Lost your baggage? Your credit card will pay you!
Well, as most of you guys know, I’m a BIG fan of Credit Cards! And why not? If I’m spending prudently, they help me get great discounts, help me accumulate loyalty points and provide a host of other benefits.
Well well well..they also give me Insurance, and a lot of other fancy shit.
Yes, it’s not just discounts that are beneficial, but also the frills that come along with owning a credit card.
Today, let’s look at a few offerings that credit cards have apart from discounts. Do note that each card may have different offerings; I’m just listing out a few of them. You’ll need to check the exact offerings with the bank first.
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Okay let’s begin!
Lost Baggage Insurance
Some banks offer air travel insurance and lost baggage insurance on them. While air travel insurance can be opted for from the airline/booking portal also, for a nominal fee, some credit cards offer it by default. This helps a lot for frequent fliers, since if the baggage is lost, they can claim the cost of their baggage from the bank directly. Axis Bank offers this insurance on their Privilege credit card.
(Oh, and frequent fliers, don’t forget to check for lounge access too with credit cards. A lot of them offer complimentary lounge access at airports)
Emergency hospitalization overseas
If you’re travelling abroad and (God forbid) you need to be hospitalized, HDFC Bank’s Regalia credit card will cover that hospitalization for up to Rs. 15 lakhs. This is especially important because a lot of insurance policies don’t cover treatments done overseas.
Having said that, 15 lakhs is not a big amount, especially if you’re in a country like USA. But, something is better than nothing!
Also, I’m aware of HDFC Regalia offering this. There could be other cards offering a higher insurance amount too.
Purchase Protection
When I was 16, I got my first mobile phone (Yeah, in those days, the biggest advantage of completing school was that you get your own phone 😁). I used to LOVE that phone - a Nokia 7610 - which was the best at that time. Here’s that baby 🤗
BUT, just a month into buying that phone, I was travelling by train and someone picked my pocket. And my super-cool-admired-by-all-my-friends phone was GONE. 😭
Had I known about Purchase Protection then, I could have gotten my money back.
But hey! You’ll know about it now! Here’s what it is:
So some credit cards offer “Purchase Protection” - which means that in case you bought an item on your credit card, and that item was lost, damaged or stolen, you can get that amount reimbursed by the bank.
Now, how cool is that?
It does come with a set of terms and conditions, like only within X days of purchase if it gets lost, stolen or damaged will you be reimbursed. But it’s still a cool protection to have! At least you won’t cry like the 16-year old whose phone got stolen while traveling by train, within a month of purchase! 😢
Accidental Insurance
Now this is a feature that is offered by Rupay cards.
(For those who don’t know, Rupay is a card network like Visa, Mastercard etc.)
So depending on which version of Rupay card you have, you can get an accidental insurance of up to 1, 2 or 10 lakhs with your card, irrespective of which bank it is.
And hey, a lot of Debit cards also have this feature! So if you’re someone who hates credit cards, your debit card will come in handy too!
Well, that’s all for today! There are a lot more benefits that banks offer on credit cards, but I just listed a few of them, since, you know, we’re keeping this under 5 minutes!
If you liked it, please share it with friends so that they come to know about these benefits, and we get some additional subscribers too! (Nothing wrong with a side benefit 😉)
Let me know in comments or by replying to this email if you have any questions. See you next week! 😁