Lost or Stolen Wallet: How to Protect Your Credit Today.

Freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion today; each freeze is free, and you place it separately with each bureau. Then report every card lost, add a fraud alert if your ID or Social Security card was in the wallet, and check your credit reports for accounts you didn’t open.

The cards are the visible loss. The larger problem is a new account opened in your name, which is why the steps below run from blocking new credit to watching all three files and disputing anything a thief opens.

Freeze your credit at all three bureaus before anything else

A credit freeze blocks new credit applications, is stronger than a fraud alert, and is free and federally protected under the FCRA. It must be placed with each of the three bureaus separately, because each runs its own freeze and thaw process. The FTC states there is no cost to place or lift a freeze and that a freeze does not affect a credit score (Federal Trade Commission, 2025).

Each bureau verifies your identity, has you create an account, and gives you a PIN or password to manage the freeze. Experian’s published guide lists where to ask, online, by phone or by mail (Experian, 2026):

• Equifax: equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/, 888-298-0045, or Equifax Information Services LLC, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, GA 30348-5788.
• Experian: experian.com/help/credit-freeze/, 888-397-3742, or Experian Security Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013.
• TransUnion: transunion.com/credit-freeze, 800-916-8800, or TransUnion, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094.

Have your full name, date of birth, addresses from the past two years, Social Security number and a government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or state ID card ready (Experian, 2026). Online or phone requests must be frozen within one business day, and mailed requests within three business days (USAGov, 2023).

What do you do about stolen cards and bank accounts today?

Call your bank or card company, cancel each card and ask for a new one, using the number on the back of a card or on a statement (IdentityTheft.gov). If you have automatic payments set up, update them with the new card number. Then review recent transactions and dispute any charge you didn’t make (Phroogal, 2026).

Reporting deadlines set what you can owe. Federal law limits a cardholder’s liability for unauthorized credit card use to $50 (15 U.S.C. § 1643). For a debit card, liability is the lesser of $50 or the unauthorized transfers made before notice if you notify the institution within two business days after learning of the loss (12 CFR § 1005.6). If you fail to notify the institution within two business days after learning of the loss or theft, liability is the lesser of $500 or the sum of $50 (or the unauthorized transfers within those two days, if less) plus later transfers made before notice that the institution establishes would not have occurred had you notified it within the two days (12 CFR § 1005.6).

An unauthorized electronic transfer on a statement must be reported within 60 days of the institution’s transmittal of the statement to avoid liability for later transfers (12 CFR § 1005.6). If someone may be using your identity to open accounts, report it to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov. The FTC report is the document companies will want to see when you contact them about a fraudulent account.

What does a one-year fraud alert add to a credit freeze?

A one-year fraud alert goes on your file at one bureau, and that bureau must notify the other two. It is worth adding when your Social Security card or driver’s license was in the wallet, and it sits alongside a freeze. The initial alert needs no police report and no identity theft report, so it is available the day you first see an unfamiliar account (Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 605A).

Under the FCRA, the alert runs not less than one year, and the bureau must tell you that you may request a free copy of your file, provided within 3 business days of the request (Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 605A). An extended alert requires an identity theft report and runs 7 years. Equifax publishes these steps (Equifax, How do I place a fraud alert or an active duty alert?):

1. Contact one bureau: online after creating a myEquifax account, by calling (800) 525-6285, or by mailing the Equifax initial fraud alert form to Equifax Information Services LLC, P.O. Box 105069, Atlanta, GA 30348-5069.
2. That bureau sends the request to the other two, so you do not contact all three.
3. Placing the alert is free.

Experian publishes its own route (Experian, Place a Fraud Alert):

1. Create a free account or sign in, then place the alert.
2. Experian notifies the other bureaus.
3. By mail, write to Experian, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 with your full name, Social Security number, addresses for the past two years, date of birth, a government ID and a utility bill or bank statement. By phone, call 1-888-397-3742.

Who do you report a stolen license and Social Security card to?

File an identity theft report at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC’s official reporting site; banks, bureaus and collectors will ask for it. For a stolen Social Security card, also contact your local police to file a report, because the SSA’s Inspector General does not investigate the loss or theft of wallets and the IDs in them (SSA Office of the Inspector General).

