[UPDATE: Some offers mentioned below have expired and/or are no longer available on our site. You can view the current offers from our partners in our credit card marketplace. DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.]
When consumers shop for credit cards, they’re usually evaluating things like annual fees, interest rates and common benefits such as travel points or cash back rewards. But there are many more credit card perks available through some of the largest credit card providers you shouldn’t ignore. If you don’t know about them, you could be missing major benefits. In fact, your current credit cards may have some of these perks that you’ve never even used.
Here are six credit card perks you might be missing out on.
1. Purchase Protection
Purchase protection helps to safeguard products from theft or damage in many instances. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (which you can read a review of here) will replace or reimburse lost or damaged goods purchased on the card, up to $500 per claim and $50,000 annually for 120 days from the date of purchase.
2. Online Shopping Portals
Online shopping portals offer rewards for shopping online through the credit card company’s official channels. Basically, it’s an online storefront you can use to shop at many major retailers and brands. Oftentimes, they’ll award you bonus points, offer you extra cash back or even let you redeem points to make purchases.
3. Concierge Services
The concierge service is another neglected benefit provided though many credit cards. These concierge services are often available 24 hours a day. They can help customers book travel reservations, make dinner arrangements and even score tickets to concerts and sporting events. This is an especially handy service when traveling, which leads us to our next perk.
4. Travel Protection
Sometimes weather or other unforeseen circumstances delay flights or shut down hotels. Sometimes you have to cancel a trip due to an emergency. When travel adjustments come last minute, you could be on the hook for the cost of the canceled reservation or making alternate travel arrangements.
With travel delay and interruption protection, your credit card company could reimburse you for losses or expenses associated with adjusted or canceled travel plans.
5. Price Protection
Some credit card companies will even help you hunt for bargains. Price protection policies can match lower prices and reimburse you the difference. For instance, the Citi Prestige Card (which you can read our review of here) has a search feature that hunts for lower online prices for certain items. (Full Disclosure: Citibank as well as Chase advertise on Credit.com, but that results in no preferential editorial treatment.) If the item is listed for a lower price than you paid within 60 days, you could be reimbursed the difference.
6. Rental Car Insurance
Rental car companies often try to convince customers to pay for additional insurance coverage. But if you pay for the car rental with your credit card, you may already be protected and could save money and avoid paying for redundant coverage. These policies sometimes only cover certain car models and regions.
These perks are offered by many different companies, but are frequently neglected when consumers choose a new credit card. If you haven’t read your credit card contract or benefits statement in a while, you might want to give it a read. You could already have access to many of these benefits without even knowing it. And, if you’re considering a new card that offers perks like these, it’s a good idea to review your credit before applying. You can see two of your credit scores for free, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com.
At publishing time, the Citi Prestige Card is offered through Credit.com product pages, and Credit.com is compensated if our users apply and ultimately sign up for this card. However, this relationship does not result in any preferential editorial treatment.
Note: It’s important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with credit card issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly.
Image: Geber86
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