ANZ Platinum Credit Card Travel Insurance reviewed

How it compares:

Out of the credit card travel insurance offers we compared (NAB, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, St George, ANZ and American Express), ANZ's was good in almost all areas -- particularly in its ability to cover a range of common pre-existing medical conditions without special approval from the insurer.

It has a very consumer-friendly set of benefits with high maximums and you don't have to put a large proportion of your travel costs on the card in order to qualify. Its main areas of weakness appear to be in lost income protection, a low amount for rental car excess reimbursement, and low coverage for valuables that aren't electronics (such as jewellery, fine clothes/accessories, antiquities purchased overseas and so on.)

Like all credit card travel insurance, trips you make are not automatically covered all year round -- you have to put $250 of your travel costs for each trip on your ANZ Platinum card in order to qualify. However, this is the easiest-to-qualify scheme out of all the cards we reviewed.

Who's covered:

The cardholder, their spouse and dependent children for overseas trips of six consecutive months from and returning to Australia. There's also interstate flight inconvenience insurance, which is like a mini domestic travel insurance policy.

Good or bad? Average for platinum cards.

When the policy kicks in:

In order for the insurance cover to be activated, $250 of your trip costs must have been charged to the ANZ Platinum credit card.

Good or bad? Excellent! This is a very low bar to jump in order to qualify for the free travel insurance, and the best offer of all the cards we reviewed.

Excesses:

If you run into trouble on your trip, and need to use the policy, you'll have to pay the first $200 of each medical or luggage/property claims. Otherwise, all other claim types are excess-free.

Good or bad? Excellent! It's about as good as it gets with credit card travel insurance -- usually there are excesses chargeable on most claim types with only a few exceptions for low value claims like emergency clothes and toiletries.

Medical coverage:

Unlimited "reasonable" medical care. Cash-in-hospital allowance of $75 per person per day, up to a maximum of $7,500 for an individual or $15,000 for a family. $2,000 worth of emergency dental treatment is also covered, but to relieve urgent pain only.

Good or bad? Good -- ANZ's insurer does say medical care must be "reasonable" but defines that as equivalent to the standard of care you'd get in Australia, which clarifies things well. The dental treatment limit at Newtown dentist is adequate given that all credit card travel insurance policies only allow the relief of urgent dental pain, and not full restorative work. The cash in hospital maximums are lower than some other platinum cards, such as the highest of all the cards we looked at.

Pre-existing medical problems:

Quite a number of common pre-existing medical problems are automatically covered under this policy, such as well controlled type-2 diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and so on. The insurer will also consider other conditions for coverage if you contact them before departing on your trip and pay a $75 assessment fee (plus extra premium if required).

Good or bad? Very good -- some credit card travel insurance policies flatly exclude all pre-existing medical conditions, and while some will consider pre-existing conditions upon application, there are few on the market that automatically cover common ones. This makes ANZ Platinum's credit card travel insurance one of the best options for people with common ongoing medical conditions.

Income protection:

This policy also pays loss of income benefit for people who are injured during an accident overseas of up to $1,500 per person per month for up to six months (this amount will be reduced, though, if you earn any money by alternative means during the six month period).

Good or bad? Average to bad. Some credit cards don't offer it at all, so it's good that ANZ does, however, $1,500 per month is only equivalent to an $18,000 salary (as you still have to pay tax on income protection benefits) so it's clear that it is nowhere near most people's salary and won't cover the bills for most people.

Death while travelling:

The policy provides $750,000 for the death of a cardholder or spouse in a transport accident, or $20,000 for the death of a dependent child.

Good or bad? Good for a platinum card, though Commonwealth Bank Gold or Platinum cards pay $1,000,000 if the cardholder dies in a transport accident (though only $150,000 for their spouse), ANZ Platinum cards offer great coverage for both cardholder and spouse, at $750,000 each.

