Mastercard Overhauls Card Benefits – Full Details: $10 Lyft Credit, Cell Phone Insurance & More; Other Benefits Removed (Chase IHG)

[10/15/19: Chase has sent out an e-mail to cardholders about benefits changing. One of those benefits being added is cell phone insurance. This is actually part of these Mastercard changes]

[6/27/19: Reposting as the new terms go into effect soon. Many people are getting notices from various banks about changes to their Mastercards which are predicated on the changes listed below.]

Mastercard World and World Elite cardholders in the U.S. will get new benefits, including a monthly $10 Lyft credit when you take 5 rides, 500 Fandango points for every 2 movies purchased, 5% back at Boxed.com , and $5 off $25 at Postmates. These benefits begins today. Cardmembers will also get cell phone insurance beginning July 1. These benefits are valid on consumer Mastercards only.

Press Release link

Lyft

Lyft: World Elite cardholders will receive a $10 credit for every five rides taken in a calendar month, which will be automatically applied to the next ride, capped at once per month.

• You need to enroll for this offer. You’ll find the enrollment option in the Lyft app. Update your app if you don’t see it. You may need to update your Lyft app to enroll. Or, you can click here to enroll (must click from your mobile device).
• The rides must be paid for with a Mastercard World Elite credit card (including Apple Pay or Google Pay if your Mastercard World Elite credit card is the funding source).
• An “Eligible Ride” is any Lyft ride types, excluding business rides and bicycle and scooter rental rides.
• Valid only in the USA.
• Credit expires 30 days after application. Credits may take up to 2 days to be applied to your Lyft account.
• You’ll see a tracker in the Lyft account showing your progress toward the $10 benefit.
• I’m unsure if you can get the benefit more than once by having more than one Mastercard saved with Lyft (probably not).

 

Fandango

Fandango: World Elite cardholders will earn double Fandango VIP+ points for the movie tickets they buy. This means cardholders will get 500 Fandango VIP+ points (worth $5) for every two movie tickets they purchase via the Fandango app or Fandango.com, which can be used towards purchasing movie tickets on Fandango or towards streaming movies and TV shows on FandangoNOW.

• $5 discount promo code will expire 21 days after posting to your account (90 days for Fandango VIP members).
• $5 discount promo code can not be combined with other offers.
• Purchases made using an electronic wallet may not qualify for this benefit.

Boxed

Boxed: World Elite cardholders will earn 5% Cash Rewards on their Boxed purchases, which can be used towards future purchases on Boxed.

• Looks like this is a Boxed credit, not a statement credit. There doesn’t seem to be any enrollment; I guess the system automatically recognizes World Mastercards and gives you a Boxed credit of 5% to be used toward a future purchase.
• Future accruals of Cash Rewards currently limited to valid World Elite Mastercard® United States consumer cardholders.
• Beginning at 12:00AM ET on 4/15/19 and ending 11:59PM ET on 4/01/20 or such earlier date as the Offer is terminated by Mastercard and/or Boxed, customers using an eligible World Elite Mastercard could earn 5% in Cash Rewards on the total amount of every purchase made at Boxed, excluding taxes and governmental fees, shipping and handling charges, discounts on account of any applicable Promotions and/or Promo Codes, the application of any accrued Cash Rewards and alcoholic products.
• Cash Rewards not redeemable or accruable in connection with prior purchases, Express orders, Boxed Hotels, gift cards, alcoholic products and other items fulfilled by third-parties.
• To be eligible for this benefit, you must use a valid consumer World Elite Mastercard® issued by a U.S. financial institution.
• New customers must create an account to accrue Cash Rewards.
• Customers must use an eligible World Elite Mastercard to earn Cash Rewards.
• Maximum of $500 in Cash Rewards can be accrued per calendar year.
• Purchases made using a World Elite Mastercard through wallets (excluding Venmo and PayPal) will qualify for this offer.
• Cash Rewards may not be combined with other Cash Rewards offers from Boxed.
• Cash Rewards expire twelve (12) months from the date earned unless (i) redeemed in accordance with the redemption rules; or (ii) additional qualified purchases are made prior to the expiration of the Cash Rewards in your account, in which case all unexpired Cash Rewards in your account will be renewed for an additional twelve (12) month period from the date the qualifying renewal activity occurred.
  

