You might have insurance or other types of protection through one or more of your credit cards without even realising it! These perks are often thrown into credit card offers to make them more appealing, but they might not be used as frequently as they could be because you forget the protections exist.

Let’s talk about some common types of credit card insurance you might have and how you can file a claim when you need to.

Types of Insurance Your Credit Card Might Provide

Insurance offered through credit card companies isn’t generally through the credit card company itself — they negotiate deals with insurance providers and wrap the coverage up in their credit card packages. Here are few types of credit card insurance or other protections you might have:

•    International / overseas travel insurance
•    Travel accident insurance
•    Domestic travel insurance
•    Purchase protection cover / purchase security insurance
•    Extended warranties

The more exclusive your credit card is (platinum versus classic cards for example), the more perks and free insurance you’re likely to receive.

How to File a Claim

To have purchases protected by your credit card’s insurance programmes, you’ll need to make your purchases using that card. Let’s say you’ve done that, something went wrong, and you want to file a claim. Here’s what you would do.

First, check your credit card company’s claim policies (usually available on their website or in your card’s terms and conditions). In most cases you will need to file claims directly with the insurance company underwriting the policies.

Let’s look at an example — the Westpac Altitude Platinum credit card. Based on that card’s insurance policy, you would file all claims (including extended warranties) with Zurich Australian Insurance Limited. Your credit card company should provide you with detailed insurance policy information like that from Westpac that explains exactly what is and isn’t covered, and how you can file your claim. It’s important to note that there might be a slightly different procedure for filing a claim overseas than if you file a claim at home.

Credit card insurance and protection policies can prove to be valuable perks, but only if you remember that you have them and actually use them if a situation calls for it. You’ll need to provide quite a bit of documentation in most cases (such as proving ownership of a product or providing the original product warranty), so always keep receipts and other records available so you can file a claim if something does go wrong.