This is another post in our series titled ‘ask a blogger’ where we ask a bunch of different bloggers a new question every week. You can view other posts in this series by clicking here.
Question I asked:
What is your favorite unknown or little known credit card benefit? (e.g a lot of people don’t know about phone insurance for example)
Contents
- 1 Responses
- 1.1 Amtrak Transfer To Choice Hotels
- 1.2 American Express Extended Warranty
- 1.3 American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR)
- 1.4 American Express Platinum Suite
- 1.5 ATM Bank Refund
- 1.6 Citi Prestige Free Golf
- 1.7 Citi Prestige Fourth Free Night
- 1.8 Citi Price Rewind
- 1.9 Discover Gift Card Discounts
- 1.10 EQM’s
- 1.11 Fidelity Flight Benefit
- 1.12 FlexPerks
- 1.13 Free Night Benefits
- 1.14 IHG 10% Refund
- 1.15 Purchase Protection
- 1.16 Roadside Assistance
- 1.17 Hawaiian Share Miles
- 1.18 Motel Burglary
- 1.19 Primary Car Rental Coverage
- 1.20 Purchase Protection
- 1.21 Travel Insurance
- 1.22 Trip Cancellation/Delay
- 1.23 TripIt Pro
- 1.24 U.S Bank Flexperks $25 Inflight Credit
- 2 Final Thoughts
Responses
Amtrak Transfer To Choice Hotels
Amtrak card allowing 1:3 transfer to Choice? Is that lesser known? Probably not any more.
American Express Extended Warranty
At this point, it seems like all the major benefits are pretty widely known. But the American Express extended warranty doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. I mean, getting an extra year for using a credit card is pretty spectacular. Right?
American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR)
It’s not little known, but I think a lot of people sleep on AMEX Platinum FHR. In select destinations like Vegas, Southeast Asia, or many others off season rates can go down as low as $99 with free breakfast for 2, an upgrade, and as much as $100 room credit. Add in the fact that FHR rates earn stay credit/points and the frequent 3rd/4th night free promos and you’re talking real value.
American Express Platinum Suite
I don’t have one personally so I’ll share from a friend. Thanks to the American Express Platinum, my friend frequently visits the Centurion Suite at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It’s a nice little perk for a season ticket holder but also something that is useful as a one off. He’s made it a bit of a ritual to visit during every game with his wife. I’m fairly certain alcohol and stuff costs money but he loves the access regardless.
ATM Bank Refund
Its not really credit card, its a debit card, but the USAA Debit card refunds up to $15 in other banks’ ATM fees each month (up to I think 10 uses, so just don’t go crazy). Its also one of the cheapest ways to get foreign currency that I’ve found, with only a 1% foreign transaction fee for withdrawals outside the United States. Its generally the only way I get foreign currency now. Find a reputable ATM either at the airport or near the hotel, and I’m good to go. As a result, its one of my basic rules for international travel.
Citi Prestige Free Golf
One of my favorite benefits of the Citi Prestige card is the three free rounds of golf per year, which is probably one of the least well known but coolest benefits (if you’re a golfer). Last year this gave me around $500 of benefit for free during a Las Vegas trip. Another little known benefit that I use a lot is the free Tripit Pro account with the Arrival+ card.
Citi Prestige Fourth Free Night
Right now, I’m a fan of the 4th free hotel night from the Citi Prestige card which has saved me hundreds of dollars. This is a great benefit to use in conjunction with stays at chain hotels as you will still earn points and stay credit like normal but with the added bonus of your fourth night free! In my experience, I have found the rates to be identical to the lowest rates I found online and while admittedly a cumbersome process at times, the agents are pleasant to work with.
Citi Price Rewind
A benefit not many may know about is the Citi Price Rewind. I wrote about it several years ago here. I had purchased a computer, registered it online, and Citi found a lower online cost within 60 day and sent me a refund for the difference.
Discover Gift Card Discounts
This one is a tough one. I would say Discover offering gift card discounts year round when you redeem the cashback.
EQM’s
My favorite benefit is the ability to earn EQMs on the Citi/AAdvantage Executive Card. I enjoy my time with family and knowing that I can spend money on a credit card and earn some EQMs means I need to fly less to keep my Executive Platinum status. Less flying equals more time with the family, always a win in my book.
Fidelity Flight Benefit
The little known ability of the Fidelity Amex to book (up to) $390 airline tickets for 25,000 points + $30. This turns the already great card into an unbeatable everyday spend card. I write extensively about it here. I use this to reduce the cost of flights when no award seats are available.
FlexPerks
Flexperks can be redeemed for amounts slightly above the given levels 20k for $400 and less fare with a credit card by calling in (ex $405 fare for 20k plus $5, Rapid Travel Chai wrote about this and detailed it well). This is a great way to maximize your redemptions by getting the full 4% return on 2x categories.
