Many credit cards include purchase protection, which typically covers new items against theft and accidental damage for 90 to 120 days after you buy them. When something new breaks or gets stolen, check your card’s guide to benefits before paying to replace it, and file quickly, since claim deadlines are short.
The coverage is easy to miss because it lives in a benefits guide, not on your statement. If you don’t know it’s there, a phone that cracks in its sixth week or a laptop stolen from your apartment gets replaced with your own money.
Take the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Its guide to benefits covers theft and damage for 120 days from the purchase date (90 in New York), up to $500 per item and $50,000 per account.
That coverage is secondary to homeowners or renters insurance, and it also pays the deductible those policies leave you with. If a $400 tablet is stolen and your renters deductible is $500, your insurer pays nothing, but the card can cover the full $400.
American Express cards with the benefit cover eligible purchases for up to 90 days against accidental damage and theft, and some also cover items you lose.
To find out whether your card has it, search the card’s name plus “guide to benefits” or call the number on the back. Then charge purchases worth protecting to that card and keep the itemized receipt.
When something goes wrong, report it right away. Chase asks for notice within 90 days of the loss, and American Express wants it within 30 days. Have your card statement ready, plus a police report for a theft or a repair estimate for damage.
The coverage has limits. Chase excludes used and antique items, motor vehicles, software, and anything that vanishes with no explanation of how.
Before you pay to fix or replace anything less than four months old, spend five minutes with your card’s benefits guide.
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