Why is the lost or stolen number written on the back of your bank/ credit card?

Question

For goodness sake!!!!

If you lose it you would never know what number to call anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......

Egg's site impressed me though, first thing you see in the "contact us" bit is the number to call if you've lost your card.... (lost mine today)...

Answer 1

So an honest person who finds it can call it in on behalf of the person who lost it. I did that when I found someone's credit card in the gas station. It gets the account shut down even before the person who lost it knows about it. Won't help with the dishonest people out there though!

Answer 2

1. You are supposed to make a photocopy of the card and keep it separate. If the card is lost or stolen, you use the photocopy find the phone number to call and the account number to give them when they answer.

2. The phone number is also used for other purposes, such as asking how close you are to your credit limit.

Kaushal S is wrong. Each bank that issues Mastercards and Visa cards has its own number that appears only on its own cards. It is not the same for all Mastercards or all Visa cards.

Answer 3

It is done as per the banking codes . Also, If you apply common sense, reading or memorising what is there in the back of a card is hardly done by any people (card owner)

Unfortunately , there is not enough space on the back of the card to write an essay about common sense, which is highly uncommon now a days.

Also, if you happen to have an employee or any other type of identification card, check the back of your id card - there is a telephone number usually to report if lost and found

It is there for a purpose. Atleast keep that in mind :-)

Answer 4

Its sounds weird, but it does have a purpose. The card issuer will generally have the same lost/stolen number in all its cards. So, if your card (say MasterCard) gets lost or stolen, you could borrow your friend's MasterCard, and dial in the number. All you would need to tell is your name and perhaps simple authentication information.

Re-issuing a new card is way less expensive for companies and banks as against writing off expenses not actually made by you.

Hope this helps.
Kosh!

Answer 5

Yes, not much sense having this number on the card!

Answer 6

So when the thief has maxed out the card they can phone and report it as stolen

Answer 7

I think it was meant for the
person who found the lost card to call

Answer 8

so the finder can call them to increase your limit. or if they are respectable to report it found. and of course it means you will be too scared to lose it because you wont know who to ring - lol

Answer 9

the issuer's website and every past bill from them also has the number

Answer 10

haha your a genius, i wouldn't have thought of that. smashing obvservation sherlock! :D