SERIES: Lost Purse Part 5
This is a series about a certain purse owned by the Sangl Family. Unlike every other series I have written, I am NOT excited to be writing this one.
Part 5 – A Final Word
Losing a purse is terrible, but it happens. It has caused me to give serious thought to the actions one should take when personal items go missing. I have made a list of the actions I took and some I was preparing to take once we knew the purse was lost.
- Stopped all debit cards (should stop credit cards too if you have them)
- Placed stop-payment on all checks in the checkbooks
- File a police report to let them know you have misplaced an item. I am told by the bank that many recovered items end up being taken to a police station.
- Cut off the cell phone number from the phone
- Place an alert on your credit report. You can do so by contacting one of the three credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, or Experian) and placing a "fraud alert" on your account. This will require the credit reporting agencies to actually make contact with you before a new line of credit can be opened. The person at the bank recommended Experian because they are open for twenty-four hours. You can click HERE to access Experian's Fraud Alert page.
- Contact the Social Security Administration if your SSN has been compromised. You can click HERE to visit the SSA's Fraud page.
I hope this sort of event never happens to you! If it does, I hope it turns out as well as this situation has for us.
I am so glad that you had your items returned. I see in your list above you have “stop payment on all checks in the checkbook” please remember my advice from before, somebody can take your routing number and buy stuff online… don’t need to use one of the check numbers from the checkbook.. just need the routing number. So please… close the account and get a new one! Better to be safe than sorry!