Insurance: The Best Credit Cards for Travel Insurance When Using Rewards Points

Credit cards with travel insurance offer a significant advantage. If the coverage meets the traveller’s needs, it can even eliminate the need to purchase separate insurance. In addition to the rewards or points they offer, these cards provide comprehensive protection: travel insurance, cancellation insurance, purchase protection, car rental insurance, and more.

When you received your credit card, you likely also received your insurance coverage booklet. Otherwise, it can be easily found on your financial institution’s website.

Ideally, you should refer to your insurance booklet before deciding to use this card to book your trip. In fact, all credit cards have different types of coverage related to:

• Cardholder’s age
• Covered individuals and destinations visited
• Coverage duration and length of absence from the province
• Type and cost of the rental car
• Number of hours of flight and baggage delay

One of the most important sections is the one concerning the eligibility of the covered trip, especially if you decide to pay for your trip with points.

This is where you’ll find the terms and conditions for most of your card’s insurance coverage.

Some credit cards will require that you:

• 75% or 100% of the trip paid with the credit card

If the entire trip must be charged to the credit card, you will not be able to use reward points to be covered.

Alternatively, the minimum required amount might be 75%, such as with the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card. Therefore, to be covered by this public transit accident insurance, you must have paid at least 75% of your ticket price using:

• Your credit card;
• Or your Scene+ points;
• Or a combination of both.

So, if your ticket costs $100, you must have paid at least $75 with your card or points for the insurance to apply.

Credit card travel insurance may allow points from the card’s linked rewards program to be used to pay for the trip. This is the case, for example, with the American Express^® Gold Rewards Card: the insurance is valid if:

• Membership Rewards points were used to pay for the trip;
• The trip was paid for with the credit card;
• The trip was paid for using a combination of cash and Membership Rewards points.

However, you will not have insurance if you used a program other than Membership Rewards, such as Aeroplan, Scene+ or AIR MILES. American Express certainly encourages cardholders to use its own program.

Other cards will only require that a portion of the trip be paid for with the credit card. The “partial” cost of a ticket can be paid with another type of points or miles.

For example, here is the insurance certificate for the National Bank World Elite Mastercard, covering trip cancellation and interruption insurance:

It’s very important to read and understand your credit card insurance certificate. If you have any doubts, contact your card’s customer service.

A single card may have different eligibility criteria for different coverages. These are nuances that can have major consequences if a problem arises.

As a general rule, it is advisable to pay for your trip with:

• An AIR MILES credit card to cover a trip for which you used AIR MILES miles
• An Aeroplan credit card to cover a trip for which you used Aeroplan points
• A Membership Rewards credit card to cover a trip for which you used American Express Membership Rewards points
• and so on for each program

So, if you use your BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard, you will be covered in case of a problem during your trip paid for with AIR MILES miles. Here is the insurance certificate for this card concerning the purchase of airline tickets with points from the linked program (here AIR MILES):

Only two credit cards allow you to be covered even if you only pay a portion of the trip with them!

This means you can use Aeroplan points, pay the taxes and fees with this type of credit card, and still be covered by your credit card’s insurance!

Two credit cards stand out in Canada:

• National Bank World Elite Mastercard
• National Bank World Mastercard

For the most part, these two credit cards cover the cost of your trip, whether you have paid for it in full or in part with your card. However, baggage delay insurance requires that the full cost of the flight was charged to the card. The same is true for car rental insurance.

One of the major advantages for individuals aged 65 to 75: Out-of-province Emergency Medical Care Insurance coverage is included for a period of 15 days.

Note that the credit card whose insurance most closely resembles that of the National Bank World Elite Mastercard is the Desjardins Odyssey^® World Elite^® Mastercard. However, the difference is that the Desjardins credit card requires the entire payment to be charged to the card.

For most included insurance coverages, the National Bank World Elite Mastercard and the National Bank World Mastercard are among the few credit cards in Canada that cover you even if you only charge a portion of the trip cost to them.

In the case of travel, only baggage delay and car rental insurance require the full cost to be charged to the card.

The National Bank World Elite Mastercard and the National Bank World Mastercard offer different emergency medical travel protection based on:

• The person’s age
• The duration of their trip

As always, we advise you to carefully read each credit card’s insurance booklet before making a decision. It is your responsibility to contact your credit card issuer for clarification in case of doubt.

Here are the different articles you can consult regarding credit card travel insurance: