Card Stop: blocking a lost or stolen card in Belgium

The number to call is 078 170 170, or +32 78 170 170 from abroad. Card Stop answers day and night and blocks the card during the call. Before that call, fraud costs you €50 at most; after it, nothing, barring gross negligence. A replacement card costs between €0 and €10 depending on the bank, checked on 19 October 2026.

What should you do first when the card has gone?

Block it, before you look for it.

The opposite reflex is the most common one, and it costs money. Until you report the loss, fraudulent payments remain your responsibility up to €50. Once the block is in place, that liability drops to zero, as Wikifin, the financial education website of the FSMA (the Belgian financial markets regulator) points out in a page updated on 31 August 2026. If you find it in a coat pocket an hour later, the worst you have paid for is a new card. If you don't find it, those few minutes have closed the door.

Blocking your card in five steps

1. Block the card. Through your bank's app if it offers the option (at KBC, the "Bloquer ou remplacer" menu on the card), or by phone on 078 170 170. The line runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in French, Dutch and English.
2. Write down the reference number Card Stop gives you. The federal police ask you to pass it on to your bank afterwards.
3. Inform your bank and order the replacement card. At KBC, it arrives by post within five business days, and a branch can hand over a temporary card the same day.
4. Report the theft to the police, with the card number. For a simple loss, a report is still advisable: the certificate is useful for your insurer and, in a dispute, for your bank.
5. Go through your statements for the previous days and dispute any debit you don't recognise.

Once the new card arrives, remember the subscriptions, online shops and phone wallet where the old one was saved.

How much does a replacement card cost at your bank?

Nothing to €10, and the figure depends less on the bank than on the account formula. The table sets the annual cost of the account against the price of a replacement card after a loss or theft.

KBC and Belfius annual costs: this site's survey of 26 July 2026. ING: €0 for Go between ages 18 and 25, More reduced to €3.90 a month in months when at least €700 is paid into the account. BNP Paribas Fortis does not publish the replacement card price on its Easy Go page, and its fee document could not be accessed today.

KBC's Compte Base shows the calculation worth doing. It costs €21 a year less than the Compte Plus, but a single lost card takes back €9 of that. For someone who loses a card once every two years, the real gap falls to €16.50 a year. A bank that does not charge for replacements does not wipe out the rest of its fee schedule: our ranking of Belgian banks compares the full annual cost, and the comparison tool puts two formulas side by side.

Who pays for purchases made with your stolen card?

The bank, almost always. The European rule, written into Belgian law, has three tiers, which Test-Achats and Wikifin describe in the same terms.

Before the block, you bear fraudulent payments up to €50. After the block, nothing. If the card details were used without the card itself, for an online purchase or with a cloned card, you are refunded in full, whenever you called. A contactless payment the bank accepted without a code is also on the bank. And the European Payment Services Directive, in Article 73, requires the bank to refund an unauthorised transaction immediately, and at the latest by the end of the business day after it is reported.

The exception is called gross negligence. It leaves the whole loss with you, with no cap.

• The PIN written on the card, or kept with it in the wallet.
• An obvious code, such as 1234 or your date of birth.
• The card lent to someone and then reported stolen: that is fraud, which the bank has to prove.
• A late report with no reason, days after you noticed the card was missing.

How long do you have to dispute a debit after a theft?

Thirteen months at most after the debit date, under Article 71 of the same directive. Do it within days all the same: the later the report, the more the bank is tempted to see negligence. If the bank refuses to refund, its complaints department comes first, then Ombudsfin, the free ombudsman for financial services.

Card Stop and Fraudstop have shared 078 170 170 since June 2026

One number, two situations. Since 22 June 2026, 078 170 170 has also been the Fraudstop line, for when you have given your codes to a scammer or spotted a transfer you did not make. According to Febelfin, the line took more than 6,700 such calls in its first month, nearly 12% of the total. Card Stop remains the service for a lost, stolen or copied card.

The volume gives an idea of how often it happens. In 2023, Card Stop handled 775,362 calls for some 19 million cards, 61% for a loss, 26% for internet fraud and 13% for a theft, according to Worldline.

Does Card Stop also block neobank cards?

Not all of them. Card Stop covers the cards of participating Belgian banks, as well as credit, fuel and meal voucher cards. For the Nickel card, Test-Achats notes that Card Stop does not work: blocking goes through the Nickel app or customer service, as we explain in our Nickel, bunq and Aion comparison. With Revolut, N26 or bunq, you freeze the card in the app in two taps, and unfreeze it just as fast if it turns up. On the day you lose your phone along with the card, though, you need the provider's customer service number, written down somewhere other than that phone.

For your other cards, our article on debit card vs credit card sets out what each costs, and our piece on the end of Maestro explains why your replacement card may no longer run on the same network as the old one.

Sources

• Wikifin (FSMA), Carte de paiement volée ou perdue: €50 liability, examples of gross negligence, remedies. Page updated on 31 August 2026, consulted on 19 October 2026.
• Test-Achats, Carte bancaire volée : conseils pratiques: liability before and after reporting, payments without authentication, 10 January 2022, updated 23 May 2025.
• Federal police, Brussels West zone, Perte ou vol de votre carte bancaire ou de votre carte de crédit: Card Stop reference, report with the card number. Consulted on 19 October 2026.
• DH, Card Stop change de numéro: switch to the non-premium 078 170 170, languages, cards covered, 10 January 2022.
• Worldline, Card Stop rappelle quelques règles de prudence: 775,362 calls in 2023, breakdown by reason, 19 million cards, 30 May 2024.
• Febelfin, Fraudstop: more than 6,700 calls one month after launch: launched 22 June 2026, number shared with Card Stop, 30 July 2026.
• EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services: Article 71 (thirteen-month limit), Article 73 (refund by the next business day at the latest), Article 74 (€50 liability).
• KBC, Carte de paiement défectueuse ou nouvelle carte: blocking in the app, €9 on the Compte Base, free on the Compte Plus, five business days. Consulted on 19 October 2026.
• ING, price list for private individuals: pack prices, replacement of a lost or stolen card at €9.99. In force on 1 July 2026.
• Belfius, Tarifs et taux en vigueur: debit card replacement at €10 outside a package. As of 1 February 2026.
• Argenta, fee information document, Green formula: €0 a year, card replacements included. As of 1 April 2026.
• Keytrade Bank, Frais de la carte de débit: blocking and replacement free. Consulted on 19 October 2026.
• BNP Paribas Fortis, Pack Easy Go: €2 a month. Consulted on 19 October 2026.