We all know what a pain in the keister it is to deal with a stolen credit card, or at least we can guess. If you’ve never experienced it yourself, you probably know someone who has. Yours truly once had a whole wallet full of cards stolen, and I can assure you, it’s no picnic.

But that’s not the worst thing that can happen with a credit card theft. Someone might go hog-wild with a credit card you even never knew you had.

Now wait a minute here!

Everybody knows you’re supposed to keep a close eye on your credit card statements. This simple step saved the bacon for a friend of mine, who used to work as an archaeologist for a company in New Orleans.

One day, the CFO called him in and asked, “Why did you spend $500 on your company MasterCard at this gas station across town?” And my friend, confused, said, “I don’t have a company MasterCard. Just AmEx.” And the CEO showed him his company MasterCard statement.

As it turned out, some lowlife had stolen the MasterCard from the company mailbox while my friend was in the field, and treated about 20 of his best friends to free gas. That example of credit card fraud was quickly cleared up–but it could have been much worse if the CFO hadn’t caught it.

Gulp!

The monthly statement review works great… if you get your statements. Suppose you don’t?

Picture this: thinking everything’s hunky-dory, you go out to buy a new car you can easily afford… only to find your credit application has been turned down because you’ve defaulted on $20,000 in credit card payments. Say what?!

See, some credit card thieves are craftier than others. Not only do they steal your pre-qualified credit card applications from the mail, they fill ‘em out for you and have the statements sent to them, so you never see them. They completely ignore the bills, max out the cards, and leave you to face the consequences.

Ack! What can I do?

I hate to sound negative here, but there’s not a lot you can do in a case like this except report it immediately upon discovery and try to clear it up. You can limit the possibility by regularly reviewing a copy of your credit report, but that can get expensive… and every credit report request is a hit on your credit rating.

Look on the bright side: most thieves aren’t smart enough to figure out this scheme. But you gotta admit, if a stolen credit card can get you in trouble even when you’ve never owned one, it’s enough to make you want to go back to a cash-only economy… or maybe barter.

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