your own and have no cash to borrow from friends or family. 

A small device like a key cache, a small keychain that can discreetly store banknotes, is a great way to combat this issue. A great example of this is from Wingback who has designed a perfect example of such a device. 

Buy a Smart Wallet

Smart tracking wallets are all the rage these days. They integrate modern-day technology directly into your wallet and provide a way to keep track of your wallet’s whereabouts using GPS and your smartphone. This means, if you were to ever lose your wallet, then you can simply load up an app, find its location from a map view, and track it down. There are many choices available in terms of Smart or GPS tracking wallets. Check out our top picks from our dedicated article here. 

Buy a Wallet with Chain

You’ve all probably heard of the trusty wallet chain. But did you know they’re more than just a fashion statement and more of a security measure. Having a chain attaching your wallet to your belt or pants is a pretty effective way to make sure you’ve wallet can never be lost or stolen. The chain isn’t exactly the most popular wallet accessory on the market at the moment but the likes of Mr. Lentz and their range of wallets, provide a great modern-day way to get a classy wallet with a chain.