It’s the pure horror: you’re on a Christmas market or in a crowded shopping mall and then you notice that your wallet is gone. With all your bank cards and credit cards. Keep a cool head because now you need to do the right things pretty fast.
How to disable your stolen German bank cards and credit cards?
If your wallet has been stolen you for sure need to call the police (by dialing 110, if you don’t know the number of the local police). But they will tell you that you will need to do one thing first: disable your stolen bank cards and credit cards. From the moment on that you have told your bank that your cards have been stolen, the risk of misuse is gone. From that point in time on the risk is with your bank and credit card provider. The following only applies if you have bank cards or credit cards issued by a German bank. If that is not the case follow the rules of your home country.
Hopefully you’ll always have two things at hand: the monstrous long IBAN bank account number and your credit card number. Always store them in your phone or have a note somewhere. Giving this information to a family member or friend is also a good option. Then call 116116 – it is the central bank card and credit card disabling phone number in Germany. You can also call it from mobile phones.
A computer system will first ask you where you have your bank account: at a Sparkasse (1) or any other bank (2). Unfortunately this system seems only to be available in German. The next step is whether you want to disable your bank card (1) or a credit card (2). When you choose bank card you will be asked for the IBAN of your bank account – without the leading ‘DE’.
When it happened to me this was kind of a problem: because of lots of people around me it was impossible to just say the IBAN and get it recognized correctly by the system. I found out that you can simply enter the number on your phone, which is much easier (I don’t know why the system does not simply tell you this). Another option is to download an app called ‘SperrApp‘. There you can enter the IBAN and lock the bank cards assigned to the account.
Important: the system will always lock all bank cards assigned to the IBAN, you cannot choose only the stolen one. And the system will not automatically block credit cards. For that you again have to call 116116 and select that you want to disable a credit card (see above). You will than be asked by a human which bank issued your credit card. Than you will be redirected to a specific service where you’ll have to tell your name, birthdate and address.
After you have disabled all stolen cards correctly you should be fine. You can try whether your card is blocked by using it at an ATM – it will tell you that it is blocked and keep the card. But that is fine because you’ll need to contact your bank and they will then send you new bank cards and credit cards anyway.
One Reply to “Stolen bank cards”