Image: Wavebreak Media

Ugh! You woke up after a late-night of dinner and drinks with friends. You drag yourself out of the house to grab some breakfast. You go to pay. And BAM! DECLINED! How did that happen? Are you sleepwalking to Bloomingdale’s?

It’s a real pain in the neck, but a lost or stolen card happens. Reporting that and getting a new card is a pretty simple process. The most important thing is making sure your credit isn’t all messed up by some baddie with sticky fingers.

The key to preventing major credit damage is keeping an eye peeled for anything strange. Look over credit card statements when you get them. If you use online banking, go to your account once per week with the expressed purpose of going through purchases to make sure you’re responsible for all of the transactions listed.

If you think something fishy is happening, act quickly. Contact the card issuer and the credit bureaus — Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. The bureaus can place an alert on your credit report, which will last 90 days or longer. This is a free and useful service. You can even ask for a credit freeze, which will stop anyone, including you, from getting credit in your name.

For your online shopping, look for “secure servers.” Oftentimes we see these security guarantees on big sites like Amazon, PayPal, and Ticketmaster. It’s just as important, if not more, to look for those advisories and the “s” (“secure”) on the “https” in the URL of smaller sites you’re unfamiliar with.

Unfortunately, you can’t prevent everything. But being vigilant will save you a lot of headache down the line.