Discover the hidden perks of your credit card that go beyond cashback and miles! From purchase protection and rental car insurance to extended warranties and price protection, this article uncovers valuable benefits most cardholders overlook. Learn how to unlock these advantages and make the most of your card.
Introduction
Credit cards remain widely popular products actively used as convenient and protected payment tools with many benefits and unique features related to the main target – purchases. But while many of us are familiar with the basics of the rewards programs that are as simple as cash back or airline miles, there are several overlooked, often free benefits that most credit cards have to offer, ranging from saving you money to keeping your purchases safe and offering you some measure of comfort even if you find yourself in a foreign county. Let’s explore some of them – starting with the big one: When you’re in the market for a new gadget or some clothes, your credit card doesn’t just give you the ability to pay for them: it also purchases certain protections and perks for you.
In this article, you will come across the particulars of some of these lesser-known advantages and find out how to get the most out of them. Whether you are a novice cardholder or an experienced one, knowing these often overlooked features makes it easier for you to make wise decisions and helps you to maximize the card. Just keep reading to find out why the credit card that you own could be more precious to you than you first thought.
1. Purchase Protection: Safeguarding Your Purchases
Consider paying good money to get a phone only for it to slip out of your hands and break into pieces the following week. Most of the time, if you are lucky, you are stuck with a repair cost or else have to replace it. If you bought that phone using a credit card that has purchase protection, then you are actually in luck.
What is Purchase Protection?
Purchase protection is an advantage that protects the qualifying purchase against theft, damage, or even loss for a certain number of days, typically 90 – 120 days from the time of purchase. Such coverage may in most cases compensate you for the expense of mending or replacing the item, thereby sparing you a possible fortune.
How Does It Work?
To illustrate, you spend a lot of money, for instance, and purchase an expensive gadget, and in a month, the gadget is stolen. That is more so if your card has purchase protection; you simply report the case to the issuer of the card, part with your police report, and the purchase receipt and you will be refunded. That being said though, primaries may range low but some can provide coverage up as high as $10,000 per claim depending on both the card issuer and the purchased item.
2. Rental Car Insurance: Skip the Counter Offers
Everyone who has ever hired a car will know the feeling of being presented with an additional insurance plan at the counter. This may seem quite reasonable in order not to incur certain expenses in the event of an accident, however, your credit card would likely cover all these expenses.
What is Rental Car Insurance?
Car insurance, which goes by the name of Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) or Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), is one of the privileges likely to be granted by the credit card. This insurance protects the renting company against losses resulting from an accident, theft or malicious damage to the rented car. Often, this benefit is the broad form of your private auto insurance, which implies it gets called into use once your primary insurance has been implemented.
How Can You Benefit?
Suppose you are going on a holiday now and prefer renting a car. Do not buy expensive rental car insurance through the agency check if your credit card offers this as an addition to your card. If it does then you can turn down coverage offered by the rental agency and stand to benefit with a lot of money saved. This way, in case of damage, your card will protect you from paying for repair and will pay the amount up to some limit; however, it is always recommended to read the terms and conditions may vary: some cards cover only particular types of vehicles or have restrictions about the rental location.
3. Extended Warranty: Double the Protection
When choosing durable goods such as a laptop or a new kitchen appliance, stores provide an opportunity to purchase an extended warranty. But with a proper credit card, you can avoid this upsell.
Extended Warranty Coverage
This is a warrant that means that a warranty on eligible products that you purchased with a credit card is continued by the manufacturer beyond the initial warranty period. As a rule, this advantage increases the warranty time by a year, though it depends on the card and the purchased item.
How it This Work
For instance, you purchase a washing machine manufacturer warranty of one year and the washing machine deteriorates after 18 months of purchase. If your credit card covers the warranty of the product for an elongated period, then the expense of repairing or replacing the product could be on the card rather than you. This perk is great if you purchase electronics or appliances since they may be pricey to fix in the event of a problem.
Get a Refund for Price Drops
Remember that time when you bought something and the same item was put on sale after a few weeks or days? It is a frustrating process but with price protection, this may not be a problem.
Price Protection
Another credit card feature is price protection which allows the cardholder to be reimbursed if the same item he or she has bought was cheaper at another store within 60 to 90 days.
How to Take Advantage of It
Suppose you purchase a new television for $1,200 and within one week of getting this television, the same television is sold for $900. If this card has the feature of price protection you can claim it and get a refund of $ 300 difference. This has not become a popular feature since before most card companies offered it and so makes a good tool to use for discounts.
