my dad either lost or had is wallet stolen yesterday....he noticed it a few hours ago...I canceled all his credit cards but he did of course have his drivers license and social security card in the wallet also....what if someone tries to open a new credit card...should I file a police report or just leave it alone? Thanks so much

While it won't really help with much, filing a police report does accomplish one thing: It establishes a date when your father no longer has possession of those items. A police report is a legal document, and it may serve as a notice regarding the loss. He'll only recover the items by sheer luck (or bad luck on the part of someone using them).

If your father has any other forms of ID, ideally with a picture, he can get his license back easily. If he doesn't, call the city or county clerk's office in the city/county in which he was born to find out how to get a birth certificate. Having that is the start to getting everything else back.

This is a good time to tell people that having a state-issued photo ID is a smart thing, even if you have a driver's license. Keep the state ID in a safe place at home. If you lose the license, you'll have the state ID, which is almost as good.

thanks DG....yes, we were mostly concerned with someone opening new accts and being responsible or getting bad credit....thanks for the info...but he did find it....the cat was sleeping on it