Let’s say there is a fire in the middle of the night, and you escape with nothing but the clothes on your back. Unfortunately, all of your identification is burnt to a crisp. Drivers license, credit cards, club cards, even your birth certificate-all gone. Providing you didn’t keep copies of any of these elsewhere, how long would it take you to rebuild your life where you live, I.D. wise?
I suspect there’d be some difficulty in getting the bank to send replacement cards to a different address than the one on file. The insurance company might be able to help with that, I suppose. Those are the only things I’d have a pressing need for too.
And if someone asks for a picture I.D. to go with that credit card? Do you know the requirements to get a drivers license and/or a birth certificate where you live? For instance, when I lost my wallet, Oregon required a birth certificate to get a new license, and Guam require picture I.D. to send me a birth certificate.
The hard part will be proving who I am initially. They’ll recognize me at the bank, not sure if that will help much but my bank card is the only regular credit card I use anymore. Birth certificate, don’t know. Washington DC in the 50s, I assume I pay a fee and it takes a few weeks. Drivers license, again, proving who I am, but I should be able to get one same day if I can do that. Work ID, no problem, just go there and they’ll give me a new one. I have a medical expense credit card, probably easy to replace. My SS card will be gone, but I don’t remember anyone ever asking to see that. Assuming this computer is gone I’ll have to go through a few ‘Forgot your password’ links.
I’m sure I could get help from the bank to get things rolling; I know several CSRs at First Tennessee, including two who used to work for me and recognize me on sight. When I had their job I have would not have hesitated to assist a known customer in that predicament.
I keep my social security card and passport in the bank safety deposit box for just this reason, and there’s a key to that box in my office in case of a disaster at home.
The premise is that all personal I.D. is lost., unfortunately.
Off-site storage of duplicates helps, of course. But if I didn’t have any of those…
Work ID is easy, and they have all my legal info as well. My fingerprints are on file with a myriad of agencies, local, state and federal, so that would help prove I am who I am for the purposes of replacing birth certificate and the like.
Wouldn’t want to do it, but I could. That’s why the off-site storage is more than a good idea.
Probably not difficult. The Illinois Secretary of State’s office keeps driver’s license photos in their computer system - if you change your address on your license, they just reissue a new one with the old photo. The rest would be much easier to replace after that. And I know tons of lawyers and a few judges who would be more than happy to provide affidavits if needed.
It might take a while. I’ll presume it would be cheating to use my wife’s ID to keep using the credit union. I’d probably start at work, having to park outside not being able to get under the building to park, just hanging by the door till somebody walked in and sneak in behind them. March to the office manager who could get me an appointment to get a new work ID made. Then go to state vital statistics office to get a new birth certificate, using my employee ID to verify that I’m the guy on the record. Maybe the second day I’d get to the Secretary of State’s office and apply for a copy of the license, which would come by mail just like a new one, and I’d see if they had a temp ID I could use in case I got stopped by a cop. Off to the credit union for new ID card and replacement credit cards. Then it would be a matter of phoning all my credit cards to get replacements. I think start to finish would be about two business weeks.
Well, the passport office has my photo on file, so does the DMV, and the bank has my thumbprint. So I’m guessing it’s just a matter of making the rounds? Birth certificate could be more complicated, I might have to drive out of state with my new passport to request a copy in person - I just don’t know.
Yes, but having thought of this problem years ago, I’ve already prepared
Anyone who calls me Batman will be beaten with a stick.
Yes, the DMV probably has everyone’s photos on file, but I’m not sure it works like that. They had my photo on file, but still demanded other I.D. before issuing a replacement drivers license. I don’t think looking somewhat like someone in their files is going to be good enough, otherwise anyone that looked like you could get a drivers license in your name.
Premise updated: All personal I.D. and beating sticks are lost in the fire.
That’s never happened to me in the UK. Granted, I don’t use the credit card very often.
You can order a replacement birth certificate online for £15. That opens up the driving license and passport replacements I think.
To be honest, if I never left the UK, I could go years without needing ID. The last time I needed ID domestically was when starting a new job.
I’ve done more or less this in the past, though with a birth certificate, and it’s even easier now. At least here in my state, I can just submit a request to the DMV to have a new license mailed to the address on file, ditto credit card and bank card. From there, it’s easy to get a new birth certificate with picture ID, and then just go from there.
Now, if I also don’t have access to that mail, because of my job, I could approach it with a government ID. I could show up to work, get someone to verify me then request a new CAC and a new PIV. Using that, I could get a new drivers license and birth certificate and bank stuff and go from there.
And failing all of that, if everything is lost due to theft or fire, there’s a police report. when I had to do this before, it was because of a theft and I was able to use the report number along with some paperwork to get a new driver’s license.
So, altogether, it’s really not all that much work, it’s more a pain in the butt with waiting for stuff to show up and getting access to my money. Like, when my wallet was stolen before, I could make online EFT payments and write checks but I couldn’t withdraw cash or use my credit card until those arrived. So I had to either skip lunch or borrow money from people for lunch and other minor expenses.
I’ve only been in my local bank branch, like, twice in the past 20 years.
I guess it’s my turn to fight the hypothetical.
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I ain’t getting out alive. My wife is disabled and getting her in the wheelchair is not a fast process. If the fire is moving that fast, we’re toast. Literally.
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There are two exits. Heading for either one takes me past a table with my manbag containing all my ID except birth certificate. I can pick that up without slowing.
Her purse is the same deal.
So replacing BCs and computer passwords would be the only problem. We have friends in the SF Bay Area who can help with my BC but my wife was born in Texas so that might be more difficult.
I should think you would gotten rid of revolvers too.
:: shoots Czarcasm in left foot ::
Anyway, my answer doesn’t change much. It’s trivial for me to get new work ID, bank cards, and to change my address with the bank. Everything else can grow from that.
Assuming I have cash on hand (I do!) to pay for expedited service I could get a BC in a few weeks and, once I had it, a passport the in under ten days. New bank cards and CC I would have within a week to ten days.
Health card would probably take the longest possibly up to two months or more, I suspect. I could still access care, and would have coverage but would be likely working with some sort of temporary documentation for a couple of months.
Again social insurance card could take a while, and might first require a BC, but I don’t have much actual use for it beyond knowing the number so that wouldn’t be a huge deal to me.
(I don’t drive so I wouldn’t have to replace the one document that most people would require directly and possibly find a big hassle to replace!)
I go to my bank periodically for exactly this reason: I want the CSRs to know me. When I myself was a bank CSR I had to deal with any number of people who had this problem and would have been better off if someone on site had known them on sight. Also, I have reason to put certain items in the safety deposit box anyway.