What to Do When You Lose Your Wallet

Last Friday, I lost my wallet for the first time in my life. It happened right before the weekend, after a Friday night of drinking, and I had around JPY 20,000 in cash in it. I am writing down what I actually did afterward.

1. File a report with the police

First, report it to the police. A nearby police box is fine. In practice, though, it may be faster if you file the report in the jurisdiction where you think you lost the wallet.

At the police box, you fill out a lost-property report. You write down your name, address, phone number, when and where you lost it, the characteristics of the wallet such as whether it is bifold and the brand, and what was inside it, such as the amount of cash, your driver's license, and your credit cards.

After I filled it out, they checked with the responsible station and gave me a memo with the acceptance number for the report.

You may be asked later whether you filed a police report and what the acceptance number was when you apply for reissuance of documents, so it is best to get this done first.

2. Reissue your driver's license

In Tokyo, reissuing a driver's license requires going to one of the designated driver's license centers. At the time, the police box told me there were three: Fuchu, Samezu, and Koto. The reception hours are around 8:30-16:30. However, if you are renewing at the same time and want same-day issuance, reception is only 8:30-13:30, so be careful.

The process is submitting the reissuance form with a photo attached, paying the fee, taking a photo, and receiving the new license. After the photo was taken, I waited about 40 minutes to an hour for issuance. It cost JPY 700 for the application photo and JPY 3,600 for the reissuance fee, for a total of JPY 4,300.

3. Reissue your health insurance card

I work for a company, so I contacted the department in charge there. In my case, once I filled out the required paperwork, they were able to issue it the same day. One important point was that if the old insurance card is later found, I was told not to throw it away but to return it. The reissuance fee was JPY 500.

4. Stop and reissue your bank card

For bank cards, you need to deal with each bank separately. Search for something like "bank name lost cash card" and you should find the support phone number and the procedure for stopping and reissuing the card. You can stop the card even without your bankbook, but if you have the bankbook, it is easier because you can immediately provide the branch name and account number. Without it, identity verification can take longer.

The reissuance process depends on the bank. Some send you forms by mail, while others ask you to come to a branch.

It is surprisingly inconvenient not to have a bank card. I lost my wallet on Friday, and when I tried to withdraw money over the weekend, I realized for the first time that I could not use my bankbook at the ATM. I happened to have another bank card at home for a different account with about JPY 100,000 in it, so that saved me.

5. Stop and reissue your credit card

Credit cards also have to be handled company by company. Search for something like "card name lost" and you should find the support number and the procedure. After the card is stopped, you can apply for reissuance. I think there was a fee. I was told reissuance would take about a week to ten days. If you reissue it, the old card becomes unusable.

For cards that combine a credit card with something else, such as a BIC Suica card that also serves as a Bic Camera point card, you have to handle both stopping the card itself and suspending point usage. Restarting point usage can require another procedure in the store after the new card is issued, which is a hassle.

6. Stop and reissue point cards

By the time I got to this point, I was tired of making phone calls and starting to feel like it was not worth dealing with all of them. I did not even remember every card that had been in the wallet, so I barely handled this category. The only ones I took care of were the ANA and JAL point cards, because I also use them when flying and I had accumulated miles on them.

Thoughts

This experience made me think about how I manage my bank accounts and cards. Keeping everything concentrated in one place is convenient, but some cards that I almost never use were still sitting in my wallet. If you keep those separately, it helps when something goes wrong.

I also carry a separate coin purse so that my wallet does not get bulky, but there is a downside: if the main wallet does not contain coins, it makes less noise and feels lighter when it falls, so it is harder to notice that you dropped it.

Summary

This time, I lost it while drunk. It reminded me again how important it is not to let alcohol get the better of you. Losing a wallet is a big shock, but for now I am trying to think positively and tell myself this is an excuse to buy a new one.

As of 2013-05-21, it still had not been found.