Lost or stolen cards and cash abroad: what to do

Losing a card abroad feels worse than losing one at home, but the rules that protect you are largely the same wherever the card is used. If your card is lost or stolen, report it to your bank immediately¹. Once you have told the bank, you are not liable for any unauthorised payments taken afterwards². If you do not report the loss at all, you may have to pay up to £35 of the unauthorised transactions³.

The scale of the problem is real but limited. Fraud on UK-issued cards used overseas totalled £149.7m in 2025, down 8% on the previous year⁴, and contactless fraud from stolen cards makes up only around 8% of overall card fraud losses⁵. The steps below cover what to do in the first hour, how to get money and a replacement card while travelling, and how to claim money back afterwards.

Your protection abroad is the same as at home

The starting point is that a UK card used abroad sits under the same UK rules as one used at home. The Payment Services Regulations 2017 entitle you to a refund from your debit card provider immediately if your card was lost or stolen and you report unauthorised transactions without undue delay⁷. That right does not depend on where in the world the card was used or the payments were taken. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also requires firms to give you clear information about the time it takes to replace a debit card that has been lost, stolen or stopped⁸, which matters when you are waiting on a replacement from overseas.

The practical protection comes from acting fast. If your card is lost or stolen you may be protected against fraudulent activity and will not be liable for any losses, unless you have given your card to someone⁹. That exception is worth noting: handing a card to a friend, partner or hotel staff member to make a payment can weaken your position if the card is then misused.

Prevention is simpler than cure. Take Five's advice for travellers is to only take cards you intend to use and leave the others securely at home, and to keep your card secure and in sight, along with all your other travel documents, especially when out and about¹⁰. A card left in a hotel safe is a smaller problem than one carried everywhere in a back pocket. If you are weighing up what to take, the guides to travel money and taking cash or using a card on holiday cover the options before you go.

First steps when your card is lost or stolen abroad

The first hour matters most. The advice from anti-fraud campaigners is consistent: if your card is lost or stolen, report it to your bank immediately¹. If you have lost money or spotted an unauthorised transaction, contact your bank immediately using the phone number on the back of your card¹¹. If the card itself is gone, the number will be on your banking app, your bank's website or a paper statement, so it is worth knowing before you travel how you would reach your bank without the card in front of you.

If your phone went with the card, the order of actions changes slightly. Take Five's guidance for a stolen mobile phone is to report your phone as stolen and freeze your card immediately, or use a friend's or family member's phone to call your bank¹². Freezing the card in your banking app stops new payments while you work out what has happened, and most banks let you freeze a card via the app, though the Co-operative Bank is a notable exception¹³. If your bank does not offer a freeze, ask for the card to be cancelled outright.

If your passport, driving licence or cheque book went at the same time, report each one as lost immediately to the organisation that issued it¹⁴. A stolen card is a payment problem; a stolen passport is an identity problem, and the two need separate reports. The section on reporting the theft and getting help below covers the wider steps.

Freezing and cancelling your card from abroad

A freeze and a cancellation do different things. A freeze is a temporary stop: the card cannot be used, but you can unfreeze it if the card turns up down the side of the suitcase. A cancellation is permanent: the card number is killed and a replacement is issued. Freezing first gives you breathing space, and it is the recommended move when a phone is stolen alongside a card¹².

Most banks let you freeze a card in their app, wherever you are in the world, since the app does not care about your location. The Co-operative Bank does not offer an in-app freeze, so its customers need to call instead¹³. Cancelling from abroad is done the same way: through the app, or by calling the bank's lost card line. One provider states that it will cancel your card as soon as you tell them it is missing and get a new card sent to the address they hold for you in 5 to 7 working days⁶.

Two things are worth doing while you are on the call or in the app. First, ask the bank to check recent transactions, so you know whether the card was used after it went missing. Second, ask what the bank can do about emergency cash or an emergency replacement card, because policies differ between banks and the answer shapes what you do for the rest of the trip. The FCA's rules require firms to be clear about how long a replacement debit card takes after one has been lost, stolen or stopped, so a vague answer is itself a warning sign⁸.

