While making travel plans, travel insurance are usually bought for peace of mind, especially for longer trips. Some people like me tried to minimize cost by using comparison sites. Now I am trying to see if I can save on this all together by making do with complimentary travel insurance that comes with credit cards. Do note that we are only comparing "entry level" credit cards where annual fee generally can be waived.
Sum Assured
The headline sum assured is frequently quoted by credit card issuers as a tagline but to me this is not as useful for our usual travel considerations as this should be covered by our own term and accident insurance. Still, some people may like to have a larger amount for peace of mind. For some issuers, the amount depends on cards.
| Sum Assured (up to) | Travel Inconvenience | Medical expense | Example of card |
| UOB | 500,000 | No | No | UOB One Credit Card |
| Standard Chartered | 500,000 | No | No | SMART VISA SIGNATURE |
| Citibank | 1,000,000 | Yes | Yes | Citi Cash Back+ World Mastercard |
| Maybank | 1,000,000 | Yes | No | Horizon Visa Signature Card |
| CIMB | 500,000 | Only for cardholder | No | CIMB Visa Signature |
| Amex | 350,000 | Yes | No | True Cashback |
| HSBC | 500,000 | Yes | No | HSBC Revolution Credit Card |
| DCS | Depends | Yes | No | Diners Cashback card |
| DBS | Not provided | Not provided | Not provided | |
| OCBC | Not provided | Not provided | Not provided | |
| ICBC | Not provided | Not provided | Not provided | |
| Bank of China | Not provided | Not provided | Not provided |
Travel Inconvenience
There are a few credit issuers that provide travel inconvenience coverage. We will compare them in the table below. All figures are in Singapore dollars (SGD).
| Flight Cancellation | Flight Delay (Cap) | Missed Connection | Delayed Baggage (Cap) | Lost Baggage |
| Maybank | Nil | Nil | Reimburse up to 200 per person, cap at 400 per family after 12 hours | Reimburse up to 200 per person, cap at 400 per family after 12 hours | Reimburse up to 500 per person, cap at 1000 per family |
| Amex | Nil | Reimburse up to 200 after 4 hours, cap at 400 per family | Reimburse up to 200 after 4 hours, cap at 400 per family | Reimburse up to 200 after 6 hours, cap at 400 per family | Reimburse up to 500 per person, cap at 1000 per family |
| HSBC | Cap at 2000 per person, 4000 per family | 100 every 8 hours cap at 500 per person/ family | Reimburse up to 300 after 4 hours, cap at 600 per family | Reimburse 50 per purchased item up to 200 per person after 6 hours | Reimburse up to 50 per purchased item up to 500 per person |
| Citibank | Reimburse Up to 500 per person | 100 per 8 hours, cap at 500 per person | Nil | Reimburse up to 200 per 8 hours (500) | Up to 500 per luggage, cap at 1000 per person |
| CIMB (Cardholder only) | Up to 300 | Up to 300 after 6 hours | Nil | Up to 300 after 6 hours | Up to 500 |
| DCS | Up to 2000 | Nil | Up to 250 per person every 6 hours, cap at 1000 per person/family | Up to 250 per person every 6 hours, cap at 1000 per person/family | Up to 250 per person every 6 hours, cap at 1000 per person/family |
For delayed baggage, we can see that Amex and HSBC have better coverage but HSBC has an exclusion clause that disallow claiming for items bought within 6 hours of arrival which is not really useful. DCS seems useful enough but the lack of information online may put people off and there is the problem of card acceptance too.
Medical Coverage
Only Citibank's cards provide medical coverage for medical expenses incurred during the trip, The limit is 40,000 each for cardholder and spouse and 20,000 for dependent. We can also seek medical treatment within one week upon return to Singapore. Medical treatment by an herbalist, acupuncturist, chiropractor or bonesetter for an Injury sustained whilst on Covered Trip outside Singapore is payable up to a maximum of S$200.00 per Accident.
Apparently if medical coverage is important to you especially for families with young children, there is only one choice.
Conclusion
There is no one size fits all, like some may have connecting flights some may not. We will also need to see if the individual credit card's reward cashback\miles\ points make sense. Not all cards of the said card issuer is eligible as well, please refer to the Bank's website for updated information. However, do note that for UOB and Citibank we will need to activate the coverage before we travel. Do let me know in the comments if I have missed out anything.
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