The insurance policies that come with your credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) are more like assistance contracts that help you in the event of an incident, for a short period of time without offering very extensive health cover, and under no circumstances if you stay for more than 3 consecutive months. They do not cover epidemics and therefore do not cover Covid-19-related medical expenses. Mondassur offers a wide range of travel insurances to complement your credit card insurance and insure you abroad for the many situations where your credit card won’t cover you. You can request a free quote for travel insurance and view coverage details online.
If you want to be well covered, we advise you to use them in addition to specific travel insurance. Without going into too much detail, we’ll just give you an outline of the services we offer.
The most important services offered by your credit card
Please note: This analysis is not exhaustive and has no legal value. In addition, certain guarantees may have been updated by banking organizations but not yet included in our presentation. We recommend that you always check with your bank for details of the cover they offer. Guarantees for Visa, Mastercard and other credit cards vary widely depending on the bank providing the card and the “level” of the card. Basic cards offer extremely limited guarantees.
Here is an outline of the coverage
Insured persons
These are generally the cardholder, his or her spouse or partner, dependent children under 25 for tax purposes, and ascendants and descendants. For Visa cards, spouses and dependent children are covered even if they are not accompanying the cardholder. For the “standard” Mastercard in particular, the cardholder’s family must accompany him or her to benefit from the service. So if you’re traveling with friends or on business and you didn’t buy your ticket yourself, no guarantee will apply.
Duration of coverage
Credit card cover takes effect on the date of purchase (subject to certain conditions) for the entire period of validity of the card, until automatic cancellation or renewal by the cardholder in the country of residence. If you are staying abroad, assistance benefits apply for the first 90 days only. This condition may vary from one card to another, depending on the type of cover (assistance or insurance). If the stay is to last longer for specific reasons (death, disability due to an accident during the stay), for the “Visa Premier” card, insurance cover applies for the first 180 days of the stay.
Please note : if your stay exceeds 3 months, your “standard” credit card will not cover you. In fact, you’ll no longer be considered a mere traveler. It’s very easy to prove that your stay exceeds the authorized duration, and the insurance company will ask you for the relevant proof. If you cannot provide them, you will not be compensated.
Territorial coverage
For Visa “standard” and “premier” cards, you will be covered worldwide, with no mileage allowance, during your professional or private stays, in your country of residence (if you are a French resident: mainland France including Corsica, Monaco, Andorra, DOM TOM and COM) or outside your country of residence, for assistance coverage. The insurance cover applies to distances of more than 100 km from your home or usual place of work. For Mastercard and American Express cards, assistance does not require a kilometer deductible, except for the Amex “Gold” card, with which you are only covered from 50 km from your home for vehicle assistance, medical assistance and repatriation costs, and from 100 km from your home worldwide for rental vehicle coverage.
Terms and conditions of warranty
Assistance cover applies as soon as the credit card is purchased, for illness, injury, death, legal proceedings abroad and help with travel.
The insurance cover applies as soon as you have paid for your travel services and other related purchases with your credit card, in the event of travel incidents (delays to planes, trains, luggage) and travel accidents (death, disability). This may vary from card to card. Be careful if you haven’t paid for your trip yourself.
Amount of healthcare costs covered
The ceilings offered by credit cards are derisory compared with the medical expenses that can be incurred in some foreign countries, such as the USA, so it is strongly recommended to take out additional insurance. Your healthcare costs will be reimbursed up to a maximum of €11,000 for Visa and Mastercard, with a deductible of €50 for Visa and €75 for Mastercard. The Visa Premier card has a higher limit (€155,000) with a €50 deductible. Amex cards have a reimbursement limit of €9,200. For example, with a deductible of €50, if a doctor’s consultation costs €60, you will only be reimbursed between €0 and €10 with your bank card.
For example, hospitalization for appendicitis (1 night) can cost you up to $40,000. See for yourself that the bank card limits are very low compared with Mondassur’s international insurance policies, with limits ranging from €500,000 to over €1,000,000.
Assistance services
Generally speaking, the guarantees offered by the various credit cards cover virtually the same services:
- Payment of transport and hotel costs for a relative in the event of hospitalization of the insured for more than 10 days (“Visa Premier” 125€/day for 10 days up to 375€ beyond, “Platinum Mastercard” 250€/day for 10 days up to 750€ beyond).
- Repatriation and accompaniment to home or hospital of children under 15.
- Early return in the event of hospitalization of more than 24 hours or death of a close relative (return tickets paid).
- Sending medicines.
- Repatriation of the body in the event of death during the stay.
- Legal assistance abroad.
Trip cancellation guarantee
Trip cancellation coverage is generally not offered with “standard” cards. The Visa Premier card offers this guarantee, capped at €5,000, with a refund of €200 per insured party if cancellation is made 30 days before departure. Amex Gold and Platinium cards cover cancellation costs from €4,500 to €10,000 per insured person per year. The Platinum Mastercard reimburses up to €10,000.
Flight or baggage delay guarantee
Standard” cards generally do not offer compensation to cover essential expenses when your plane or baggage is delayed. The Visa Premier offers €250 for delays of 4 hours or more per journey. Amex cards pay between €150 (“personal bank card”) and €800 (platinum) for baggage delays, and between €100 and €200 for flight delays. Delay insurance for Mastercards covers costs between €250 (Gold) and €500 (Platinum).
Luggage theft or damage
Standard cards do not compensate you. The Visa Premier card covers you for up to €800 per item of luggage, with a €70 deductible. The Amex “Platinium” card covers personal effects against theft, loss or damage up to €2,000 per trip. For the “Platinum” Mastercard, the ceiling is €3,200 per year.
Death or disability benefit
Application of this cover is generally subject to the use of your card to purchase your travel ticket. The accident causing death or disability must have occurred during the trip, which must be a trip “guaranteed” by the insurer (check the conditions of application for each card). The trip may be by public transport or rental car. Mastercard pays up to €95,000 (public transport) and €46,000 (rental car). In the event of death or disability, Visa Premier and Gold Mastercard pay up to €310,000 per family and per event. Gold Amex and Platinum Mastercard cover up to €300,000 and €620,000 respectively per family and per claim.
Civil liability
You are not covered by standard bank cards. The Visa Premier and Platinum Mastercard cards cover you up to €1,525,000 per event for all property damage and bodily injury caused to third parties. The Amex Platinium card covers you up to €2,000,000 for property damage and bodily injury caused to others while traveling.
Don’t forget that in the event of an accident, €1.5M in some countries such as the United States goes very quickly between medical expenses, legal fees…etc.
Specific warranties
To benefit from these guarantees, you usually need to take out additional insurance. In conclusion, the assistance and insurance cover provided by your credit card varies according to the type of card. If you don’t have either a Visa Premier, Platinium Mastercard or Gold Mastercard, we feel that even for stays of less than 90 days, it is compulsory to take out travel insurance complementary, especially for countries with high medical costs such as the USA, Canada and many Asian and Latin American countries.
