We’ll be visiting the US for two weeks soon, and if we buy our air tickets with our CBA credit card, we’ll get free travel insurance. I’m curious — how reliable is this kind of cover? Has anyone here had any bad experiences with it? Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Is Free Travel Insurance from CBA Credit Card Any Good?
BendBridge on 08/08/2025 - 19:02
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EXPERT'S FINDINGS BASED ON COMPREHENSIVE COMPARISONS AND RESEARCH
All travel insurance is basic.
Generally speaking, in most travellers cases - these credit card policies are similar to paid insurance policies.
Except with credit card policies you get much broader cover included with your annual credit card fee unless you pay megabucks for paid cover.Yes, I have done the comparison
But yes, read the PDS of both credit card policy and paid policy
Put everything into a spreadsheet and compare:
-Types of cover included (varies with level of cover for paid policies)
- Amount of cover/limits (varies with level of cover for paid policies)
- Excess payable
- Is spouse and children covered (varies with level of cover for paid policies)
- Up front cost (for paid policy)What matters most is who is likely to pay a claim
In that case stay well away from TICK travel insurance!!!!
PS Travel insurance varies according to the credit card you use
The higher the credit card, the higher the annual fee, the higher your travel insurance
i.e Platimum cards with the highest annual fee offer the best travel insurance
So the cost of travel insurance is baked into the annual feeCONCLUSION: We cannot offer advise on such a generic question other than what I have stated
For a detailed comparison see here:
https://wise.com/au/blog/is-credit-card-travel-insurance-eno…
https://www.compareinsurance.com.au/travel-insurance/guides/…
Platimum cards with the highest annual fee offer the best travel insurance
My CBA platinum card has zero annual fee…
You need to look at the product disclaimer and check coverage but I’ve used NAB credit card insurance coverage before and found it to have good coverage. They are removing car hire cover so will need to look for a new card as this is one of the main insurance coverage items I’d need when travelling.
removing car hire cover
That would be a deal breaker for me…
Standard excess cover $2,250 is effectively useless; but can be increased "by nominating the level of extra cover
required from the options we make available. The cardholder must pay us any premium that applies." I've never asked…I paid $16 to increase the excess cover from my CBA CC travel insurance to $6k for a 2 week trip to NZ.
Standard excess cover $2,250 is effectively useless
Mine was around $5K with CBA about a year ago…
@sumyungguy: I may have paid a bit extra, cant remember. It was neglible but worth it…
The insurance offer from CBA has changed quite a bit since then.@jv: I reckon the typical TL:DR traveller doesn't bother checking but gets away with it by not needing to claim; or gets their claim rejected having under-insured the excess.
doesn't bother checking but gets away with it by not needing to claim
There are usually easy to read tables with the inclusions/exclusions that summarise the PDS
You haven't read it correctly, NAB doesn't say that. But there are conditions.
Ah thanks. I didn't saw thst one.
Always check the PDS for exclusions, that’s where they get you!
and check often; coverage and conditions change frequently
medical is what is usually lacking with the free insurance with credit cards
medical usually limited to a million or so
the ones you get seperately have unlimited. with the usa, a visit to emergency is quite pricy.
I use it extensively but only claimed on it once because my ADL-MEL flight with VA was cancelled last minute which would have caused me to miss a MEL-NRT flight
Rebooked myself on QF at a considerably greater cost and claimed the difference, which they paid out in a few days, I was surprised how easy it was.Cancellation costs – $500 excess applies
Yeah wow, looks like the March 2025 PDS update really stacked on some excess charges.
It’s as reliable as any other travel insurance. What they cover will vary like any other travel insurance. Read the PDS to seem what it covers compared to other policies and make your own decision based on your own needs, budget and risk tolerance.
I did 5 weeks in the US last year with my ANZ, Amex and St George credit card policies as my travel insurance because it was appropriate for my needs and risk tolerance. YMWV.
I never rely on credit card travel insurances.I don't trust their cover.
Have never used it, always buy travel insurance separately. But we also have to declare pre-existing conditions, which I suppose isn't automatically covered with CC travel insurance?
Have used ANZ complimentary international travel insurance (I think it was by Zurich at the time), and made two successful claims for cancellation costs. Also made claims for damaged goods (eg. Camera). And a medical emergency claim in the USA. All without any difficulty or excess.
Read the PDS carefully and compare with paid cover. You shouldn’t have any trouble with legitimate claims that meet the PDS and policy wording. These covers are legitimate insurance products paid for in bulk by your card provider.
With pre-exisiting conditions, some policies cover specific things automatically, others cover zilch, others require an application and additional fee.
Read and make notes.
Read the PDS/T&C's to see if it fits your needs and don't make assumptions.
I haven't used it for medical or cancellation reasons, but I did successfully claim about $800-900 of clothing due to luggage delay >24hrs.
Have an offline copy of the PDS on your phone.
It's pretty basic with lots of exclusions… read the PDS and make up your own mind if that is what you want.