The demand for credit card is growing at a fast pace in India, after all who would not like to get free money to spend on whatever they want to buy. Whether it’s to withdraw money from ATMs, or buy consumer goods and services; credit card has many benefits.

What many individuals are not aware are the other advantages of plastic money beyond the monthly credit limit and cashback/reward points. In general, credit cards offer series of value added services. And one such benefit is the free insurance cover.

In India, depending on the card and issuing bank, following coverage is offered along with the credit card:

• Life insurance
• Travel insurance
• Insurance against theft, fraudulent transactions, etc.
• Purchase protection insurance
• Vehicle insurance

Credit Cards offering Life Insurance (i.e. accidental death cover)

In this article, we’ll discuss life insurance coverage offered by credit card companies in India and the insured amount. And below listed table displays the credit cards offering life insurance or accidental death insurance.

Points to Remember

• In order to to get the claim approved, it is required that the card holder should have purchased the air tickets using the same card.
• Many credit cards offering accidental death insurance such as HDFC bank requires card user to make minimum number of transactions with specified amount, to get claim approved.
• When a person who has taken out a life insurance policy dies, the beneficiary must claim the corresponding compensation or benefits. So remember to provide correct nominee details at the time of card application.
• Category of the accident. E.g. Cover is offered only in case of air accidental death only.

Key Information:

Free Insurance: Cover offered by the credit cards, do not carry additional cost like the traditional life insurance policy and is completely free. However card issuers recover this money indirectly by charging annual fee or joining fee. So basically, issuers recover money indirectly. Remember that, the coverage depends on the card type and the issuing financial institution. And insurance companies, partner with financial institutions i.e. card issuing banks, to cover the risks such as death, illness, accidents and theft, among others.

Also check out: Insurance cover on RuPay debit card

Actual Claim Amount Approved: Sometimes insurance companies approve 100% of the claim amount. Whereas, others approve partial claim depending on the case.

Card Balance Payment: In the event of the death of card owner, any unpaid card balance is paid by the insurance company to the financial institution. This way, spouse of the cardholder or direct relatives are not affected by the debt.

Note:

The first thing to remember is that all insurance companies are different and can therefore offer the benefits under different terms and conditions, similar to other products. It is therefore necessary to read all the clauses of the product carefully and pay attention to the fine print.

Author Bio:

Hi, I am Nikesh Mehta owner and writer of this site.

I’m an analytics professional and also love writing on finance and related industry. I’ve done online course in Financial Markets and Investment Strategy from Indian School of Business.

I can be reached at nikeshmehta@allonmoney.com. You may also visit my LinkedIn profile.