Replace the card through the Social Security Administration; replacement is free however you apply (Social Security Administration; AARP, 2026). A stolen license goes to your state motor vehicle agency. Minnesota Driver and Vehicle Services will flag a license as stolen to help prevent identity theft (City of Minneapolis, 2026), and Arizona says you may replace a lost or stolen driver license or identification card online, for a $12 fee (Arizona Department of Transportation).

Nearly every special identity theft right requires an identity theft report. IdentityTheft.gov publishes this recovery order:

1. Call each company’s fraud department where fraud occurred and ask them to close or freeze the accounts.
2. Change logins, passwords and PINs; you may need to contact these companies again once you have an FTC Identity Theft Report.
3. Place a free one-year fraud alert with one bureau, which must tell the other two.
4. Review your credit reports and note any account or transaction you don’t recognize.
5. Report to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov or 1-877-438-4338, which creates your Identity Theft Report and recovery plan.
6. With an account, IdentityTheft.gov tracks each step. Without one, print and save the report and plan before leaving the page.
7. You may file a police report, bringing your FTC report, a photo ID, proof of address and proof of the theft, and ask for a copy.
8. Close new accounts opened in your name, ask for a confirming letter, and record who you contacted and when.
9. Remove bogus charges the same way.
10. Write to each bureau with your FTC report and proof of identity, name the fraudulent information and ask them to block it; bureaus must honor a block request when you have an FTC Identity Theft Report.

How do you check your credit reports for accounts you didn’t open?

Order your reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion at AnnualCreditReport.com. All three bureaus have permanently extended a program that lets you check each report once a week for free (Federal Trade Commission, 2026).

Look for an unfamiliar account or lender, an address you never lived at, an employer you never worked for and a misspelled name. Any of these can mean the file is mixed with someone else’s, or that someone opened credit using your identity. The FTC and AnnualCreditReport.com publish these steps (Federal Trade Commission, 2006; Annual Credit Report):

1. Go to annualcreditreport.com, the only authorized site.
2. Enter your name, address, Social Security number and date of birth; you may be asked for a previous address or something only you would know, such as your monthly mortgage payment.
3. Choose Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
4. Answer the security questions; reports are usually available to view, download or print at once.
5. Ignore emails or pop-ups claiming to be from the site or the bureaus, and forward them to spam@uce.gov.
6. Do not contact the bureaus directly for the free annual report.

By phone, call 1-877-322-8228; the report is mailed within 15 days. By mail, send the official request form to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

How do you dispute an account a thief opened in your name?

Send a written dispute to each bureau and to the creditor, and attach your identity theft report from IdentityTheft.gov. The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you ask the bureaus to block information that results from identity theft. A bureau must block it not later than 4 business days after receiving proof of your identity, a copy of an identity theft report, your identification of the information, and your statement that it does not relate to any transaction by you (Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 605B).

The CFPB and Experian publish this sequence (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Experian):

1. File a police report with your local police.
2. Report to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov for an Identity Theft Report and recovery plan.
3. Place an initial or extended fraud alert with one bureau; an extended alert requires an identity theft report.
4. Get your report from each bureau and review it for other fraudulent items.
5. Submit a dispute with each bureau individually, online, by mail or by phone.
6. Ask each bureau to block the fraudulent information with your identity theft report, proof of identity and a letter identifying it. Use this only for debts that result from identity theft.
7. Expect blocking within four business days of the request.
8. Contact the lenders reporting the fraudulent information and ask them to close or freeze any accounts opened under your name.

Which credit monitoring tool should you use after a wallet theft?

After a theft you want alerts from all three bureaus, not one. CreditRefresh watches all three for $49.99 a month, while a free tool such as Credit Karma reaches TransUnion only for disputes. The table sets each tool’s price, bureau reach and Trustpilot score side by side.

Every price is that company’s own published rate, as its own site states it. Trustpilot scores and review counts as published.

If you have paid for a tool before and nothing changed, the complaints are specific. A 2-star Trustpilot review of Dispute Beast by Nat, dated September 6, 2026, reads: “Dispute Beast did Nothing for me but took my payments. There’s an extra fee for each letter the system sends on your behalf.”

Jennifer C. gave Lexington Law one star on Trustpilot on March 20, 2024, writing: “Their policy read they would initially charge $14.95 but $99 was withdrawn from my account.” For Credit Karma, 37 of its 194 most recent 1 and 2 star reviews raise nobody answering; Conqueso S. wrote in a one-star Trustpilot review of Credit Karma on September 24, 2026: “You cannot get ahold of a human being at this company.”

