Global_Hi_Flyer

I had a passport stolen out of my office a few years ago - took the laptop, briefcase w/passport (I had just returned from an intl trip), a couple of credit cards, etc. and walked out of the building stairwell in broad daylight. Needless to say, the company decided to secure the corporate building better after that.

You've filed with police. Follow the instructions from the Passport Office for reporting the stolen passport, and file for a new one. They accepted my old (and canceled) passport as proof of identity and citizenship for a new one. The new passport came in a couple of weeks.... request expedited processing if you're unsure. Often your insurance policy will cover the costs.

I'm one who recommends that you immediately file a fraud/identity theft report with the three credit bureaus. You can get a short alert with no documentation and a longer hold (7 years) with the police report. Even though the passport is not usually sufficient to get new credit in your name, social security numbers are fairly easy to get, as are credit card numbers and other info necessary to get credit. A fraud/identity theft alert is cheap insurance - and far, far cheaper/easier than trying to clean up afterward. Having been through an identity theft incident before, I notified the credit bureaus the afternoon of the theft - and closed the stolen credit card account that afternoon (the crooks had already used it....).

If they took the passport, they know what it's worth - and there is intent to take your identity in some form. Protect yourself.

SJCFlyerLG

What really stinks is that for some time, you will go looking for something and find it is gone - reminding you of the theft. As many have said, you should be able to get a replacement passport soon. I'm not sure about the procedures, but I had a colleague whose passport was stolen while we were in Paris. He needed to get a replacement the same day, so we went to the consulate. Funny thing is that they asked him for his proof of citizenship - I suspect those brilliant people are now senior managers in the TSA. (I ended up signing an affadavit for him that I had seen his passport).

NoClu

My house was broken into a few years ago. I really empathise with your situation. In my case they broke through the front door, drove a vehicle into the garage, closed the doors and sacked the place. They used my luggage to collect stuff from virtually every room. Ultimately, about $18,000 worth of stuff. Make sure you look around in areas that you normally don't think of (e.g., I discovered months later that my grandfathers fishing tackle box had been taken).

I'm glad your dog made it through without physical harm. Hopefully your insurance company will be easy to work with.

(not to bum you out further, but a few months after our break-in our insurance company wouldn't renue our coverage unless we significantly increased our deductable. The theft was a third claim in 3 years. The others were the result of storm damage, so none were actually preventable losses, yet without a change in the policy we were going to be SOL.)

ilgoldstein

Unless there was a significant loss, I would NOT report it to my insurance for this very reason. In California, there was a rash of stories about "use it and lose it" insurance policies.

IslandBased

At least hire a public adjuster. I had a house fire several years ago, and while the policy had a guaranteed replacement cost provision, the insurance company didn't make it easy to rebuild. If they had moved rapidly, they could have saved themselves quite a bit...
The PA made all the difference.
After I did collect, Katrina put them into receivership.

bryenz

Beware of this one. I used to manage branches for a bank and one of the more common identity theft techniques used by savvy criminals was to take checks out of the middle of the checkbooks. What they'd do was order new checks from some place like Current, Checks In The Mail, etc. based on a couple of your stolen checks. Then, away she goes. If you notice anything odd about your checks, you're better off going to the bank and closing the account and reopening a new one. Stop payments on the missing checks won't work. Any new checks ordered will probably have a different number sequence. I know opening a new account is a real pain in the rump but a little bit of pain now may save you lots of pain later.

On this one, Mrs. bryenz recently applied for a passport at the city clerk's office here and was told that the backlog has been significantly reduced and that normal new-passport times are down to 6-8 weeks.

Flyin'Mom

I showed up at the Main Dallas Post Office today with my completed forms to report the stolen passport and to apply for a new one.

When I got there the clerk was not helping anyone and there was only one family of four laboring over paperwork at a table in the corner.

I approached the clerk and stated my business and she said I had to have an appointment and her next available spot was May 22.

I must have looked pitiful, though, because she relented and said she had decided to help me even though I didn't have an appointment. How nice of her, since there was no one else there she needed to help!

