Many credit cards include purchase protection covering new items against theft or accidental damage for 90-120 days at no extra cost. Extended warranty coverage adds one to two years on top of the manufacturer’s warranty automatically. Most cardholders never use these benefits because they don’t know they exist, so read your card’s benefits guide today.
Drop a brand-new phone two weeks after buying it and most people eat the repair bill. If you paid with the right credit card, your issuer would have picked up the tab instead.
Purchase protection reimburses you when something you recently bought with the card is stolen or damaged, typically within 90 to 120 days of purchase depending on the issuer. Claim limits commonly run from $500 on no-annual-fee cards to $10,000 on premium ones, often capped at $50,000 per year. Extended warranty coverage works the same quiet way. Pay with the card and the manufacturer’s warranty stretches an extra year on most cards that offer it, up to two on some premium ones, with no registration and no fee.
Coverage varies card by card, not issuer-wide, and issuers quietly trim or drop these benefits in periodic updates. The benefits guide, that dense PDF that came with your card, is the only place the actual terms live.
Start with an inventory. Pull up the benefits guide for each card you carry on the issuer’s site, or call the number on the back, and note which cards include purchase protection and extended warranty. Then route big-ticket purchases like electronics, appliances, and furniture to your best-covered card. Save receipts and card statements for anything expensive, since you’ll need both to file. When something breaks or goes missing, start the claim through your issuer’s benefits portal right away. Some cards allow as little as 30 days.
The next time a checkout clerk pitches a store protection plan, check your wallet first. You probably already own better coverage than the one they’re selling.
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