Replacement card fees and the cost of using other cards

Banks set their own charges for replacing a lost or stolen card, and some charge around £10 while others replace cards free. There is no standard fee set by regulation, so the cost depends on your bank's own terms. Prepaid travel cards work differently: if you lose the card the money is protected, but you may have to pay for a replacement card¹⁵. With an expired prepaid card, you contact your provider to request your money back, which may involve a fee¹⁶.

While you wait for a replacement, the cost of using other cards abroad adds up quickly. Most credit cards add a foreign transaction fee of around 3% on non-sterling purchases and cash withdrawals¹⁷, and you'll typically pay up to 2.99% each time you use a credit card abroad, plus a fee of around 3% (minimum £3) when you take money out of an ATM with a credit card¹⁸. Interest on credit card cash withdrawals starts straight away, with no interest-free period¹⁸. On current accounts, using your debit card abroad typically brings a spending or cash machine charge of between £1 and £3 each time you use it, except for euros in the EU¹⁹.

The compounding effect is worth seeing in the small print. Spending just £5 with a card that charges fees could set you back £1.15, an additional 23%¹⁸. The guides to using a debit card abroad, prepaid travel money cards and withdrawing cash from machines abroad set out these charges in full before you rely on a backup card.

Getting a replacement card sent while you travel

A replacement card sent to your home address is not much use mid-trip, which is why the timing matters. One provider states it will cancel your card as soon as you report it missing and get a new card sent to the address it holds for you in 5 to 7 working days⁶. If you are away for longer than that, a card sent home will be waiting for you; if you are away for less, it will not. Ask your bank specifically whether it can send a card abroad, to your hotel or another address, and how long that takes, because this varies by bank and by destination.

Some banks offer an emergency replacement card service for customers abroad, and some can arrange emergency cash through a partner network, paid into your account or collected locally. These are bank-specific services rather than rights, so the answer depends on who you bank with. The FCA rule on replacement times means a bank must tell you clearly how long a replacement debit card takes after one has been lost, stolen or stopped⁸, so ask for that timescale in writing or in the app before you end the call.

If you cannot get a card or cash quickly, the alternatives are in the section on paying for things after a theft. For the wider safety net, the page on emergency financial help abroad explains what consular support can and cannot do for a British national in difficulty.

Cash lost or stolen at the same time as your cards

A wallet that goes missing usually takes everything with it, and cash is the part nobody can refund. Card payments can be reversed under UK rules⁷, but stolen banknotes cannot, which is why guidance on travel money is to avoid carrying more cash than you need. Prepaid travel cards are the middle ground: abroad they can be used like a debit card, and if you lose the card the money is protected, though you may have to pay for a replacement¹⁵. Some prepaid cards charge fees for withdrawing cash, so it may be cheaper to pay for purchases directly¹⁶.

If you are left with no cards and no cash, the options narrow to what can be arranged remotely:

• A credit card cash withdrawal, if a credit card survived the theft, at around 3% with a £3 minimum¹⁸
• A prepaid travel card, either one that survived or a new one loaded by a family member from home¹⁵
• Emergency cash from your bank, where your bank offers the service
• Money sent by family or friends through a transfer service, collected in local currency
• A second card kept separately, which is the reason guidance says to only take cards you intend to use and keep them secure¹⁰

The FCA's rules also require banks to give you certain information about using a debit card to withdraw foreign currency outside the UK, including the charges that apply²⁰, so ask your bank what a foreign withdrawal will cost before you rely on one. The comparison of a prepaid travel card or debit card abroad may help if you are deciding what to carry as a backup.

Card protection insurance: what it pays and when

Card protection insurance is a separate, optional policy that covers you if your card is lost or stolen²¹. It is not the same as the legal protection on your account: the refund rights under the Payment Services Regulations apply whether or not you have a policy⁷. What the policy adds is practical help, typically notifying all your card providers at once, cover for unauthorised use, and sometimes a small amount of emergency cash cover.

The cover levels in these policies were examined closely by Parliament after a major mis-selling case. One card protection product claimed to offer up to £5,000 of cover for unauthorised transactions before the customer notified the bank, and up to either £50,000 or £100,000 of cover after notification, for a premium of approximately £0.60 inclusive of insurance premium tax²². The parliamentary inquiry found these claims were misleading, because customers already had most of this protection from their banks for free. The lesson for anyone buying cover today is to check what the policy adds beyond what the law already gives you.

