Credit Card Protection Plan

With the advent of technology, plastic money in the form of credit cards and debit cards has become an important part of our life. Whether it is about cash withdrawals or swiping at a store and even for online payment, we need credit/debit card. In such a scenario, losing your credit cards can be no less than a nightmare. If the cards fall in bad hands, you may also end up losing your money. Another challenge that you have to face after card loss is the entire procedure that is required to be followed for cancelling those cards. However, banks are offering ‘Card Protection Plan’ nowadays to safeguard you from the probable damages caused due to loss of cards.

What is Credit Card Protection Plan?

Credit card protection plan is just like an insurance plan for your credit card. It is a comprehensive protection service for your credit card to overcome the monetary loss caused due theft, fraud and other emergencies. The credit card protection plan can be availed by paying a fixed annual fee for the protection services offered. In India, OneAssist and CPP India are pioneer institutes offering credit card protection plans. The fees that the companies charge are on annual basis and it needs to be renewed every year. Mostly 3 types of plans are available namely Classic, Premium and Platinum based on the amount that you would like to insure.

What are the services offered by the credit card protection plan?

Mostly all public sector and private sector banks offer credit card protection plan for a certain cost i.e. the annual fees which may range anywhere between Rs 1,200 to Rs 3,000. The annual fees that are charged for availing this service depends upon the number of individuals included under the plan. The broad categorization of individuals included under the plan is: Individual, individual + 1 (spouse), individual + 3 (spouse and parents). Thus depending upon the number of individuals under the plan annual fee varies. Following are the services offered by the credit card protection plan:

• One call: In case of theft or loss of card, the cardholders just have to call the dedicated emergency toll free number of the bank and inform about the loss or theft of card. Once you have informed, your card will be blocked and the banks take up the responsibility to call the other card issuers and block those cards as well. Thus it takes only one call to block all the cards.
• Emergency Travel and Hotel Assistance: This feature differs from bank to bank as some banks offer the emergency travel and hotel assistance only in India while some banks extend it to overseas. So if you are frequent traveler then it is always recommended to carefully read the terms and conditions before giving a thumbs up to a card protection plan.
• Emergency Cash: In case of theft or loss, you are left with no or limited cash so in such situations credit card protection plans come to your rescue as it ensures to provide you with emergency cash for your disposal. There are certain terms and conditions on the repayment of money that is taken up as emergency cash and also regarding whether this facility is available only in India or extended overseas so make sure you read the terms and conditions very carefully.
• Replacement assistance: Under this plan the banks offer the cardholders assistance for replacement of misplaced or lost card.

In this way, credit card protection plan proves beneficial to counter attack the probable losses caused due to the loss, theft or fraud of credit cards.