Accidental death:

Accidental death (not related to a transport accident, up to 12 months after some other sort of related accident) are $50,000 for the cardholder or spouse and $1,000 for each dependent child.

Good or bad? Good -- only NAB offers better non-transport-accident death cover (at $100,000 for gold cardholder and $150,000 for platinum cardholder).

Theft/loss/damage:

Up to $12,000 for cardholder or $24,000 for families. Sub-limits of $1000 for any one item, or $4000 for any laptop, video recorder, camera, mobile phone or portable electronic item. Up to $200 for an item stolen from a locked car, to a maximum of $2,000. There is no coverage for cash, travellers cheques or anything else cash-like.

Good or bad? Average. The per-item limit of $1,000 is quite low, however any portable electronics are covered for up to $4,000. Essentially, as long as you're mainly taking clothes and electronics with you on your trip you'll be well covered; this policy does not provide good coverage for fine clothes, valuable antiquities purchased overseas or jewellery.

Rental cars:

$2,000 while overseas or $1,250 within Australia.

Good or bad? Average - there are other platinum credit cards with much better hire car excess reimbursement options. Westpac is the clear standout here; it's gold credit card travel insurance offers $5,000 and platinum $5,500. NAB also has a high $5,000 limit on its Platinum credit card.

Travel delays:

After 6 hours' delay, the insurance will pay out up to $500 per person, to a total maximum of $1000. For missed connections, ANZ will also pay out up to $2,000 if you need to buy new tickets or stay somewhere until you can get the next flight.

Good or bad? Good. It's about the most you'll get from any platinum credit card travel insurance policy. NAB Platinum credit cards cover up to $3,250 in missed connection costs, but then, it only offers $250 per person for travel delays of more than 6 hours.

Toll free number:

You can call the insurer reverse charges from anywhere in the world, so you won't have to pay for international phone calls, in case of emergency while overseas.

Good or bad? Good.

What they don't cover:

You need to read the whole policy to see everything that's not covered, but some things that particularly stood out to us were: Damage to fragile/brittle items except cameras, spectacles, contact lenses; any claim due to a carrier rescheduling or cancelling a service; anything terrorism or uprising against government related; pregnancy related medical expenses after 24th week of pregnancy; any damage caused by 'atmospheric' conditions; any damage to clothes while being laundered; any loss or theft if not reported to police; sporting equipment while it's being used; any electronic items or jewellery put in checked luggage.

Good or bad? All insurance has a lot of exclusions. The key is to read up on them before leaving on your trip, and plan around them (though obviously there are some things, like terrorism, that nobody can plan to avoid). There are no particularly uncommon exclusions in this policy, however the one about not paying claims if a transport provider reschedules a service is pretty rough -- it counts out a lot of travel delay claims.

ANZ's platinum credit cards with travel insurance:

• ANZ Frequent Flyer Platinum Card
  ^{annual fee $295.00, interest rate 19.74% purchases / 20.99% cash advances}
• ANZ Platinum Card
  ^{annual fee $87.00, interest rate 19.24% purchases / 20.99% cash advances}
• ANZ Rewards Platinum Card
  ^{annual fee $149.00, interest rate 19.74% purchases / 20.99% cash advances}

ANZ's website about platinum credit card travel insurance:

http://www.anz.com/personal/credit-cards/compare-cards/platinum-cards/benefits/

Full ANZ Platinum Credit Card travel insurance policy PDS document:

http://www.anz.com/resources/1/e/1e671c004451aa4a80a2eefb15aad448/55983+-+Platinum+Cards+Insurance+booklet.pdf?CACHEID=1e671c004451aa4a80a2eefb15aad448

^{This article was written based on the product disclosure statement available on the ANZ's website on 1st December, 2010. Insurers can change the wording of policies they are selling at any time, so be sure to read the product disclosure statement yourself before signing up. Additionally, this article should not be taken as formal financial advice. You should consult a qualified financial planner.}

danwarne