How to insure your Credit and Debit Cards ?
POSTED BY ON May 30, 2010 COMMENTS (27)
Last night I was having dinner with my friends and suddenly on of the friend realized that he has lost his wallet. The problem was not the cash in the wallet, or the cards. It was the misuse of the card and contacting card issuers to block the cards as soon as possible .
Have you found yourself in similar situation ever or have you lost your wallet which had many debit and credit card along with other important documents. Do you want solution for this problem ?
Here is the solution.
There is nothing like the shock of losing your wallet or purse with all the money and your Credit or Debit cards in it as these cards plays a significant role in our lives.
In India there are two service providers who provide this service of protecting your cards – Credit Protection Plan (CPP) and OneAssist.
If someone steals it by purpose or if you lost it and it goes in a wrong hand then there is a risk that the person may misuse your cards. To avoid this CPP is one of the good options.
What is CPP Card Protection ?
CPP Card Protection is India’s first comprehensive Card Protection service for use in the event of card loss, theft and related fraud.
If you lose your wallet or your handbag, simply make one free call to CPP. They will quickly notify the issuers of your cards to cancel your cards immediately, also they will provide emergency travel and hotel assistance to take care of you and help you get back home.
CPP Assistance Services is the part of CPP group which has already started services in other asian countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
As per a report by Medianama, in January 2017 there are 28.8 Million credit cards and 818 Million debit cards in India
Every wallet on an average now a days contain one debit and credit card in cities . CPP has tied up with leading banks including Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC and Kotak Mahindra , Axis Bank , LIC and ICICI Bank to sell the CPP services. Read 5 tips for effectively using your Credit Card .
Features/Benefits of CPP:
- Loss Reporting : Incase your cards are lost or whole wallet is lost you can call CPP on their helpline number and they will cancel all your cards immediately and will help you in replacing them after that
- Fraud Protection : If your card has been misused then your get protection for it before or after the notification from your side . You are covered from 7 days prior to your loss report to CPP until your membership is valid.
- Emergency Travel & Hotel Assistance : Incase you can’t pay your hotel bill or have lost the travel tickets or have money to buy travel ticket, CPP will arrange for your travel tickets for your return and will also help you pay your bills to the hotel . This applies to travel abroad as well. For Indian premium users they will also help you with Cash if you have lost cash in the wallet .
- Document Registration : You can register important documents like passport, driving license, insurance policies with CPP which will ensure easy access if you should lose the originals.
- Cash: For Indian premium users they will also help you with Cash of upto 20,000 if you have lost cash in the wallet.
- PAN card & Driving License lost: In case you lost your PAN card with your wallet, CPP will also help you to get new PAN. There is no need to apply for that separately.
You can watch this video to know how CPP helps you..
Membership and Plans
They have three main plans and each plan have difference in the benefits they are providing. The plans are as follows:
- Classic: single person membership
- Premium: Additional membership to spouse only
- Platinum: Additional membership to spouse and parents.
Besides membership they have differences in other benefits which they are providing and also their premium charges.
The membership plan is different as per the insurance companies or the banks from whom you are getting the CPP. The facilities provided by insurance companies are almost same.
You can pay the premium by master or visa card and the amount will be deducted from your account at the beginning of every year until you close for the plan.
There is a limit for ever benefit like Rs 1.5 Lac for Hotel Assistance and traveling and Rs.20,000 Cash in India only.
Procedure to apply for CPP services
Applying for the CPP service is a very simple procedure. Just follow the steps:
- Fill the application form for the CPP service. These forms are available online on the website of the service providers or on the websites of the related banks.
- Pay the premium fees as mentioned in the plan you have selected. Generally you need to pay full premium at the beginning.
- Once you pay the premium fees the service providers will send you the welcome pack comprising the registration form, confirmation letter and a form of terms and conditions of your plan.
- You need to fill the details of each card which you want to protect and come under the plan you have selected.
- After filling the form completely, check it for the correction and send it back to CPP service providers.
Why Should you pay for CPP services ?
Incase you are using debit and credit cards heavily and carry bigger account balance than few thousands , It might make sense for you to protect your cards using their services .
It’s all about if you want to take risk or loss and fraud or not . The cost associated is not huge and can be considered, however I feel that card companies should have CPP built in with the card itself .
Things to remember before applying for CPP services
If you are paying for something then it’s your responsibility to check for every detail about that particular plan. Here are some important points you should check related to CPP:
- Check for the benefits of each plan included in CPP before selecting any one of it.
- Decide which plan you want to buy according to your needs.
- Check for the premiums of the same plans at different service providers or banks.
- Keep every detail of the payment of the premium.
- Once you take the plan make sure you added each and every detail needed accurately.
Comments , Put your views on CPP and does it appeal you ? Do you think it will work with Indian Mindset ?
What if CPP losses your personal data?
Its like what is ICICI looses my data .. If you dont trust these companies at that level , its recommended to not believe them .
Can you tell me what is a virtual credit card?
Here is the full article – http://jagoinvestor.dev.diginnovators.site/2013/04/virtual-credit-card-instant-and-online.html
Hi All,
I think I am using the service of CPP from 2009 (may be 2008, not sure). I have enrolled to their classic plan and the payment automatically got debited from one of my credit card.
As never face the problem of losing a card till date, and in turn claiming the required amount; so do not have a first hand experience.
Their services and customer care are good and the people are cool enough. I never remember my password still they help me but after a lot of verification.
Once I need to know the registration number of my lost Driving License for filing a complain at Police Station; of course CPP help me to get the detail; they also asked whether I lost my card and need to block them.
