4 Steps To Deal With A Lost Wallet

If you lose your wallet, it’s important to stay calm and take immediate steps to protect your finances – and your identity. This includes calling your bank to report a lost credit card, setting up fraud alerts on your accounts, filing a police report, and contacting your provincial services office.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into these steps.

What to do about a lost wallet

If you lose your wallet (or it’s stolen), it’s important to remain calm but act quickly. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Call your bank

You’ll need to call your bank to report the card as lost/stolen or use the mobile app to "lock" the card, preventing future purchases. This is just a precaution, but it can financially protect you if someone finds your wallet and tries to use your cards.

Let’s break it down by bank:

Thieves (or unscrupulous people who find your wallet and refuse to return it) can quickly empty your savings account or tap to purchase a surprisingly large amount. Fortunately, your card issuers can immediately freeze your cards to prevent this. And if you find your wallet, you’ll be able to unfreeze the card rather than waiting for a replacement.

2. Set up a fraud alert

As soon as you hang up with the banks, contact either TransUnion or Equifax – Canada’s two largest credit bureaus – and set up a fraud alert.

• TransUnion: Call 1-800-663-9980 or use their self-service website
• Equifax: Call 1-800-465-7166

This alert will let companies know that they need to take additional verification steps, like phone verification, when issuing a new credit card or modifying accounts in your name.

You don’t need to contact TransUnion and Equifax – either one is fine since the alert will be placed on your credit report for everyone to see.

Pro Tip: If your wallet or your personal information was stolen, you might get the alert activated for free. Otherwise, there is typically a small fee for the service.

3. File a police report

If you can, inform the police that you lost your wallet so they can generate a report. You can use the report when dealing with banks and credit bureaus, which can be helpful if you need to request a refund for fraudulent purchases. Plus, the police can easily return your lost wallet if someone turns it in.

4. Contact your provincial service office

If you lost your wallet, there’s a good chance that you also lost many other important documents like your driver’s license, SIN card, health card, or even permanent residency card.

We’re not going to sugarcoat this; replacing those documents is always a pain, and it will take time and potentially money. It’s better to deal with this sooner rather than later.

You can schedule a visit to your local provincial vital statistics branch to begin the process of replacing your license and ID.

If you lost your permanent residence card, immediately contact the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Call Centre at 1-888-242-2100.

How to reduce the impact of a lost wallet

Sooner or later, we all misplace our wallets. All it takes is a few moments of distraction and it’s gone. To help lessen the pain of losing all of your cards and personal documents, it pays to be proactive.

• Make copies of important documents. Try to copy the front and back of important documents or cards you’d need to replace if you lost your wallet. We’re talking bank cards, insurance cards, driver's licenses, and SIN cards. Store the copies in a secure location so you can refer to the backups if needed – it can sometimes make it easier to get replacements issues.
• Only carry what you need. Go through your wallet and consider what you truly use on a regular basis. If you don’t need to carry important documents like your birth certificate or permanent residence card, take it out of your wallet and put it somewhere safe at home.
• Put a tracker on your wallet. It’s easier than ever to put a tracker like an AirTag on your wallet and connect it to your phone. Then, you can use the companion app to track the location of your wallet. Some trackers even have features like voice commands, battery alerts, and range notifications.

FAQ

Can you track a lost wallet?

You can always retrace your steps, but trackers make it easy to locate a lost wallet. Ideally, you would have put a tracker on your wallet and paired it to your phone so you can immediately find your wallet using the app.

Do you have to file a police report for a lost wallet?

You’re not required to inform the police but it can help you replace cards or documents that were in your wallet. Sometimes, banks or credit bureaus will ask for the police report number if you’re requesting a refund for fraudulent purchases. Plus, there’s the chance that your report will lead to the police taking action and recovering your wallet.

What should I do if I lost my wallet?

If you realize you’ve lost your wallet, immediately call your credit card issuers and freeze your cards. Don’t forget to call Equifax or TransUnion to set up a fraud alert. It's also a good idea to call the police and file a report. Replace your driver’s license, health card, and other important documents, then, monitor your card activity online for any fraudulent activity.