Your immediate reaction is to call your bank and cancel your card. But what happens if you find it down the side of the sofa and realise it’s not lost after all? You’re now stuck with a cancelled card and no access to your cash until a replacement arrives, which could be days later. You’ll also have to update your payment details on every online platform you use.

Fortunately, some of the biggest banks and credit card providers, as well as some of the challengers, allow customers to temporarily freeze their card if they lose it, and then unblock it using online or mobile banking.

App-only Tandem is the latest bank to introduce this blocking functionality for its Cashback Credit Card and Journey Card.

Matt Ford, Tandem product director, said: “We want our customers to feel secure wherever they go and be in control of sorting their money.”

Other names that allow customers to block and unblock their lost debit cards are Barclays, Danske Bank, HSBC, Metro Bank, Monzo and Starling Bank, according to business information site, Defaqto.

These credit card providers also offer the service: HSBC, Capital One, Metro Bank, Danske Bank, Tesco Bank, Littlewoods, Luma, NatWest, Ocean Finance, RBS, thimble, thinkmoney, Ulster Bank and Very.

Barclaycard told us they plan to introduce the feature next year.

Manage everything directly in the N26 app. Set payment limits, change your PIN number and lock and unlock your card. All in real-time, with N26 Card. Click here to find out more.