Your Credit Card Probably Has Several More Perks than You Know Of and Use

Forbes lists ten credit card perks you may not know as follows:

1. Car Rental Loss/Damage Insurance
2. Extended Warranties
3. Purchase Protection
4. Security from Unauthorized Purchases
5. Travel Accident Insurance
6. Trip Cancellation Insurance
7. Lost Luggage Insurance
8. Travel Emergency Assistance
9. Emergency Assistance
10. Roadside Assistance

Since I'm planning a Caribbean trip early next year, I was interested in whether or not my Chase Freedom card (currently listed as #1 on my list of best cash back credit cards) offered these benefits or not. So I emailed Chase, told them I was considering taking the card with me on a trip, and asked if the card contained any of the benefits listed above. Here's their response:

I am writing in response to your e-mail inquiring about the benefits provided by your Chase Freedom card.

The benefits provided by your card are as follows:

- LOST/STOLEN CARD REPORTING:

MasterCard, on behalf of all Issuers, will forward reports of lost or stolen cards to the appropriate card Issuers. For detailed information on this service or to use this service please call MasterCard at 1-800-MC-ASSIST (1-800-622-7747).

- EMERGENCY CARD & CASH:

You have worldwide emergency card and cash services, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We work with you to arrange delivery or a convenient location for you to get your replacement card or cash. (Card Replacement requests should be handled through the Card Replacement workflow in First Assist. For Emergency Cash Request, please transfer using Speed Dial 8, to the CCU / ECR Queue in Orlando.)

- MASTER RENTAL INSURANCE COVERAGE:

Secondary benefit coverage for collision and loss damage for vehicles of a suggested retail list price of up to $50,000 when certain terms and conditions are met. Coverage is effective when you initiate and complete the entire rental transaction with your MasterCard and decline the car rental company's collision damage waiver insurance coverage. Master Rental insurance is "secondary" coverage and may pay for the outstanding deductible portion or other charges not covered by your primary automobile insurance policy, under specific terms and conditions. For more information or to file a claim, call the MC Assist Center at 1-800-MC-ASSIST (1-800-622-7747). A claim must be reported within 30 days of loss. Coverage is not available for vehicles rented in the following countries: Ireland, Israel, or Jamaica. You may be unable to receive benefits in Australia, Italy, and New Zealand. Please contact your vehicle rental agency before you travel.

- TRAVEL ASSISTANCE SERVICES:

If you need cash, MasterCard can arrange to transfer up to $5,000 from a family member, friend or business account. In addition you'll receive access to: Travel Services Medical Assistance, MasterLegal Referral Service, and MasterTrip Travel Assistance, including Lost Luggage Assistance. For more information or to use this service, call MasterCard at 1-800-MC-ASSIST (1-800-622-7747).

-EXTENDED PROTECTION:

Extended Protection doubles the repair period under the original manufacturer's written US repair warranty up to one additional year on eligible warranties of three years or less. Additional terms and conditions apply. For more information or to file a claim, call the Benefits Administrator at 1-888-320-9656 (outside the U.S. call
collect at 1-804-673-1691).

-PURCHASE PROTECTION:

Repairs, replaces, or reimburses you up to a maximum of $250 per claim for eligible items of personal property purchased entirely with your card for the first sixty (60) days from the date of purchase in the event of theft, damage or involuntary and accidental parting with property. Additional terms and conditions apply. For more information or to file a claim, call the Benefit Administrator at 1-888-320-9656 (outside the U.S. call
collect at 1-804-673-1691).

-PRICE PROTECTION:

If you buy an eligible item entirely with your card in the United States and see a printed advertisement of it for less at any retail store within sixty (60) days of the original purchase date, simply file a valid claim and you may receive a refund of the difference up to $250 per item. Additional terms and conditions apply. For more information or to file a claim, call the Benefit Administrator at 1-888-320-9656 (outside the U.S. call collect at 1-804-673-1691).

-RETURN PROTECTION:

Return Protection will reimburse you up to a maximum of $250 per item and $1,000 annually, for the cost of an eligible item of personal property purchased with your card, if you are dissatisfied with the item within sixty (60) days from the date of purchase and the retailer will not accept the return. Items must be received by the Benefit Administrator in like new/good working condition. Additional terms and conditions apply. For more information or file a claim, call the Benefit Administrator at 1-888-320-9656 (outside the U.S. call collect at 1-804-673-1691).

