If you’re planning a vacation or a business trip, you might be banking on the fact that your credit card offers you certain protections when travelling. This might cause you to turn down the insurance that’s offered by a car rental place, an airline, or a travel service website. However, financial experts warn that you might want to think twice before relying on the coverage your credit card provides.
Travel insurance comparison site Squaremouth give three examples where people may want to look into getting insurance coverage beyond what their credit card provides. They are the following:
• Trip cancellation coverage. Your credit card may cover a cancelled trip that you paid for with your card, but the amount is generally limited. The most you can expect to be covered is for $10,000, but many do not even offer that much coverage. If you need more, you may want to purchase a policy that covers any prepaid and non-refundable expenses, such as hotels and airfare.
• Cancelling for your own reasons. These trip cancellation policies from credit cards usually only reimburse you if you cancel for a covered reason, such as illness, terrorism, or severe weather. But if you simply change your mind, or your plans, you won’t be covered. When you buy your own policy, you are free to change your mind for any reason, or for no reason at all.
• Medical emergencies. Your credit card travel insurance probably does not cover a medical emergency that happens when you’re traveling. If they do, the coverage amount is typically quite low. Experts recommend getting at least $50,000 in emergency medical coverage and $100,000 in medical evacuation coverage if you are travelling internationally, and even more if you are going on a cruise, or to a remote area.
If you decide to buy a travel insurance policy, be aware that you can actually stack it with your credit card’s coverage as well, making both types of coverage stronger. Using a chip credit card when you travel is important as well, because the EMV chip cards offer better security than a traditional magnetic stripe card. This provides you with better protection against possible credit card fraud.