Two firms in the table have resolved actions on record. The FTC finalized an order in January 2023 requiring Credit Karma, LLC to pay $3,000,000 over deploying dark patterns to misrepresent that consumers were pre-approved for credit card offers, when many were denied (Federal Trade Commission, 2023). In August 2023 the CFPB entered a $2,700,000,000 stipulated final judgment against Progrexion Marketing, Inc., PGX Holdings, Inc., CreditRepair.com, Inc. and John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, PLLC (Lexington Law), over collecting illegal advance fees for telemarketed credit repair services and deceptive bait-and-switch advertising (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2023). In December 2024 the CFPB announced a $1,800,000,000 distribution from its victims relief fund to consumers charged those fees (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2024).

How CreditRefresh protects your credit after a lost or stolen wallet

A stolen wallet needs watching across all three bureaus and a way to dispute what a thief opens. Refresh Monitoring is a $49.99-a-month subscription that gives you reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and includes full access to CreditRefresh. You can send a dispute yourself; what we do is draft the letters for all three bureaus from the reports we pull through our monitoring partner.

You stay in control. You decide which letters to approve, then print and mail them yourself or send them through RushMail for a per-letter fee. Nothing is sent until you have reviewed and signed it.

CreditRefresh is software, not a law firm, and its letters are not legal advice. The bureaus decide dispute outcomes, and we do not promise a score. Members who work the full program for twelve months and see none of their three bureau scores rise above the starting point can claim back every Refresh Monitoring payment under our 100% money-back guarantee, a refund promise and never a score promise. The conditions are on the guarantee page.

FAQ

Does a credit freeze lower your credit score?

No. The FTC states a freeze does not affect a credit score (Federal Trade Commission, 2025). Under the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, freezes are free at all three bureaus. You can freeze, thaw and re-freeze without paying, and a freeze blocks new pulls entirely until you thaw it.

How do you lift a credit freeze when you apply for a loan?

Contact a bureau the lender will use to check your credit (Federal Trade Commission, consumer handout 1002A). Online or phone requests must be lifted within one hour, and mailed requests within three business days (USAGov, 2025). Equifax accepts requests through a myEquifax account or at (888) 298-0045 (Equifax). Experian lets you schedule an unfreeze for a specified period (Experian), and TransUnion lets you schedule a removal up to 15 days ahead (TransUnion).

Will a new Social Security number fix identity theft?

Start by reporting your number as stolen. The SSA says that if you have tried to fix the problems from the misuse but are still affected using your original number, you can speak with a representative to see if a new number is appropriate (SSA, Requesting a new number). Items that result from identity theft can be disputed under the FCRA, and a freeze is the strongest tool for preventing new accounts. Active identity theft where new accounts are still being opened needs a human, not the standard dispute flow.

How often can you check your credit reports for free after a theft?

Weekly, at AnnualCreditReport.com, from each of the three bureaus (Federal Trade Commission, 2026). The three bureaus announced in 2023 that the free weekly reports would remain available permanently, which is voluntary bureau practice (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, 2023). The statute’s free disclosure remains once every 12 months under FCRA Section 612(a).

What should you do if your wallet was only lost, not stolen?

Run the same steps. Cancel the cards and request new ones (IdentityTheft.gov). A freeze is the strongest prevention option.

What should you ask any credit monitoring provider before you pay?

Ask what it costs, whether you can cancel, and which bureaus it covers. Ours: Refresh Monitoring is $49.99 a month with CreditRefresh included at no additional cost, has no contract and no lock-in, and can be cancelled at any time. We work with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and focus on those three nationwide bureaus rather than specialty consumer reporting agencies.

Who mails the dispute letters if you dispute a fraudulent account?

You do, or RushMail does at your choice. After you review and approve a letter, you can print and mail it yourself or have RushMail, our mailing partner, send it for a small per-letter fee. Downloading letters adds no CreditRefresh mailing fee, though you pay for printing and postage. To use RushMail, open the round’s RushMail card, review the letters and total, then use Pay & send.

CreditRefresh drafts dispute letters for Equifax, Experian and TransUnion that you review, sign and mail yourself or send through RushMail, with three-bureau reports included in a $49.99-a-month Refresh Monitoring subscription. Backed by a 100% money-back guarantee.

Start watching all three bureaus after a lost wallet →