She then refused to accept the completed downloaded forms and insisted I use her forms. So I took the forms, completed them <again> while she finished up with the family of four.

I kept smiling and joking with her even though I really wanted to hurt her, got the pictures taken, and got the darn application processed. She said I should have it within 3 weeks. We'll see...I hope she was right about that.

Thanks for all the help and sympathy.

LouiseMc

My husband and I had our passports stolen about 7 years ago in Turkey. Fortunately, we had copies. At that time, we were told an American passport was valued at $15,000. Probably more now. Must be able to reuse them although with the newer ones it most likely isn't possible.

LouiseMc

I am so sorry - I should have added how badly I feel for you. Just having my passport taken was bad enough but to go through what you are must be terrible.

wesmills

I know this doesn't help you now, but for anyone else (ESPECIALLY if you live in Texas) in this situation: Please stop going to the dang post office for this stuff. Every County Clerk's office in Texas handles passport applications, and in the case of Denton, Rockwall, and Cooke counties (don't ask how I know...) I'm certain there's no appointment needed. Just waltz in with the completed forms for them to stamp and seal with no hassle. You can then carry the sealed envelope to the post office yourself or, in the case of Denton and Rockwall counties, they will mail it for you.

No muss, no fuss, and you go to somewhere that few(er) people think to look so there's less hassle.

Sorry for your experience; hopefully your new passport arrives soon! :-:

Business as usual

So sorry you're going through this, FlyinMom. A couple of years ago some jerk bashed in my car window and ripped off my purse (yeah, I know, but I was in a canoe on the river and I assumed - wrongly - that the purse was at higher risk of dunking than theft in the remote rural area where I was).

Anyway, they got my passport, checkbook, house keys, address off my drivers license, checkbook, Social Security card (which I shouldn't have had in there), business cards, cell phone - everything.

The biggest hassle was caused by the missing checks. He keep passing some for months (begging the question: what are those little check readers for at checkouts if not for identifying stolen ones and closed accounts?)

Back to you: Be sure you check the paperwork you keep around the house for any sign that they may have swiped something with your Social Security number on it. That could be very bad.

Also, put an alert out to the three credit tracking agencies. Sign up for some credit monitoring for a while, then just get yourself a new passport. It will be OK.

Glad to hear your dog made it through.

ilgoldstein

A lot of Post Offices do not require appointments -- mine local one doesn't. County Clerks are a good idea too. I sent my son to the San Francisco clerk and not only was there no hassle, he got to see a pretty neat building too.

Global_Hi_Flyer

May 22 ?!?! You could get an appointment at a Passport Office faster than that. It's enough to make you go postal! The PO I used when mine was stolen was a no-appointment deal - we were done in 5 minutes.... and they accepted the online forms.

Agree - County Clerks are a great way to go.

Flyin'Mom

This old bat was on such a power trip.

The more I think about her attitude the madder I get. Make an appointment to report a stolen passport? What a crock. I know there are other ways to report a stolen passport, but I'll bet there are people who don't know that, and the mean old biddy didn't offer any other options.

I think I've moved on to the "Mad" stage of dealing with what happened.

I'm thinking about going out into the backyard tonight and light candles and arrange rocks and stuff and try to do some voo-doo against whoever broke into my house. <and maybe PostOfficeWitch too>

Is there an Internet Bulletin Board where I can learn how to do that? I've never really tried before.

YCTTSFM

Sorry you had that experience, glad your dog's okay. Been there.

An old friend practices voudoun. Burning yellow candles, or hanging yellow substances (paper, thread) at your doorways (particularly ones the burglars may have entered) is supposed to invite harmony back in.

To bring harm, you need to possess something personal linked to the intended victims: belongings, pictures, names. So for the thieves you're kinda SOL. In the case of PostOfficeWitch, however...

Also, in voudoun deities don't have absolute power, so you shouldn't take it personally if nothing happens. They may decline to help you when you ask, or may wish to but be unable to.

(Nah, I don't believe it either, but it can feel so much better to do something than just stew!)