When I travel outside of Canada, I do a purge of all cards that I won’t need. If the family goes on vacation, I take all of the cards I don’t need and hide them in the house (I”ve sometimes used the freezer).

I also copy certain information into my corporate blackberry that I carry with me but I don’t have credit card info per se. Just some affinity card numbers.

My login info is stored in an encrypted file that I have on a USB memory stick for cards that I can’t remember the number for.

I just went into TD branch on the weekend because I’d heard a rumour that they will issue you a chip based debit card if you go to the branch. They do not put your name on the card anymore and the number on the card has changed – means another one for me to memorize.

I never carry around my SIN card or Birth Certificate and I don’t like to carry my passports with me when I travel – I’d rather keep them in the room safe but some countries I visit require me to have the passport on my person. Again – the passport goes into my front pants pocket.

My lesson: Don’t carry a wallet in cash-only countries, or even better carry a decoy wallet. A small bunch of bills with larger ones tucked away with documents in something like a money belt works even better. Even if they did go away with my wallet, I had split my contents up so I wasn’t going to loose everything. So much for the zippered pocket being secure!

Luckily, I built rapport with the people at the establishment and I was able to retrieve my wallet with everything in it!

But now 20 years later my mom still reminds me not to loose my wallet (and to close my jacket, because it is cold outside). :)

While traveling, people should only take the bare essentials.. only credit cards you need, leave BC, health cards at home. Only take passport, and specific travel insurance necessary ….

The good news? That was a few years ago and I have yet to take the hold off my cards. Only my wife has a working card now and our credit card debt has been eliminated.

If I ever really need those cards I suppose I could reactivate (?) so they might still serve an emergency purpose.

I have had more than one co-worker who has lost their wallets while carrying these items, and has ended up with their identity stolen and credit ruined (and it is no small task to get things resolved-it has been going on for years with one of them trying to prove it was not him who opened the accounts!)

With those two simple pieces of ID, (at least in BC) you can get photo ID issued in the form of a drivers license or BCID (photo ID card if you don’t have a drivers license.) Once you have the photo ID and those other two pieces of identification, there is nothing stopping you from opening bank accounts or accessing current ones in the name of the person who lost their wallet (or had it stolen.)

Yes, cancelling credit cards etc is a pain in the #$@, but replacing gov’t ID (like the earlier comment suggested) is even more difficult, and sorting out a damaged credit history is THE worst!

That’s my rant about carrying your SIN & birth certificate in your wallet!

…and on a side note about carrying extra cards for points, miles etc: On TV the other day they recommended photocopying the bar codes of these cards, then cutting them out and consolidating them (they laminated them of course.) Then you can leave the originals at home, your wallet is much thinnner, and the merchants can still scan the bar code to access your account. I haven’t tried it out yet, but it sounded like an interesting way to do it if it works!

Well, one day I did the same thing with my wallet and proceeded to drive away. I was just doing a few errands around town and it wasn’t until my last one (fueling up the car in preparation for a weekend away) that I realised I didn’t have my wallet. I almost immediately remembered putting it on the roof. After quickly checking that it wasn’t still there, I proceeded to cancel all my credit cards. I always keep my most recent statement and these all have numbers to contact in case of loss or theft.

During my panic to cancel all my cards, someone called me. I didn’t recognize the number and chose not to take the call so that I could continue cancelling the cards. Later I checked the message to find out someone had found my wallet at Yonge and Bloor, one of the busiest intersections in Canada and wanted to return it to me.

She had found my number from a drycleaner’s claim ticket in the wallet. I wanted to reward her for returning it to me. There was no money in the wallet (she thought someone took the money and discarded it and was possibly concerned I would accuse her of taking it but there never was any). I had already cancelled all the debit and credit cards so I couldn’t get her any money. I offered to drive her home or to wherever she was going. I’m actually glad she refused. My fuel gauge was almost on empty. I probably would have had to borrow money from her to get back home myself!

She told me her name. Of course I forgot it. I know she works in the Yonge Bloor area. Everytime I’m in the area, I look for her with the hope that I can reward her.

A few years ago, I also had my wallet stolen from my car. Again I cancelled all my cards. While I was at the bank replacing my debit card, the police called me on my cell (I still don’t know how they got that number. They must have had it on file from a vandalism incident previously). They had recovered my wallet.

It turns out the thief was trying to sell my credit cards to a woman on the street. The woman called the police. When they showed up, the thief ran, they chased him and recovered my wallet with everything but one of my cards. He had made a couple of small purchases on one card at Zellers I think. The one card that was missing, didn’t have any charges on it. I guess he sold it but the purchaser didn’t get a chance to use it since I cancelled the card.

SCOTIABANK does not let you put a freeze/hold on yoru credit cards. If you call them up, abnd you ask for a hold etc. the cardcannot be reactivated over the phone, and if you are unable to go into yoru HOME branch, you must cancel the card and wait for a new one in the mail. SO… if you are on holiday, you are basically screwed.

CIBC on the other hand, you can call up and put a hold on yoru card while you search for your wallet, and a simple phone call with verification of identify, you can re-activate and start racking up debt again.

Just super annoying,and for that reason I’m glad I have CIBC card whiel travelling.

what about the other banks?

-Adam

Kathryn, you have more life experience than anyone I know! :)

I still carry everything in my wallet though – I am just more careful about hanging on to my wallet ;-).

thanks for the post!