What card protection insurance usually does not do is hand you spending money while you are still abroad. Emergency cash and replacement card delivery are more often found in travel insurance policies, and even there the cover has limits. Travel insurance can pay you money if your luggage is lost or stolen or your trip is cancelled or delayed²³, and some policies pay a set amount for the loss of a passport²⁴. Check whether a policy covers medical treatment, getting home early, cancellation and repatriation before relying on it for anything²³.

Where cover does not help straight away

Some protections people assume they have simply do not apply abroad, and it is better to know before you need them. The reimbursement rules for authorised push payment (APP) scams, where you are tricked into sending money yourself, apply to UK Faster Payments only. They do not apply to international transfers, debit, credit card or crypto payments. If you are defrauded into transferring money overseas, the mandatory reimbursement scheme does not cover you, though you can still complain to your bank and to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Card refunds also have edges. The right to a refund for unauthorised payments applies to transactions taken from your account, including purchases made over the internet, by telephone, TV or teletext, but the distance selling rules that cover some purchases exclude financial services such as insurance and banking⁹. And if you paid a scammer directly, the protections differ by payment method: paying by credit card gives more protection for transactions between £100 and £30,000 under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, including with overseas retailers²⁵, while a bank transfer may leave you relying on the bank's voluntary efforts.

The other limit is timing. A replacement card takes 5 to 7 working days to your home address at one provider⁶, a police report may take time to obtain in a foreign system, and an insurance claim will not be settled until you are home with the paperwork. None of this is instant, which is why the practical advice is to keep a backup means of payment separate from your main wallet¹⁰.

Getting money back for unauthorised payments

The core right is straightforward. Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, if your card is lost or stolen and you report unauthorised transactions without undue delay, your debit card provider should refund you immediately⁷. You are not liable for any unauthorised payments taken after you tell the bank that your card has been stolen or that someone else has got hold of your security details². This applies wherever in the world the payments were made, because the protection follows the card and the account, not the country.

The limits sit at the edges of that right. If your card was lost or stolen and you do not report it, you may have to pay up to £35 of the unauthorised transactions³. The protection against fraudulent use of a lost or stolen card can also fall away if you gave your card to someone⁹, which is why lending a card to a third party is riskier than it looks. Contactless fraud from stolen cards is a small part of the overall picture, at around 8% of card fraud losses⁵, and card fraud as a whole accounts for only 7.5p for every £100 spent²⁶.

If the bank refuses a refund, there is a route to challenge it. The bank's own complaints process comes first, then the Financial Ombudsman Service if the answer is no. Independent guidance is clear that if you have lost money or spotted an unauthorised transaction, contact your bank immediately using the phone number on the back of your card¹¹, and that identity fraud involving plastic cards, online banking or cheques should be reported directly to the financial institution concerned²⁷. The page on scams and fraud covers the complaint process in full.

Reporting the theft and getting help

The card goes to the bank; the theft goes to the police. Card fraud involving credit or debit cards, online banking or cheques should be reported directly to the financial institution concerned²⁷, not to the police. But if cash or belongings were stolen, report it immediately to the local police, your hotel and your tour operator, because insurers often require a written report of the theft²⁸. That police report is usually the document a travel insurance claim stands or falls on.

Back home, there are further reports worth making. Report all lost or stolen documents containing personal information, such as passports, driving licences, credit cards and cheque books, to the organisation that issued them²⁹. The Information Commissioner's Office also advises theft victims to check bank statements and their credit report, watch out for phishing, use strong passwords and multifactor authentication, and consider applying for Cifas protective registration, which marks your file so lenders look harder at applications made in your name³⁰.

If money was stolen through a scam rather than card theft, the reporting path differs slightly: contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you are in Scotland³¹. The same guidance applies to scam losses generally, including gift card scams, which are reported to Action Fraud or to police on 101 in Scotland³². Free, impartial help is available from MoneyHelper, which explains the types of scam and the reporting routes³³, and the page on emergency financial help abroad covers what support is available while you are still overseas.