Just got an email from Bankwest saying we won't have the complimentary insurance on our cc from 3/9. We have a Westpac platinum card, and that has insurance, but any others that anyone would recommend? preferably one that has 0% conversion fees for international transactions and I don't want to have to pay an annual fee either.
Best Credit Card for Complimentary International Travel Insurance
souths123 on 30/05/2024 - 16:53
Last edited 30/05/2024 - 16:56
Last edited 30/05/2024 - 16:56
Comments
lol, I didn't check when it gave a recommendation for the heading and I said yes….meant to be travel insurance lol
if you already have westpac card, then why do you need another?
always good to have a back up, just in case not covered by westpac, or if there is an excess
I believe Westpac requires a $500 spend on the card towards the trip in order to activate. Some cards (Bankwest before dropping insurance) don't require this.
Sure, it's not a lot, but it is a hoop and condition to check off.
well looks like im cancelling the card, haven't even got an email from them
Have a Zero Platinum Mastercard and not received anything yet. Might be worth mentioning which credit card you have as they have a few and it might only impact some.
EDIT: looks like I am affected and there are other insurance changes apart from the travel insurance. Affected cards and details can be seen at https://www.bankwest.com.au/help/cards/credit-card-changes
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/15319843/redir
- Free card from Bendigo Bank
- Free card from ING with at least 6K credit limit and the usual ING dance moves.
CBA World Debit Card
OP prefers no fee. Doesn't this have a $10/mth charge?
It’s invite only. It’s speculated that you need $100k plus in your account to get the invite
Just read the policy terms of the alternative options and see if the terms (including the definitions and exclusions) suit you. The policies are all different, and the terms often get revised. Some are junk e.g get run over by a drunk driver in Europe and the alcohol exclusion in the policy means you are not covered.
I don’t think you need to get your compliments from insurance products, but each to their own
Bugger, I was just about to apply for one of these for the complimentary travel insurance.
NAB Platinum debit $10 per month
In this day and age, no one should pay a fee for a transaction account.
We are talking travel insurance here not transaction accounts Soan. $10 per month for travel insurance with no silly alcohol exclusions as others have mentioned or credit checks is pretty decent from what I have found. I use it every I travel.
Understand but that Bendigo bank card is free, has travel insurance and purchase protection insurance
EDIT: Not sure about alcohol related exclusions, haven’t checked the T&C
@soan papdi: True. Bendigo is free which does make it the cheapest. Unfortunatly it does include the alcohol out clause which is pretty crappy. $10 per month might not be the cheapest but is better insurance with lower barriers due to being a tranaction account. I guess if you travel for 2 months it will only cost you $20 for travel insurance. You can then just also close it and reopen another the next time you go away.
@DrLobster: A bit late to this, but I am reading the bendigo T&C but I cant find the alcohol exclusion, not even with ctrl+f. Do you remember in which section it was?
Well actually they provide 1% cash back on contactless purchases every month, up to a cap of $10. Very easy to reach the $10 therefore making the card a $0 monthly.
Sure, to each their own but that’s just their way to force you to use the account HSBC offers 2% without a monthly fee or other strings. However the insurance does seem like a good deal. I’ll have a look next time for travel.
This is what I use
I travel a lot so $10/month is a small price to pay - yes I could get one of the no fee credit cards on offer but then that is a hit to credit reporting (and I tend to churn cards a lot so this matters to me)
Question.
One of the criteria to be eligible for this is:
"before leaving Australia you spend at least $500 on your prepaid travel costs … and you charge these costs … to the accountholder’s card account"When I applied for the NAB Platinum Visa Debit Card it opened the NAB Classic Banking Account for me. If I paid for the prepaid travel costs (>$500) by doing a bank transfer from the NAB Classic Banking Account to the travel agent's bank account, will this satisfy the above criteria? Or, do I need to make the payment using the actual card? My reading of the language is that a bank transfer from the NAB Classic Banking Account should also satisfy the criteria.
I'd suggest you actually use the card rather than try to be clever with the wording.
yeah, well, didn't know about that then lol. Otherwise I might have gotten one
I basically live overseas and a review of many credit card insurances do not cover pre-existing conditions
Beware
All credit cards seems to changing terms & conditions and now requires to Spend 250/500$ towards Travel cost (accommodation/plane tickets/tours) to be eligible for complimentary travel insurance
it was like that before, it was only Bankwest that changed it a few years ago so you were going to be covered even without using the card for any of the expenses. Now they won't be offering anything at all after Sept. Luckily I booked my Fiji flights with Westpac so at least I have their cover (at least $500 each has to be spent for both of us to be covered) but the accommodation was going to be Bankwest, as they don't charge conversion fees, and it is going to be billed in FJD….I thought it would be handy to be covered by both just in case one covered something the other didn't.
Good call-out. My Amex credit card requires $500 or more to be spent on accommodation for domestic trips, or the full amount of the outbound ticket for domestic and international trips before becoming eligible for the complimentary travel insurance.
Booked with Fiji trip in Jan 25, and spent $500 using NAB rewards signature CC just to trigger = Travel insurance for family. I could have saved 15% off $500 by using gift cards but end up paying via NAB cc for travel insurance.
unfortunately for the Westpac one both of us have to spend at least $500 on the travel component….the flights came to just over $1000 for both of us. I was going to use the few Qantas FF points I have towards it, but thought I would play it safe to be over $1000, lucky I did, because less than a week later got the email from Bankwest about their change to their complimentary insurances.
Another catch is how high the excess is. $500 is not unusual. I've seen as low as $200.
why do you need insurance for complimentary insurance?