Benefits on credit cards we never use

Did you know that the credit cards you have offer you innumerable benefits that you never use. Strange though it may seem, we opt for credit cards because of the features and benefits they offer, but fail to use most of the benefits that come with it. In fact, most consumers are not even aware of certain benefits that can come in handy in times of distress. We only know about the annual fees, interest rate, late charges, penalties and other overhead costs and very little about the advantages they offer to us.

Did you know that you can be protected on your card when you make purchases using them? Well, most of the credit card lenders offer the return protection as well as the purchase protection which is excluding the protection offered by the vendors who swipe your card. We fail to realize the potential of having this protection on our credit cards until we actually face a particular situation.

Return protection

This protection is very beneficial when you want to return one of the purchases you made at a particular store and want to return it due a genuine reason. There are times when the vendors refrain from taking the sold goods citing various reasons. In such cases, the return protection can work in your favor. You can contact your credit card lender whose card you used to make the purchase and explain your predicament and request for their help. They will help you in returning the product and getting your money back.

Purchase protection

This type of protection will prove to be handier as compared to the return protection. In the eventuality of you buying a new product and it is either stolen or gets damaged, you can have it covered under the purchase protection. You will not be able to avail this protection if you either use cash or debit cards to make your purchase. You can always fall back on your credit card lender, if you have used the credit card to make the purchase.

Though most credit cards offer only one particular type of protection, there are lenders that offer both types of protection on all their cards. All types of cards issued by American Express offer the return protection and the purchase protection. These two options are available only on certain signature cards offered by Visa and though most cards issued by MasterCard claim to have both types of protection, only a few of them have it listed in their terms and conditions.

Doug Nicholas

Doug Nicholas, a financial consultant by profession with a Masters degree in International Business from Brown University, is also an ardent writer. Though he has a full time job at one of the companies listed on Wall Street, he does manage to squeeze in time to follow his passion. He puts his ideas to words in his articles related to finance and business.