Get Your Personal Identification Documents Replaced Quickly

When you realize your social security card is missing, that’s the right time for you to jump into action without hesitation. This should narrow the window that fraudsters (if any) would use to steal your identity, hurting you financially and emotionally.

Without further ado, here is how you can get your social security card and any personal identification documents replaced the moment you realize that they are missing:

Notify The Social Security Office

When you realize your social security card is missing, your first contact should be the social security office. You can visit their official site online or, even better, get their office telephone number and call them. The most important thing about doing so is that the old card will get blocked immediately.

And with your stolen/missing social security card blocked, you won’t even have the chance to worry about fraudulent activity at your expense. Once your card has been blocked, your next business order will prepare you to receive a new social security card.

Once notified, the social security office people will start working to replace your social security card immediately. And it will take them close to a fortnight before they deliver the work for you. Remember that the information differs depending on the country you are in.

Apply for A New Social Security Card

Once you’ve notified the social security offices about your situation, you’ll be directed on how you can apply for your new card. Thankfully, following these three steps is the easiest thing to do. And for that reason, you’ll be required to do this as quickly as possible. These steps include the following:

• Visit the official website, then print the form.

• You’ll then be required to fill it out with the required information before printing it.

• Once done so, you can email or mail it, depending on whatever floats your boat.

When visiting your local social security office, don’t forget to carry your driver’s license, state-owned identification card, or valid passport. If you lost all three, feel free to take a police affidavit claiming the same, then you’ll be good to go.

Once you’ve done all the above procedures, your next order of business would either wait two weeks for your new social security card to check in, or you can do a lot more to ensure that you shield yourself from the long hands of identity thieves. You can do this by doing the following:

Place A Fraud Alert

Once you’re done with alerting the social security offices and signed up for your brand new social security card, your next order of business should be placing a fraud alert. A fraud alert reduces the chances of identity thieves stealing your hard-earned money. You can do so by calling any of the following three agencies:

• Experian

• Equifax

• TransUnion

These agencies will ensure that your credit is monitored for any unusual activities within the two weeks you’ll be waiting to have your social security card replaced. This is incredible because you’ll receive a call for verification once any action happens under your name. You can also renew the alert every 90 days until you are satisfied that the fraudsters can’t touch you.

Alert The IRS About Your Missing Social Security Card

You must involve the internal revenue service so identity thieves cannot manipulate your tax return details. Feel free to contact the IRS; they’ll give you a step-by-step guide on protecting your identity. They’ll also do their best to assist you in the best way possible so you don’t suffer when all is said and done.

Notify The FTC of Your Current Predicament

Note that doing all this isn’t out of paranoia, but it’s another way to shield yourself from identity thieves. As stated earlier, they are getting smarter by the day. And that’s exactly why you’ll need to do one better to ensure you’re fully protected. Thankfully, the FTC specializes in this and will take your case with the seriousness it deserves.

Once you’ve notified them via their official or online page, always ensure that you retain their reference number. This is important since you can use it to counter any credit damage under your name.

Feel free to print out an FTC identity theft affidavit to counter any identity theft cases resulting from having your social security card stolen. And when all is said and all is said and done, always keep an eye out for any unusual activities yourself just so that you can be ahead of the curve.

Why Is Replacing Your Social Security Card So Important?

Your social security card can be used to defraud you without you even knowing. The thing is, fraudsters and identity thieves have been doing such a great job when it comes to reinventing themselves. They have devised ways to use your social security cards to earn a payday at your expense. Below are some of the ways they can get to do this:

• Filing bogus tax returns – an experienced identity thief can use your social security card to manipulate your tax returns to get copious amounts of reimbursements. But once a thing is sure: the IRS never sleeps and would soon detect the error and come bearing down on you. You need to report your stolen card early to avoid getting in trouble.

• They can open new payment cards without your knowledge and get to benefit while you are getting deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of debt.

• Smart identity thieves can access your one-time passwords, which will, in turn, give them access to your money, especially if you have access to your bank through your mobile phone.

And this is exactly why you need to have your social security card reported as quickly as possible because delaying equates to giving the fraudsters time to screw you even further. You can do this even before replacing your social security card.

Conclusion

Whether you’ve lost your social security card or had it stolen, your first order of business should be hurrying up and replacing it. As I’ve stated earlier, plenty of people will jump at the opportunity to trick you.

So the earlier you report it to the authorities and have them sorted out, the more you’ll get to reduce the likelihood of your identity being stolen. It is also essential for you to familiarize yourself with the above procedure to know what to do when you discover that your social security card is missing.

Apart from springing into action, it is also important for you to know how to monitor your card for fraudulent activities. In as much as your card might just be lost and not exactly used for any fraud, it is important always to be prepared for anything so you can be on top of things when all has been said and done.