Do Use-Abroad Credit Cards Cover My Purchases?
Posted November 14th, 2009 and last modified November 21st, 2011
Best Use-Abroad Credit Card
The Citibank Clear Platinum Card is a great card to use while you are travelling abroad. As a Visa card you get worldwide acceptance at over 22 million locations. This card also comes with complimentary international travel insurance and purchase cover so you can travel with total peace of mind
- $99 annual fee
- 11.99% p.a. on purchases
- 2.9% p.a. for 12 months on balance transfers
- Cash Advance Rate of 21.74% p.a.
- 55 days interest free
- Minimum Income Requirement of $35,000 p.a.
- Minimum income requirement of $50,000 p.a
Use-abroad credit cards can be defined as any credit card you can use outside its country of issue. As both Visa and MasterCard are accepted at millions of locations worldwide, it would be odd if credit card providers made any restrictions when their cards carrying these logos are used for making purchases abroad.
The obvious proviso with purchase protection insurance is that it may not be available on every credit card. This is often a perk that is reserved for higher level gold and platinum credit cards. Where purchase protection is referred to on the websites of the various credit card providers, there is no mention of exclusions applying to purchases made outside the country of issue, therefore it would be fairly safe to assume that any purchase protection you may have on your use-abroad credit card is going to be valid when travelling abroad with it. To be on the safe side, you might want to ask the provider to confirm that this is the case, and perhaps have them refer you to the appropriate page in their terms and conditions.
More specifically, the official NAB purchase protection insurance policy states that: “The Goods are insured anywhere in the world for 90 days”; and HSBC’s site says: “Whether you are shopping locally or overseas, a wide range of new personal goods you purchase with your HSBC Premier Credit Card will have free worldwide insurance against loss, theft or damage for up to 90 days.”
If these use-abroad credit cards offer that feature, it would be a poor commercial decision for any other card provider that offers purchase protection insurance to impose the restriction that their insurance will only apply inside Australia. That would fly in the face of all that the worldwide logos of Visa, MasterCard and American Express stand for.
It would be even more odd if that were the case considering we live in the age of internet commerce, where so many transactions take place between countries. Where would a credit card provider draw the line? Where exactly would it be considered that the transaction occurred? Where the purchaser was located, or where the seller received the money?
As with all credit card dealings, it is the consumer’s responsibility to check out any matters they deem to be important. Where use-abroad credit cards are concerned, if the customer has a credit card that does boast purchase protection and they are intending to make purchases abroad, they should make enquiries with their credit card provider to establish that the same protection applies wherever in the world they use their card.
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