My only logic to go for this card insurance; in case of any fraudulent use on a credit card one can deny the payment or default on it, but what about a debit card. Its our hard earned cash which has been used or taken away by the thief and bank may not return.
Thats why I mostly use my credit card and never keep much amount in the saving account (the atm card i carry)..;)
Think..be smart and beat the system in their game.
Always remember, in case of any kind of insurance, we may feel its a burden; but a single successful claim and you get back the money of many premium amounts. For example, most of us buy airline insurance but never claim it and then think its a waste. I also used to think the same, recently claimed and followed my claim like anything, guess what, I got the entire 10k amount as stated in policy. Now this is equal to 100 policy payments (approx); I have not used so many flights till date…profit..:D..:P
Thanks,
Swetank
Good one .. Just note that you should not buy things from profit motive , it should just be protection motive 🙂
@ Bharat,
I enrolled for CPP Premium membership and paid Rs 1295 in Jan 2011. Although i’m not having a heavy wallet 🙂 but I took CPP as a prudent decision to cover the risk of card (s) loss. As since 2005 I have been using Credit Cards of various banks to get the benefits of Co Branded card offers.
Luckily in past year I didn’t lost any of my Debit/Credit cards but nevertheless I am planning to renew CPP . This year membership fee for premium plan have been increased to Rs. 1495 so I might settle for Classic Plan which costs Rs. 1145.
Regards,
Pankaj
I have been having CPP Premium plan since past 03 years and its up for renewal soon. Before renewal I thought of going thru the Group Insurance T&C being offered by CPP thru Bajaj Allianz and Royal Sundaram.
To check up regarding Exclusions of policy I spoke with their customer care executive and I was told that Internet Based Transactions and Use of Counterfeit Card are not covered. He told that these exclusions are mentioned in Welcome Kit but not in Terms and Conditions of Group Insurance Policy.
Till date I thought I was secured against any fraud; but its not true 🙁
Their competitor OneAssist have clearly mentioned in the WalletAssist Insurance policy T&C. Also, they have No Per Card Limit which I believe its a USP and their membership charges are low as compared to CPP… So, I may churn over to WalletAssist this time.
Thanks for sharing that ! .. didnt knew that !
@ Manish,
After comparing CPP and WalletAssist today I have finally churned over to WalletAssist Privilege Plan… Request you to please review the product and publish it on the blog for benefit of readers.
OK let me look at it some time .
This is great service indeed. I would like to hear the first hand experience of people who opted for their services to identify what went well and what did not. I have had bad experience while claiming amount from Tata AIG Travel Guard insurance policy while traveling. At outset; they offer you great advantages but living up to the set expectations is really tough esp. when it gets down to money matters!!
I had started (in 2002) with keeping a xerox copy of all the cards back home and with me in separate bags while traveling to begin with and now I have upgraded this practice to store scanned copy of important documents (including phone numbers of banking instituations online) so that I have access to it any time.
Bharat
I am not sure if you will be able to get review from people using it , its so new concept that i dont think you will find anyone
Manish
CPP is a great concept. However, what makes it lose is the number of complaints the customers have against them. Google it. You will find that almost every claim is rejected by the company (if the claim is for a higher amount). They are already present in other nations and have a very bad image there. Lets see how they work in India
Puneet
can you give the links , i am not able to search and find info on this
Manish
Manish,
Very Useful. If there are addon Cards to your Primary Card, do you need multiple subscription for your family members ?
Do you need separate subscription for your debit / credit cards or is one sufficient for all your debit /credit and addon cards ?
Mohan
I am not sure on this , better to call their customer care and talk .
Manish
Great source of information – Thanks Manish! I guess, the mindset of people for CPP is comparable to either the term insurance or mediclaim insurance – we think that “I will not lose my card anyway, so no need!”. However, even if once someone has lost card(s), he will definitely go for this. OR, some of the aware individuals would go for this.
The best way would be, as you mentioned, for the card companies to have this inbuilt in their operation – they could take annual fees or something for this service.
Nkanani
Correct , however card companies can not make it compulsory to card holders , most of us wants a free credit card 🙂
Manish
Great though I think that creating a virtual card and defining its limits can save oneself for its severe impact at least during online transactions…And rest let the carrier be beware is the ultimate solution. CPP can mitigate some of the agony…
Naresh
Yea , for online frauds , creating an virtual credit card and using it makes sense , CPP is mainly for loss of your wallet , insuring it and fast contact with card companies . Makes sense for someone who has a heavy wallet 🙂 . I think you understood what I mean 🙂
Manish
Thanks for the brilliant idea Manish. I just realised virtual card is the best way to hide your real credit card info from the internet.
Online frauds were my major concerns as I keep paying for subscriptions internationally. Now I can issue my virtual prepaid card number and wouldn’t have to worry about my real card info getting hacked / leaked / misused.
Good to hear that Shyam ! .. thats really a good idea !
Sounds great. Finally someone is taking care of lost cards and frauds. Such cases are on rise and things are going to get worse only. My own friend keeps losing them frquently. Should work in India because we lose things so often almost every week I hear such incidents. Besides membership amount is not very high. I’ll forward it to 2-3 of my friends those who are habitual of losing any pssible object.
SS
Not sure if the rates will be same for a person who frequently looses it , Even though there is no way on can figure out the history of a person loosing his wallet 🙂 . What do you say ?
Manish
Of course it should not be the same or else how these people will earn? But there’s no way to check their history no one likes to admit it):. card issuers must be having some type of record of complaints..if I lose my cards frequently everytime I’ll ring them to block it. Anyway what information do they require about cards or accounts? I must know, literally have no idea, have been lucky.
I am not sure what info they require . better to talk to customer care
Manish