I went to a drive to Pondicherry & last used my credit card in a Petrol Station on Saturday, since I went home very late, I parked my car and went to sleep. On Sunday I stayed at home. So when I started to office on Monday morning I came to know my wallet was missing. After getting upset and irritated in the beginning, I allowed myself to get cool. Then I understood such things are bound to happen in life and we must be prepared for the unexpected. So there is not use in doing a post mortem, so I immediately started doing the damage control. These where the steps which I followed,
1.) First List all the things that were in the wallet & sub classify as important & unimportant
a. Important
• 3 Credit Card
• 3 Debit Card
• Driving License
• PAN Card (Important for Indian Income Tax)
b. Unimportant
• Important Business Cards
• Membership Cards
2.) Now after having all the important things in hand break up things which is highly important to act and easy to act
3.) Since Credit/Debit card is more important to protect yourself from misuse, it is important to act on it & fortunately for me these were the things that is easy to act too.
4.) Collect all information to act like,
a. Phone Banking Numbers of the banks
b. Relevant details like Card No’s
c. Where & how-to apply for a PAN
d. Where are hot to apply for a Driving License
5.) Now call all the banks and cancel the cards and apply for new cards right away.
6.) Now coming to important & not easy things which are Driving License & PAN card. Since it is all related to government involvement the process is not that easy. But let me share the information here on process involved to reapply for lost DL or PAN card
a. Lost PAN Card – http://www.tin-nsdl.com/faqPANRequestForNew.asp#5
b. LOST DL – In case of loss, theft, or on mutilation, Duplicate License is issued. The documents to be produced are FIR of the lost license, challan clearance report from RTA Office (in case of Commercial license renewal) and an application in Form LLD. The particulars are verified by the authority from the records. The duplicate license will have the valid period same as the previous license. If the license is lost and expired by more than 6 months it requires permission from Head Quarter of Transport Department.
It is recommended to keep a photocopy of the original license or particulars of license noted in order to make it easier for the issuing authority to locate the particulars from their record.
7.) In both cases in point 6, I must first lodge a police complaint & get a FIR, which I’ve not done, tomorrow I’m rushing to Police Station to file the complaint and get the FIR to get PAN & DL. Will post a separate blog if the process is complicated.
8.) Another stuff I must do is to go shopping and buy a new wallet, for which you don’t have credit cards in hand or debt card to withdraw cash. So try to borrow some cash from parents or friends. Try to get something more considering to get a new wallet, your expenses for 4 – 7 workings days which is what banks takes to process the replacement cards.
AnandNataraj 