I’ve spent decades not knowing or using the many benefits my credit cards offer.  And the main issue was I didn’t even know about half the benefits and/or I wasn’t keeping them top of mind to leverage them at the right time.  There are a ton of resources and websites on credit card hacking, and which credit cards to choose based on racking up the most cash-back, loyalty points, miles, and more.  That’s not what I am talking about here.  If you’re interested in that you can check out websites like nerdwallet or wallethub.  During or after the process of selecting the right credit card(s) for you, many people aren’t fully aware of or using the extra benefits their credit cards offer.

I should preface this entire discussion by sharing that I believe debt is a bad bad things, and I avoid it at all costs, I don’t use my credit cards to pay for things I can’t afford.  I use my credit cards to pay for everything and anything I purchase that will take a credit card so that I can earn points, miles, and cash back. 

My awareness on this topic started when I saw a random notice last year from one of my credit card companies that informed me of a new benefit around cell phone protection for any phone where the bill was charged to that card.  I mentioned it to my husband as he was paying for cell phone insurance through his carrier, and all he had to do was transfer his bill to another card and now he had free cell phone insurance.  This inspired me to research and find out what benefits my existing credit cards offered. 

The first thing I learned is it is hard to find the credit card benefits!  I really had to dig around on the credit card websites to find them, and on some I couldn’t find them at all.  For those where I couldn’t find them within my logged in account, I had to sign-out and pretend like I was a new customer and then I was able to view them.  I was a bit surprised by how hard it was to find the benefits clearly listed out anywhere.  Hopefully it’s not this hard to use the benefits if I ever need to.  And as another reminder, I am talking about the benefits these cards offer that go beyond the core loyalty, points, miles, etc. benefit of why I got the credit card.

I have 3 main credit cards that I use, and here are the combined benefits I discovered and had no idea existed and/or have not been leveraging:

• Global Entry or TSA Pre Fee Credit – “A Credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charges to your card.” I have TSA Pre that I paid for out of my own pocket, so this is a great benefit when I renew.  If you have multiple cards that offer this, you can take turns which ones you renew on to get around the 4-year rule or use multiple services.
• Baggage Delay Insurance – This is insurance that “reimburses you for essential purchases like toiletries and clothing for baggage delays over 6 hours by passenger carrier up to $100 a day for 3 days.” Is it wrong I’m hoping my bag gets delayed for just a couple days and I get a few new outfits for free? 
• Lost Luggage Reimbursement – This is insurance that provides “if you or your immediate family members’ checked or carry-on bags are damaged or lost by the carrier, you’re covered up to $3,000 for passenger.”
• Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption Insurance – This is trip insurance that covers “if your trip is cancelled or cut short by sickness, server weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed for up to $5,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.”
• Extended Warranty Protection – This insurance “extends the time period of the U.S. Manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.”
• Purchase Protection – This purchase protection “covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.”
• Travel Accident Insurance – This provides coverage for “when you pay for your air, bus, train, or cruise transportation with your card, you are eligible to receive accidental death or dismemberment cover of up to $500,000.” This is one I need to make sure my family knows about.  And I hope they never need this! 
• Visa Signature Concierge Service – “Get complimentary Visa Signature Concierge Service 24 hours a day. Find tickets to the top sports and entertainment events, make dinner reservations and even get help sending the perfect gift.”
• Car Rental Loss & Damage Insurance – “When you use your eligible Card to reserve and pay for the entire eligible vehicle rental and decline the collision damage waiver at the rental car counter, you can be covered if the car is damaged or stolen.” Read the fine print on this one as it’s not valid in a few countries and has some other limitations, but it appears to be duplicative to the insurance most rental car company’s aggressively try to upsell you on when you book or at the counter.  Your regular car insurance company may also provide insurance for rental cars, so ask your insurance agent about that to understand how it works and what it covers. 
• Upsells, Offerings I have to pay for – A couple of my credit cards position a partnership as a “benefit” to me and that I believe is just marketing. They aren’t’ giving me anything for free and I question if I am getting a good deal versus they are just hawking whatever company they are signed-up with and likely getting a kick-back if I use that service.  These include things like credit monitoring and premium rental car protection.  I am not a big fan of these, and most of the time they are not in your best interest.  I do think it’s important to differentiate these additional offerings and partnerships versus the core benefits you’re included. 

As I mentioned earlier, it was hard for me to find a lot of these details and coverage specifics on my credit card company websites.  If you’re having trouble finding it for your credit cards, I suggest you call their customer service number on the back of their card and ask them  to send you a “guide to benefits” which most of them offer or just explain you’re looking to understand the benefits available to you and they should be able to help you.  Kudos to American Express for being the one company that I experienced to make it easy to find and understand their credit card benefits. 

I suggest you spend some time organizing and documenting the benefits each of your credit cards offers, and document key phone #s for claim, links to where you initiate claims, etc. This is especially helpful if you’re ever on the go and traveling and need to make a claim or need to decide if you should buy some additional insurance or not. 

In recap, spend some time: (1) researching and knowing your credit card benefits, (2) writing them down and keeping the details somewhere easily accessible, (3) consider using them as it makes sense and consider what other duplicative services, upsells, or add-on warranties you can stop paying for to save money. 

Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.