- MASTER ROADASSIST ROADSIDE COVERAGE:

If your car breaks down on the road in the U.S., MasterCard will send someone to the rescue. This is not only reassuring, but it may also save you money because fees for many services (jump-starts, towing, gas delivery, tire changes) are pre-negotiated. Road service fees will be automatically billed to your MasterCard account. Limitations do apply and you are responsible for charges incurred by towing facilities. Call 1-800-MC-ASSIST (1-800-622-7747) for more information.

If you are carrying the card on your trip, please provide us with your travel details that is the departure and arrival dates and the specific locations so that we can monitor your purchases.

I trust this information is of assistance to you. Thank you for contacting Chase, your trusted provider of financial services.

I have several thoughts on this:

• The benefits appear to be more from MasterCard than from Chase. Is anyone else getting that sense too?


• It's one thing to give all these benefits, but I'm guessing it's fairly hard to redeem them. Anyone successfully used these?


• Looks like they do not have the trip cancellation insurance I was looking for.


• I did not know that this card had "extended protection" for an extra year on purchases. I always gave Costco credit for adding this on electronics when it turns out I could have received this anywhere by using a MasterCard (or maybe this one is a Chase feature -- hard to tell who the "Benefit Administrator" works for).


• Price protection? Really? If that works, that's a GREAT benefit! Who of us has never seen a lower price on something after buying it elsewhere? I may have to purchase something at a high price just to try out this system and see what happens. ;-)


• I wonder how their roadside assistance compares to that of AAA.

The summary here is that credit cards seemingly have a ton of benefits that I think many people didn't know about (I didn't) and don't use (I've never used these.) Now, I wonder how easy they are to use. Anyone had any experience with any of these (or any other) "extra" credit card benefits?

Comments

[Jenny]

Does your membership with AAA cover the cost of towing your car? It sounds like the roadside assistance offered by the credit card is just a pre-negotiated rate and the charges would be applied to your card. How is this necessarily better than calling a tow company yourself?

[Nate]

I have used the price protection option before and it was pretty cool! I did have to talk on the phone for about 20 minutes and scan a few documents/receipts to the case worker – however they promptly issued the refund. I have also used the extended protection feature before and it was a similar process – well worth it.

Jenny – I have AAA membership and it covers the full cost of the tow (up to 100 miles). If you have AAA PLEASE consider pay the extra $20-40 a year to get the extended towing covered (I think the basic version is only for about 5 miles of free towing).
****NOTE: hey fellow FMF readers!!! Notice FMF has a search bar on the top left hand side of the screen now. I have been using it to explore the archives (especially the reader profiles) – pretty cool!!****

Have a great night everyone,

[KaseyD]

Amex has most of these benefits, which I used as follows: I used the purchase protection once when I cut a power cord on speakers when unwrapping the packaging. Amex credited my account within 3 days of faxing a copy of the receipt. I used the extended warranty twice, one time for an internal hard drive in a 6-month-out-of-warranty Dell computer. In that case I had to submit copies of (1) an email exchange with Dell that the hard drive was not covered any longer under the warranty as well as how much a replacement would cost and (2) a copy of the Dell warranty. My account was credited for the replacement cost within 7 days.

On the otherhand FIA (formerly Schwab) handled a purchase protection claim poorly. The object was an external USB 3 Seagate drive I unfortunately dropped on the floor 30 days into my purchase. FIA had me jump through hoops. They wanted copies of the invoice, emails from Seagate stating the damage was not covered under their warranty (duh!), a copy of a repair estimate/statement of non-repairability from local repair facility, as well as a copy of my homeowners insurance policy and insurance agent's contact info. The entire process took over 3 months because they requested the information sequentially and did not give me complete information about their policies. I was reimbursed a lower amount than I paid because of a price drop during the months of dealing with FIA.

That was my first claim with FIA. It will be my last, as I've switched all major purchase back to my Amex card. My time is worth more than the lost 1% cash rebate.

Has anyone else experienced problems collecting from FIA?

[Sandy @ yesiamcheap]

It looks like most of the coverage is from Mastercard. I've used the extended warranty thing once before as well. People are down on credit cards but I love them for the protection they provide, especially with large purchases. The "better"n your card is Gold vs Platinum, etc. the better your benefits.

[FMF]

KaseyD --

I have that card but have never tried to collect from FIA.

[FMF]

Nate --

Ha!

FYI, everyone, Nate suggested the new search bar so you can thank or blame him depending on what you think of it. :-)

And for those of you who want to read past posts, another way is to check out my archives. It lists posts both by month as well as by category (need to scroll down for the latter) here:

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/archives.html