What Should I Do When I Find A Lost Credit Card: Turn It In, Cancel It Or Try To Contact The Owner?

All David wanted to do was be a good Samaritan. When he and his family came upon a credit card in the parking lot of a rest stop, he wanted to make sure he helped out its owner as best he could. But he isn’t sure if what he did to remedy the situation was the right decision. Let’s all chime in, shall we?

David writes that he and his family stopped at a rest stop on the way home from a trip. In the parking lot, they found an American Express platinum business credit card in their parking spot.

It was too late to flag down the car that had pulled out, so we brought it in to the rest stop. I thought we should turn it in to lost and found in case the person realized they lost their card and came back for it, only to discover that the only one there was at the Burger King, but the woman at the information desk offered to hold it when we told her what we had found.

My wife thought we should call American Express. We did that (got through on first ring right to a person — must be nice to have a Platinum card!) and they immediately closed the account and told us to cut up and throw away the card. I thought that if I lost my card having it cancelled without me knowing would be reassuring but also a bit of a pain if it was the only card I had.

The other idea was to Google the name and business on the card and send an email offering to mail/FedEx it back — but I was worried about being in possession of a lost credit card not in my name.

So Consumerist readers…what would you gave done? 1) Turn it in to the lost and found at the information desk or Burger King, 2) Called AmEx, 3) Googled the name trying to return the still working card to its owner?

Did David do the right thing? Vote below, and offer up any alternative suggestions in the comments if you’d like.


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