Pre-requisites to using travel insurance

[QF009]

Rang up AMEX to deal with duplicate pre-authorisations on my card (more BMI ICC muppetry) - if this isn't another vote for the charge card I don't know what is. I'm surprised that AMEX doesn't have a time limit for pre-auths to drop off and funds to be released. IIRC HSBC had a 14 day limit and ANZ gave 5 working days, they were Visa debit cards though so I'm not sure if it should be different with credit cards.

Anyway they offered me a trial $600 fee for the first year and a pro-rata refund for the annual fee I paid on the credit card.

Very tempting....

I'm told the offer is ongoing, so I might just wait till my own insurance policy expires to make it more worthwhile.

[beardoc]

I'm told the offer is ongoing, so I might just wait till my own insurance policy expires to make it more worthwhile.

I think I'll be staging my own little "upgrade" from my Platinum CC to the Charge Card just at the time I will be booking my first DONE3 ex-DPS. As the partner has some pre-existing conditions which wouldn't be covered by most travel insurance without special premiums, and separate applications, the Platinum credit card just requires that all those conditions be stable (i.e. not seeing a doctor for a worsening of the condition) and that they not be admitted to hospital in the previous six months.

The only real downside to the Platinum Charge Card insurance is it's lack of coverage for terrorism related claims.

[QF009]

I actually got the charge card with a supp card for the boyf just before I left on my current trip on the first yr $600 offer when we discovered that the boyf's insurance expires soon. It works a treat! The insurance is great, and saved us some money as we wouldn't need to renew our insurance policies. I can also cease stressing over hotel pre-auths blocking my credit limit.

I also got a refund on the Plat credit card fee as I'd only got it back in March.

The only issue is not knowing what the hidden limit on the charge card is - would be rather embarassing when it gets declined!

I also sent in the form for my free Priority Pass membership but obviously didn't get the card in time for the trip - would've been good for flying MH domestically in Malaysia as PP gets you into the Plaza Premium lounges.

[Dave Noble]

I actually got the charge card with a supp card for the boyf just before I left on my current trip on the first yr $600 offer when we discovered that the boyf's insurance expires soon. It works a treat! The insurance is great, and saved us some money as we wouldn't need to renew our insurance policies. I can also cease stressing over hotel pre-auths blocking my credit limit.

Authorisations will still affect available charging amount on the charge card, no different to a credit card. The only difference is that the limit on the charge card is not disclosed unless you specifically ask for it. If you phone and ask, they should reveal what it is

[dajop]

I don't want to rely on any complimentary travel insurance provided by credit card companies, as a sweetener, which is why I purchase a yearly comprehensive travel insurance that covers me regardless of which card I used to pay for the travel....

Sorry to wander slightly OT, but I wouldn't dismiss CC insurance out of hand. You need to pay attention to the terms and conditions of any travel insurance (credit card issued or not) to gauge its true value.

The one I am most familiar with was Westpac's insurance which states clearly that the cover is for the purchase of :

return overseas travel tickets

by use of the cardholder’s eligible credit card account

“return overseas travel ticket” means a ticket from and returning to Australia.

A few years ago travelling in the US/Canada with my partner, my partner's grandmother died. I was travelling as an extension to a work trip, which was covered under our supposedly top level corporate travel insurance cover. My partner (a secondary cardholder and considered my spouse) was travelling on a ticket paid for on my credit card account, Melbourne to Chicago return. At the time we were in Montreal (in the middle of a FF award ticket ORD-BOS-YYZ ticket coupled with a separate paid fare YYZ-YUL-YYZ - paid for with a different credit card).

My partner was covered as the return fare from Australia was paid for as part of the insurance, and was on a plane leaving for Australia within 24 hours. I wasn't because my partners grandmother was >80 and our wonderful corporate policy had an age limit of 80 for such occurrences.

Moral to the story? Don't automatically discount credit card insurance and read the fine print. It isn't always "cheap as chips" style insurance.

[QF009]

Authorisations will still affect available charging amount on the charge card, no different to a credit card. The only difference is that the limit on the charge card is not disclosed unless you specifically ask for it. If you phone and ask, they should reveal what it is

I did ring up as I was worried that the limit would be rather low since I'm relatively new to AMEX. They did take into account the fact that I'd always paid my credit card in full every month - sometimes two or more times. They let me take the limit up by paying the charge card into credit. Can't do this with credit card or the card gets blocked (per the other thread). They didn't let me know the exact limit though, just said that I should be getting the limit I asked for if I paid a certain amount into the charge card; me thinks my limit is (limit desired) - (amount pre-paid) = charging limit, which is pretty decent. And I noticed that the amount in credit shown online doesn't get reduced until transactions actually post - so all good.

I'm now using the charge card for large amounts and the credit card for smaller ones - so as to "build up" my charging limit.

[serfty]

The biggest purchase I have made on my Amex charge card was for 2 LONE4's last year. (~$7800) No apparent problems with that, although I'd had the account for 5 years and turn over ~$75K PA on it.

[JohnK]

Moral to the story? Don't automatically discount credit card insurance and read the fine print. It isn't always "cheap as chips" style insurance.

It is good to hear stories when travel insurance comes to the rescue.

I do not have a top of the line credit card and I do not want, sometimes cannot, to pay for everything on the trip with a credit card. I have read one too many stories of people having issues with comprehensive travel insurance provided by credit cards, there are a few reported on AFF including one by serfty, so I purchase a full comprehensive travel insurance policy and also reduce the excess to zero. And yes I do expect to be claiming on travel insurance regularly....