credit card insurance

skintjenny

im about to apply for a capital one credit card and the form is asking if i want to get insurance?

do i? or is it a money making con??


thanks jenny

NickX

skintjenny wrote: »

or is it a money making con??

I believe that this is the case.

seasidepom

Are you talking about payment protection insurance, i.e. if you are sick and can't pay your bill or card protection insurance which will automatically notify all your card providers if you lose your cards?

Payment protection insurance is an expensive thing to have and is often mis-sold. If you are self-employed or not in employment, it is useless to you as you cannot claim. If you plan to pay off your balance in full each and every month, there is also no point in having it - you will be paying for no benefit whatsoever because if you have no ongoing balance, there is nothing to insure! If you are employed and your employer's sick pay scheme is generous (i.e. some large companies and civil service pay 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay) then in my view you still don't need it.

I would carefully consider whether you think it may be of use to you and whether you would actually be able to claim. Read the Ts&Cs VERY carefully and then make an informed judgement. Bear in mind that most of the policies will only start paying out after you have been incapacitated for 30 days or more.

Card protection insurance I find is quite handy because if you do lose your handbag, you only have to make one phone call to get everything cancelled at once. These policies will often cover you, for example, for loss of door keys and the attending expenses, i.e. replacing your locks.

Hope this helps!

DestroyingAngel_2

It's probably Payment Protection Cover (PPC). Seasidepom is right, though I should add a little extra about PPC. If you have PPC on your account and no balance, then PPC will protect 0 and charge 0. But, once you have ANY balance on it, PPC will kick in and start charging. Even if you don't normally use your card for anything, if you have Card Protection (CPP), and this is the scientific bit - Card Protection is an auto-renewal policy if it's with Card Protection Plan Ltd (not sure how it is with the other providers viz CardAlert and Sentinel, but would presume the same) - if you haven't used your card for months and suddenly your Card Protection comes up for auto-renewal, once that £29 or whatever it is your provider charges shows up on your account, PPC will start charging. So, an otherwise dormant card could suddenly start showing PPC charges, CPP charges and late fees/interest if you fail to make the minimum payment required on time.

Kind of like a cancer in remission that suddenly turns malignant again...

seasidepom

"If you have PPC on your account and no balance, then PPC will protect 0 and charge 0."

Not necessarily so, DA. Nat West now have the policy that even if you pay off all your balance and the next statement is showing nil, you still get charged the minimum 79p premium because they take the average over the past 30 days, so even if you pay the same day you receive your statement, you have had something on your account during that 30 day period hence you get a next statement showing "purchases - nil, PPC 79p". So then I am paying 79p to protect nil balance! Preposterous and for this reason I have cancelled the insurance.

Zelie

seasidepom wrote: »

"If you have PPC on your account and no balance, then PPC will protect 0 and charge 0."

Not necessarily so, DA. Nat West now have the policy that even if you pay off all your balance and the next statement is showing nil, you still get charged the minimum 79p premium because they take the average over the past 30 days, so even if you pay the same day you receive your statement, you have had something on your account during that 30 day period hence you get a next statement showing "purchases - nil, PPC 79p". So then I am paying 79p to protect nil balance! Preposterous and for this reason I have cancelled the insurance.

I agreed to PPI but have rethought it and realise I'm not going to need it. I thought that would still be fine as I intend to pay everything off each month but from what you say I might still be charged? Is it easy to cancel? I haven't had my first statement yet so I'm not sure how I go about cancelling.

ShelfStacker_3

Zelie wrote: »

I agreed to PPI but have rethought it and realise I'm not going to need it. I thought that would still be fine as I intend to pay everything off each month but from what you say I might still be charged? Is it easy to cancel? I haven't had my first statement yet so I'm not sure how I go about cancelling.

Call up the card company and ask. I did this with Capital One, took me a couple of minutes and never got charged again.