Credit cards bring a lot more to the table than convenience, rewards and financing capabilities. They also provide a host of unheralded ancillary services that, in many cases, are touted as major selling points or actually sold separately to consumers by various merchants. This includes extended warranties, price matching, travel insurance and rental car insurance, just to name a handful of plastic-based perks. But despite the money-saving potential that these policies provide, far too few consumers either know about or understand these features well enough to truly take advantage of them.

• The credit cards with the best benefits are:
  1. Chase Sapphire Preferred (85.06% overall score )
  2. Chase Freedom (81.70%)
  3. Citi Prestige Card (80.15%)
• Price Protection and Return Extension are the benefits that are most likely to be missing from a given credit card offer, as 47% and 45% of cards evaluated in this report do not have them, respectively.
• In most cases, benefits are automatically provided to eligible cardholders without the need to sign up. Citi cards are the notable exception, as users must register on an annual basis for certain benefits.
• Each policy comes with its own exclusions:
  • Jewelry is most common exclusion under Return Extension and Price Protection policies;
  • Refurbished items often are not covered by a credit card’s Extended Warranty;
  • Items stolen from a vehicle and electronic components damaged by an electrical current might not qualify for Purchase Protection;
  • Certain SUV’s, international rentals and accidents occurring on dirt and gravel roads might not be eligible for coverage under a credit card’s Rental Car Insurance policy;
  • Lost or delayed luggage might not be covered by your card’s Travel Insurance, as only 45% and 23% of cards cover such occurrences, respectively.
• In order to make a claim, users typically must provide an itemized receipt and a credit card statement as proof that the particular charge or service qualifies for coverage.