Free Night Benefits
I love when hotel credit cards come with the free-night benefits because it takes the pain away from paying the annual fee. Plus, 99% of the time you can stretch the value of the free night way beyond the annual fee cost in itself. For instance, the IHG Rewards Credit Card gives you a free night each night without any category or property restrictions for just $49 a year! Can’t be that!
IHG 10% Refund
With the Chase IHG Rewards Credit Card, you will receive a 10% rebate on all points used during award night redemptions. The rebate is automatic and the rebated IHG points posts to your account after the stay is completed.
Purchase Protection
Roadside Assistance
As a AAA member (I use their hotel rates and feel like I should pay for the membership) I don’t make use of it, but I think folks don’t realize their card may come with roadside assistance benefits.
With the Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card, you are able to accept Hawaiian Airlines miles from anyone, for free. This feature is only available for people who have the credit card.
Motel Burglary
Motel burglary from the US Bank Harley Davidson card. Party hard and no regrets!
Primary Car Rental Coverage
Cards like Chase Ink offer primary rental car coverage, which means your card’s coverage kicks in before your normal auto insurance plan has to pay out. This could result in big savings if you had an issue while renting a car when compared with the standard secondary coverage the vast majority of cards offer.
Purchase Protection
I think Purchase Protection is a great benefit which isn’t well-known. Many credit cards offer purchase protection for an item which is damaged or stolen within 90 days. This benefit is great for electronics and also very useful for clothing, e.g. if a shirt gets caught in the door and rips, etc. Amex is especially easy to deal with and usually credits your account within 48 hours on smaller claims. I wrote more on this benefit here.
Doctor of Credit (Chuck Sithe)
Travel Insurance
Comprehensive travel insurance including medical emergency and even medical evacuation offered by the Chase RC card, although I have no idea how or if it works in real life.
Many travelers don’t understand that they already have travel insurance by the benefit of carrying their favorite credit card in their wallet. When you mention “travel insurance” and “credit card” in the same sentence, many people think immediately about supplemental rental car protection. However, credit cards can offer more than just rental car insurance. As I wrote for About.com, many credit cards offer travelers some great protections for their dollar – including trip delay and baggage loss benefits. While it doesn’t necessarily take the place of a full travel insurance policy, it does help travelers sit at ease as they travel around the world.
Although it’s not that particularly obscure, I really like the added travel and rental car insurance benefits. I’ve surprisingly had to use both of them in the last year and was covered for expenses to cover delayed luggage and and car damage in Italy. I always make sure I purchase a big trip with a premium card that offers more protection.
Trip Cancellation/Delay
Many people aren’t aware of trip cancellation and baggage delay benefits that some cards offer. Few examples are Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Thank You Premier card. One caveat: I wouldn’t rely on them completely, you still need medical/evacuation coverage, especially when going to a foreign country. That benefit is relatively inexpensive.
My favorite little known credit card benefit is trip delay protection covers award tickets.
You can’t buy travel insurance for a trip if you used miles and points because there isn’t any cash outlay so you’ve assumed no financial risk.
However, you can get trip delay protection from your credit card if you charge the taxes and fees to that card.
Trip delay protection of up to $500 per ticket is offered on just about every Chase credit card (except the Freedom, and IHG Rewards, maybe a couple others) and most of the Citi cards.
TripIt Pro
It’s kind of silly but I love my free TripIt Pro membership with Barclaycard Arrival+. When you have 5-6 trips planned it really helps visualize itineraries. I think it has other features like notifying of Southwest fare decreases, as well.
U.S Bank Flexperks $25 Inflight Credit
With the US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card, every time you redeem your FlexPoints for an airline ticket, you get a $25 inflight credit to use during your trip (seat upgrades, inflight meals, and probably duty-free items). Technically it has to fall between your departure date and arrival date and you must use the FlexPerks credit card to make the charge. After the charge posts to your account, you will need to call US Bank to request the reimbursement.
Final Thoughts
Big thanks to all of the bloggers that participated yet again, really appreciate everybody taking the time to answer my question. If you found any of the bloggers responses particularly insightful, consider checking out their sites in a bit more detail. Readers, what is your favorite little known or unknown credit card benefit and why do you like it so much?
You can view more posts in this series by clicking here.
Thanks for posting this series!
While I knew several of these, I didn’t know that Fidelity AMEX points could be used for a plane ticket.
Yup, it’s one of the reasons that the Fidelity is so great. Possible to get a better return than 2% cash back
Motel burglary say what?
Bill, One of the advantages I don’t see mentioned anywhere is the AMEX platinum International ticketing benefit. If an international, business or first, ticket is purchased using this card through AMEX travel portal, companion only pays taxes and fees.