This advice struck me as I skimmed through credit card stories over the past week. With all the focus on online fraud, we sometimes forget to state the obvious:  don’t leave anything of value in an unlocked (or locked, for that matter) car.  Oh, and if your credit cards go missing, be sure to contact the credit card company immediately to let them know of the theft.  Here is a sampling:

• Boise Weekly:  “The cards were stolen during burglaries of opportunity. The first theft occurred Sept. 22, when a resident of the Eagle Road/Beacon Hill neighborhood left the door of her truck unlocked. After returning to her car the next morning, she discovered her wallet was missing.  The second break-in took place Oct. 1, when a purse was stolen from a car parked in an open garage in the Floating Feather Road/Ballantyne Lane neighborhood.”
• Columbus Dispatch:  “Use of stolen credit cards is the crime of the week in the Crime Stoppers program.  The cards were stolen from an unlocked car in an open garage at a house in Dublin early on Oct. 9. A man used the cards at a Speedway station on Tuller Parkway and a Meijer store on Sawmill Road.”
• Downtown Publications:  “A woman went into a Bloomfield Hills building, leaving her car unlocked, and when she returned, she discovered her purse had been stolen on Thursday, October 9.  The woman told Bloomfield Hills police officers that she went into a building in the 41000 block of Woodward Avenue at 4:25 p.m. She said he left her vehicle in the parking lot for just a short time and when she returned, she discovered that someone had taken her purse from her car, which she had left unlocked.  She told police the purse contained credit cards, identification and a checkbook.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.