PREMIUM CARD COMPARISON - THE FINE PRINT
Comparing Insurance and Protection Coverage of the Premium Credit Cards
ANALYSIS
Max Plastic
3/1/20263 min read
Introduction
Nobody likes reading the fine print, so we at Max Your Plastic have done that for you to determine which premium card, American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture X, or Bilt Palladium has the best insurance and protection coverage.
Each card provides extensive coverage, not only in travel insurance, but also in purchase and return protection, as well as extended warranty.
The table below gives you a side-by-side comparison of the coverage of each card. It breaks down the coverage into key areas enough to give you a good idea of what you can expect, but for the sake of brevity we haven’t included every detail. Once you have chosen a card for a purchase, we recommend you read that particular section(s) of the fine print for greater detail, exceptions, requirements and process.
In general, the credit card must be used for a purchase for the insurance/protection to be valid, but in some cases the card only needs to be used for a portion of the purchase. This can come in handy when using points to book a fare and using the card to pay for the taxes.
One important consideration in the coverage is whether it is Primary or Secondary. Primary coverage means you can go to the credit card issuer first when you incur a loss. Secondary means that the credit card issuer will cover your loss only after you have gone to your personal insurance and/or the carrier or service provider. This can be important in making a decision because when traveling, or when incurring a loss or injury, it can be a hassle trying to chase down coverage from several sources in succession and gathering proof that you have done so. In the table below, we indicated where we know coverage to be secondary.
Max's Take
The premium credit cards bring us many benefits, some of which we may not be aware. We generally focus on sign-up bonuses, earnings or cash-back rates, and the privileges that status brings. The additional benefits these cards bring can be significant, can save significant dollars, and in general can make our lives easier.
It should be noted that the next tier of travel cards (American Express Gold, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture and Bilt Obsidian) also provide slightly lesser protection benefits than the premium card in the same family.
In my humble opinion, Chase Sapphire Reserve seems the best option when paying for travel due to extensive travel accident insurance and emergency evacuation and transport. However, another card might be better for a particular purchase.
Interestingly, Bilt has entered the premium card competition with their Palladium card, but the protections offered are not premium card worthy by comparison. Better protection can be found in the next tier of travel cards. Chase Sapphire Preferred is an excellent example of this.
Do you have any questions about this article? Is this article helpful to you? Is there anything else you want to know about credit cards? Be sure to give me some feedback on the Max Your Plastic facebook page.
If you would like guidance on how to max the plastic in your wallet, contact us at email@maxyourplastic.com to set up a free, no obligation counseling session.