Postmates

Update 9/17/20: This discount has ended.

Postmates: World and World Elite cardholders will receive $5 off every order of $25 or more.

• The $5 discount comes off directly at checkout when you order $25+ and pay with the Mastercard World card. There doesn’t seem to be any enrollment; I guess the system automatically recognizes World Mastercards and gives you the $5 discount. This works nicely with the Capital One Savor benefit which reimburses your fee on Postmates membership.
• If you are using your World or World Elite Mastercard® via Apple Pay or Android Pay, the $5 discount will be applied and shown once the order has been picked up by a Postmate. It will also be shown on the email receipt for confirmation. Also confirmed as working with Samsung Pay.

Cell Phone Insurance

Cell Phone Insurance: World and World Elite cardholders will be eligible for Mastercard Cellular Telephone Protection when they charge their monthly telephone bill to their World or World Elite Mastercard. This benefit—with a maximum liability of $600 per claim for World cardholders and $800 for World Elite cardholders—covers stolen or damaged mobile phones as well as cosmetic screen scratches even if they don’t affect the ability to make or take a call. Cardholders simply have to submit a claim if they incur a loss, up to $1,000 per year.

• For full comparison on the various credit cards who offer cell phone coverage, check out this post. Some of the cards there are actually World Matstercards, you’ll be able to file under either insurance, I guess.
• $600 is the standard on most other cell phone insurances (though Prestige offers $1,000). The World Elite $800 coverage is nice as cell phone prices keep rising.
• There will be a $50 deductible, according to Nerdwallet.
• Nice that they explicitly cover cosmetic screen scratches which don’t affect calling ability; other phone insurances exclude that.

Benefits Being Removed

Mastercard is also removing now a few benefits as well:

• Extended Warranty 
• Price Protection
• Certain travel and emergency benefits are getting removed as well.

It was always difficult to follow Mastercards benefits on these fronts as it varies so much by card and card issuer. Also, most major banks already have their own extended warranty coverage so that’s not a big loss.

List of World Elite Cards

Here’s a partial list of World and World Elite Mastercards:

• Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite
• Citi Prestige World Elite
• Citi Premier World Elite
• Citi Double Cash World Elite for some people
• Citi AT&T World Elite
• Capital One Savor and SavorOne World Elite
• Capital One QuickSilver World Elite for some people
• American Airlines AAvantage Platinum and Executive and Aviator World Elite
• Virgin Atlantic World Elite
• Hawaiian Airlines World Elite
• Lufthansa Miles & More World Elite
• (Bank of America World)
• (Citi Dividend World)

Our Verdict

The Lyft benefit and the cell phone insurance are the ones that stand out for me. Others found the Postmates benefit interesting. I’m sure other people will have different benefits they find interesting.

The Lyft benefit can easily add $120/yr of value to the card for those who use ride-share often. The cell phone insurance brings that benefit within the grasp of most of our readers whereas previously it was limited to only a few cards which not all of us have.

The press release is confusing because it starts off saying that all of these benefits are for both World and World Elite cardholders, then it indicates that only the Postmates and cell phone benefits are for both while the Lyft, Fandango, and Boxed benefits are only for World Elite cardholders. I’m unsure which is accurate.

Just clarifying here one point since many readers in the comments got confused by this: each bank/card may have its own individual benefits, irrespective of the generic Mastercard benefits. Any negative changes mentioned in this post will not affect you if the bank offers that benefit. For example, while Mastercard removed their extended warranty benefit, Citi credit cardholders will continue to enjoy the benefit (on most of their cards) since the bank still offers them. On the flip side, the increased cell phone protection should probably apply even to Citi credit cards which do not show them in their terms from the bank as you can file a claim with Mastercard (Citi may eventually update their terms to include the benefit as well). It’s always worth checking your individual card with your specific bank to verify the benefits are there as it’s possible some banks have differing agreements with Mastercard.