5. Travel Insurance: Coverage for the Unexpected
The regular traveler is aware that things do not always turn up the way we expect or anticipate. Delays are a norm with flights; bags being misplaced is not unheard of and in some cases, the trip is called off altogether. However, there are always additional expenses which may be incurred during the travel, and fortunately, most credit cards come with free travel insurance.
What credit card travel insurance covers
Travel insurance provided by credit cards can cover a range of issues, including:
• Trip cancellation/interruption: Coverage of non-recoverable travel costs if your trip is lost or shortened due to sickness, storms, or other grounds that are covered.
• Lost luggage: Payment for tarţected or delayed baggage.
• Travel accident insurance: Protection for losses or damages through physical injury or even fatalities when touring.
• Delayed flights: The compensation for meals and accommodation, as well as other expenses in case your flight is heavily delayed.
How to Use It
Suppose a person makes an appointment to travel to another destination only to be overwhelmed by some family crisis, and hence has to call it off at the last one hour before the journey. If your card has trip cancellation coverage, then you could be paid back for your unused and non-refundable, this covers flights and hotel bookings. It is therefore important to read the card sanction to see what is offered and what is not.
6. No Foreign Transaction Fees
Still, if you travel internationally often enough, you may have heard of the foreign transaction fees which are about 2-3% for every single purchase in a foreign currency. While this may not seem like much, the amount of money can climb steeply throughout a holiday.
The Value of Having No Foreign Transaction Fee
Some of the fees that you should look for include foreign transaction fees because most travel reward credit cards do not charge you an additional fee when you use your credit card abroad. It makes sense less in terms of money, particularly on long travels or costly acquisitions outside your home country.
Why It Matters
For example, suppose you are a tourist in Europe and a two-week trip costs you $5,000 in food, lodging, and other costs. Imagine if your credit card has been charging you a foreign transaction fee of 3% – that is $150 you end up paying in fees! You don’t get charged this when you are using a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees.
Airport Lounge Access
Airports provide fancy, quiet, and private spaces out of the main gates of the terminal building, they provide free-of-charge food and beverages, internet connection, and occasionally shower and nap cabins. Membership to these lounges is without doubt one of the best things to do because they provide comfort especially where a long layover is involved.
How does a Credit Card Help
Sometimes free participation in the airport lounges is provided with the help of such partners as Priority Pass or a particular airline membership. Some of these mid-prized travel cards also offer a little access to the airport lounges, which makes your time more bearable without incurring the cost.
Concierge Services
In your lifetime, have you ever found yourself needing a table booked at short notice or help with an event? Some credit card companies provide concierge services; call for help at any time, need a hotel to stay in, or a ticket to see a sold-out show.
What does a concierge do for you?
• Populating a list of restaurants when making reservations.
• Travel arrangements such as booking of accommodation.
• They help in organizing special events or experiences.
• Getting passes for certain restricted concerts as well as games., where you spend $5,000 on accommodations, food, and activities. If your credit card charges a 3% foreign transaction fee, that’s an extra $150 in fees! By using a card with no foreign transaction fees, you avoid this unnecessary expense.
Cell Phone Protection
Cell phones are expensive and owning a phone means that in the long run, you are likely going to spend a lot of money to repair the phone or even buy a new one. Fortunately, there are credit cards that have features that can help protect one's cell phone, for instance, if it gets stolen or damaged, the credit card company can buy a new one for you or get it repaired.
How Does Cell Phone Protection Work?
This kind of protection usually necessitates the use of your credit card to purchase your monthly cell phone bill. It also means that where your phone is damaged or even stolen you can make a claim and be reimbursed depending on the amount you paid for the repair or replacement although mostly with a deductible.
Zero Liability Protection
Zero liability protection is ideally one of the biggest advantages of credit cards. What this entails it that you can never be made to answer for charges made to your card by others or by fraudsters, thieves, or hackers due to any one reason or the other.
Why It’s Crucial
For instance, your credit card details are hacked, and that person uses it to buy a $500 product without your permission. Zero liability protection means that your card issuer will not require you to pay for $500 charge in case of fraud, which means you are safe.
Conclusion
Credit cards are not only used for credit purchases they are full of benefits that will help you to save your money, protect your purchase, and make your travel even better. Features that come with your credit cards include purchase protection, rental car insurance, travel perks as well as concierge services, and such features if properly understood and used can be very beneficial to the cardholder.
While standing at the checkout line, ready to make the next purchase, or before planning your next journey, ensure that you remember the perks associated with your credit card. One can only imagine the number of goodies you can find right under the radar. If these features are optimized, you get a great asset in your Credit Card which helps in your financial as well as travelling experience.
