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Free Mobile Phone Coverage with your credit card
My new mobile phone will cost more than the MacBook Air I’m currently writing this article on. I thought my Iphone 8+ was pretty expensive, but my new Iphone Pro Max 512GB will come in at a blistering $1450 before taxes. That is absolutely eye watering. Luckily, I qualify for a trade-in and will get the phone discounted ( almost $30 a month ) via Sprint, but there’s no way I’m carrying a phone that expensive without protection. That begs the question: “Which credit card should I use to pay the bill?”
What I currently use
Up until this new phone I have unequivocally recommended the Ink Business Preferred. My phone is a business expense, it earns 3x Ultimate Rewards, and offers mobile phone protection. It’ll give $600 in coverage with a $100 deductible and $1800 max in claims per 12 months.
Switching to Citi Prestige
But…that leaves over $900 unprotected. Enter: Citi Prestige. The Citi Prestige protects phones up to $1000 per claim, $1500 max per 12 months, and just a $50 deductible. No I won’t earn triple points on the purchase, but if something dire happens to my phone I’d rather have an extra $400 of coverage and $50 less deductible. My phone bill will be $75 a month including the lease, so I’m only missing out on 150 points a month or 1800 points a year. Even at two cents that amounts to just $36, a drop in the bucket if I need to make a claim.
Both cards extend coverage as long as the bill is paid with the card, not the purchase of the phone.
Cost analysis
To further make a cost comparison, my annual fee is $395 a year, $100 off the $495 fee usually assessed because I’m Citi Priority. If we back out the $250 in annual travel credit we’re looking at $145 vs $95 for the Ink Business Preferred. That’s a $45 annual premium that we could tack on to the lost $36 in points, or $81 a year. This is all a precaution, but if I were to pull the trigger on coverage, I’d get $400 more towards replacing the phone and pay $50 less in deductible. I’m also attributing the entire annual fee difference to mobile phone coverage as if this was the only reason to keep the Citi Prestige which isn’t the case…the 4th night free easily earns me $145 a year.
Here’s a list of cards that provide coverage as a benefit
| Credit Card | Coverage | Deductible | Earn rate | Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citi Prestige | $1000 per claim; $1500 max per 12 month period; | $50 deductible | 1x | $495 |
| Ink Business Preferred | $600 per claim; $1800 per 12 month period | $100 deductible | 3x | $95 |
| IHG Rewards Premier | $800 per claim; $1000 per 12 month | $50 | 1x | $95 |
| Uber Visa | $600 per claim; $1000 per 12 month period | $50 | 1x | $0 |
| Bank of America Cash Rewards | $600 per claim: $1000 per 12 month period | $50 | 1x | $0 |
| Well Fargo Propel | $600 per claim; $1200 per 12 month period | $25 deductible | 1x | $0 |
| US Bank Visa Platinum | $600 per claim; $1200 max per 12 month period | $25 deductible | 1x | $0 |
| Trio from Fifth Third | $200 per claim; $400 max per 12 month period | $50 | 1x | $0 |
| Navy Federal Credit Union | Visa: $250 ; $500 Max per 12 months MC: $600; $100 max per 12 months | $50 | 1x | $0 |
| Deserve Edu Mastercard for students | $600 per claim; $1000 max per 12 months | $05 | $0 |
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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