This is exciting — American Express has just added cell phone protection to several cards, and it even includes coverage for cracked screens (which is typically excluded from this type of coverage with other card issuers)!
Continue reading: Wow: Amex Adds Cell Phone Protection To Premium Cards
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Weird they're not adding it to Gold and Biz Gold yet adding it to the $200 a year Delta platinum
The terms don't seem to address if FULL monthly payment is required on the card. I.e. does putting $15 on my Bonvoy Biz card for the monthly credit render me ineligible for coverage? I'm guessing that's the case, pretty obnoxious if so.
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A. To get coverage:
You must charge your monthly Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill to your Eligible Card Account. You are eligible for coverage the first day of the calendar
month following the payment of your Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill using your Eligible Card Account. If you pay an Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone
bill with your Eligible Card Account and fail to pay a subsequent bill using your Eligible Card Account in a particular month, your coverage period changes as follows:
1. Your coverage is suspended beginning the first day of the calendar month following the month of nonpayment to your Eligible Card Account; and
2. Your coverage resumes on the first day of the calendar month following the date of any future payment of your Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone
bill using your Eligible Card Account.
Khatl, the $200 Delta card is honestly one of their best cards (companion ticket, lounge access, decent multipliers, can spend towards status, etc). I think it is one of their most popular cards
Business gold card get FU**** again. AMEX sucks. I cannot wait to close that account, Paid $295 for nothing. 4 points per dollar at restaurants for $300 per year. So I earned an extra 20,000 points to eat up the annual fee but get ZERO benefits.
Doesn't the Ink business card have a $100 deductible. You mention Amex is only $50. Does that change your thinking?
Perfect! I already use my Delta Platinum to pay for my cell phone bill so I can hit the $25K MQD waiver.
I wonder if users who pay for their wireless bill annually (i.e. Mint Mobile) will be able to utilize this. Amex Offers had a pretty nice offer with Mint not long ago.
Amex Biz Plat is now offering 4x points in addition to the usual 1x points for wireless phone purchases (total of 5x points) through to 30Jun2021. The only reason I kept my Biz Ink card was because of their generous cell phone benefit and points earning. I will be shifting that spend over to my Amex Biz Plat now, unfortunately this bonus earning will only be for a few more months.
@anthony It may be popular but earning 1 skypeso per $ is terrible value plus it's in a non-convertible currency. Also delta plat doesn't get you lounge access. Biz gold and gold get a bad deal with this.
Hmmm.
1) I recently had an iPhone with a cracked front and back screen - I think that would cost $929 to fix out of Apple's warranty. I had AppleCare though, so I paid a $99 deductible to get it fixed. Seems like in this case, it would be basically a wash to fix with this coverage.
2) An advantage seems to be that you can pay your phone bill to get this coverage, and don't necessarily have to buy the phone itself - I buy iPhones with my Apple Card now, so the is an advantage
3) Outright theft of the phone (happened to me before) is fully covered under AppleCare + Theft but you would be out of pocket by a decent amount if you buy an expensive phone
Net net this seems interesting, but unlikely to reduce the need for AppleCare, at least for me... I guess could you use it to pay deductibles for Apple care?
Ryan / Khatl
- Companion pass by itself pays for the Delta Platinum fee
- Delta Platinum I believe earns multipliers for dining and grocery these days (though I don't use mine for this purpose)
- I think Delta Platinum gets you SkyClub access on a per visit basis. Gold used to as well, but they got rid of it
- I historically earn a lot of SkyPesos via flying/spending for status and use a lot of SkyPesos. Debating whether I should spend Delta miles this year on a bunch of domestic travel or wait until the European DeltaOne flash sales
I have both a Delta Reserve and Delta Platinum, I have considered downgrading the Reserve and cancelling the existing Platinum. But this year, MQM earning on Reserve is a bit too good.
Same as other cell phone protection plans, this is postpaid phone plan only, good luck with prepaid.
@Anthony Isn't the advantage here that you don't need to pay for a standalone product like AppleCare? Save your $10 per month and get comparable coverage through Amex?
MattR - IMO AppleCare gives slightly more comprehensive coverage than what Apple is offering (especially for theft), but it depends on your risk tolerance
This doesn’t get around the nasty policy Verizon has of slapping on a $10 charge when you pay with credit card. (Or “removing the debit/ ACH autopay discount”, if you prefer).
Unfortunately, we Google Fi users are left out in the cold with this, since Amex does not consistently recognize it as a cellphone service provider.
@ Ben -- This is a smart trick to try to get you to keep cards upon 2021 renewal, but it may not be enough for me.
Where do you see that it covers cracked screens? The policy document specifically excludes cosmetic damage...
Have the same question as @Greg. Under the section about what is not covered, it says “Cosmetic damage…that does not impact the Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone’s ability to make or receive phone calls.” With the cracked screens that I have had, I was still able to send & receive calls. Are we sure they are covered?
Like @magicgumdrop said, this is completely worthless on Verizon, unless you are still on a fixed data plan.
It should be worth about $35/month if we could actually use it, as the cheapest coverage Verizon has is $6.85/mo/line (5 lines).
Citi Prestige also provides similar coverage, what about making a post comparing the three Chase Ink, Citi Prestige and AMEX coverages
Here are the official terms and conditions, but I couldn't find a clear answer for authorized users being or not being covered: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/cell-phone-protection.html. I'm guessing the customer service will be able to answer that after Apr/1st.
@T Reed
I agree, the Hilton Aspire card is the premium Hilton card. It seems odd that the insurance isn't included with this product.
Well, cosmetic damages aren't cover, but if you mess up the phone screen enough that you can't even call (e.g. can't see the numbers, or touch screen is no longer responsive), then it's covered.
Astounding - this has been on the Australian version of the AMEX Platinum for years! You are allowed to claim up to $500 twice a year.
Gosh darn I've had a regular gold MX card for 30 or 40 years and they haven't give me a damn thing worthwhile just the stupid points which aren't really worth anything because if you book on their site the airline prices are 10 or $25 higher per segment has anyone actually seen that like me?
I'm not sure how "wow" this is - Amex premium cards are a sinking ship and they were cheapskates when times were good. This is just bailing water out to remain marginally competitive.
I have only a Green card at this point, and am not compelled to renew. Following point transfers (to whoever economically survives this pandemic) I'll be out entirely.
So, does cell phone coverage start April 1 (making you eligible to file a claim at that point) if you paid your March bill with an eligible Amex card? Or, does it start May 1 after you pay your April monthly bill with an eligible card? I can't tell from the documents.
For those that get $120/year cell phone reimbursement, simply bill $10+ a month to the Amex and the rest to the Chase Flex to get max points and benefits!