John saw an advertisement for new sneakers and urgently wanted to buy them, but instead of a real online store he ended up on a fraudulent website. When he entered the card details and the transaction confirmation code, money was stolen from his account. John was not very upset, because the card was insured. But he was told that the case was not considered insured, and he was denied payment.
Why the policy does not always allow you to reimburse losses, is it worth insuring a bank card at all and what to look for before concluding an agreement.
How does bank card insurance work?
The policy will protect if a person loses the card or criminals steal money from it. The insurer will reimburse the client for losses: the stolen will be returned to the account, and the lost card will be reissued free of charge.
But you need to carefully read the terms of the contract - in particular, which incidents will be considered an insured event and what kind of compensation can be expected.
Igor found out that his policy will work only if he is robbed at an ATM or within three hours after he withdraws cash from the card. The maximum amount of compensation is $ 1500.
Usually the list of insured events is much wider.
What risks can the card be protected from?
Most policies compensate for theft of money from the card if:
When can they refuse to pay out insurance?
In case you violate the terms of insurance. For example, you do not follow the precautions that are spelled out in your agreement with the bank.
In particular, you are obliged to keep the PIN code separately from the card and not tell anyone its details (to receive a transfer, it is enough to tell the sender only the card number). That is, if you "helped" the criminals to find out secret data, there will be no compensation.
Svetlana insured her card against all possible risks. Once her wallet was stolen and money was withdrawn from the card. But the insurance company refused to pay: it turned out that Svetlana kept the PIN code in her wallet, which means she had violated the security rules.
No insurance covers cases where social engineers convince you to transfer money to them yourself or provide card details and transaction confirmation codes.
As a rule, the policy prescribes additional conditions that you must fulfill in order to receive insurance compensation:
If the insurer refused to pay, and you disagree with his decision, contact the financial ombudsman. He resolves disputes between clients and insurance companies prior to trial. But only when the amount of your claim against the insurer is less than $ 100000, otherwise you will have to go to court.
If I follow all the rules of the bank and the insurance company, will the stolen money be returned in full?
The policy always indicates the limit of the insurance indemnity. For example, according to the policies of John and Diana, the maximum payment was $ 1500.
Usually, it is suggested to enter into the policy all the cards that you have opened in one bank. If they are tied to different accounts, then if you wish, you can choose a different size of payments for each card.
In this case, the amount of compensation usually depends on the type of insured event and even on the circumstances of the accident. For example, some policies write that in case of a robbery at an ATM, not the entire stolen amount will be returned, even when it fits into the insurance limit, but only 60% of it. And if a person withdrew money at night, then he would be paid no more than $ 200, regardless of how much the criminals took away from him.
All these conditions are spelled out in the contract with the insurance company.
The price of the policy directly depends on the amount of maximum compensation and the set of insurance claims. It can range from $ 10 to $ 150 rubles per year.
So is it worth insuring the card?
As a rule, banks, which act as agents of insurance companies, actively offer card protection to their clients. But in some cases, the bank, even without insurance, is obliged to return the money stolen by the fraudsters. For this, two conditions must be met:
The more carefully you use your bank card, the less sense it makes to insure it. But if you plan to withdraw large amounts from the card and are afraid of robbers, you can purchase a policy. After all, banks do not return money in case of robbery or theft of cash.
Insurance against cyber fraudsters can be useful for those who, for example, often download games or shop at new online stores. The main thing is to carefully study the terms of the contract before signing it.
If you are imposed on a policy or you simply change your mind about using it, you can return it within 14 days after purchase. Read more about the return policy in the text " How to opt out of unnecessary insurance".
In any case, whether you issue a policy on the card or not, always follow the rules of financial security: keep the full card details and secret codes secret, connect SMS or push notifications about all card transactions in order to immediately find out about suspicious charges.
You can find out in what ways scammers lure money and card data and how to protect yourself from this in the "Fraud" section.
Why the policy does not always allow you to reimburse losses, is it worth insuring a bank card at all and what to look for before concluding an agreement.
How does bank card insurance work?
The policy will protect if a person loses the card or criminals steal money from it. The insurer will reimburse the client for losses: the stolen will be returned to the account, and the lost card will be reissued free of charge.
But you need to carefully read the terms of the contract - in particular, which incidents will be considered an insured event and what kind of compensation can be expected.
Igor found out that his policy will work only if he is robbed at an ATM or within three hours after he withdraws cash from the card. The maximum amount of compensation is $ 1500.
Usually the list of insured events is much wider.
What risks can the card be protected from?
Most policies compensate for theft of money from the card if:
- it has been lost or stolen;
- her data was stolen using technical devices such as a skimmer, an overlay on an ATM keyboard or a video camera, which was able to "spy" information from a card and a PIN code;
- card data leaked into the network or fraudsters lured them out using phishing sites;
- criminals robbed the cardholder after he withdrew money from an ATM.
When can they refuse to pay out insurance?
In case you violate the terms of insurance. For example, you do not follow the precautions that are spelled out in your agreement with the bank.
In particular, you are obliged to keep the PIN code separately from the card and not tell anyone its details (to receive a transfer, it is enough to tell the sender only the card number). That is, if you "helped" the criminals to find out secret data, there will be no compensation.
Svetlana insured her card against all possible risks. Once her wallet was stolen and money was withdrawn from the card. But the insurance company refused to pay: it turned out that Svetlana kept the PIN code in her wallet, which means she had violated the security rules.
No insurance covers cases where social engineers convince you to transfer money to them yourself or provide card details and transaction confirmation codes.
As a rule, the policy prescribes additional conditions that you must fulfill in order to receive insurance compensation:
- Report theft in time. Usually, the exact time when it is necessary to report the theft is indicated: a couple of days or even several hours. During this time, it is necessary not only to notify the insurer, but also to protest the operation in the bank so that he begins an internal investigation. Do not forget to write a statement to the police, otherwise the insurance will refuse to pay.
- Urgently block the card. The agreement may provide that you must block the card within 24 hours or even several hours from the moment of theft. Otherwise, the insurer has the right to refuse compensation, even if the remaining clauses of the contract are fulfilled.
- Collect a package of documents. Before deciding on reimbursement, many insurers require a whole set of papers: a copy of the police order to initiate a criminal case or refusal to do so, a certificate of the results of the bank's internal investigation. If the bank, having studied all the circumstances, will reimburse you for the losses, then the insurer will not re-compensate them.
If the insurer refused to pay, and you disagree with his decision, contact the financial ombudsman. He resolves disputes between clients and insurance companies prior to trial. But only when the amount of your claim against the insurer is less than $ 100000, otherwise you will have to go to court.
If I follow all the rules of the bank and the insurance company, will the stolen money be returned in full?
The policy always indicates the limit of the insurance indemnity. For example, according to the policies of John and Diana, the maximum payment was $ 1500.
Usually, it is suggested to enter into the policy all the cards that you have opened in one bank. If they are tied to different accounts, then if you wish, you can choose a different size of payments for each card.
In this case, the amount of compensation usually depends on the type of insured event and even on the circumstances of the accident. For example, some policies write that in case of a robbery at an ATM, not the entire stolen amount will be returned, even when it fits into the insurance limit, but only 60% of it. And if a person withdrew money at night, then he would be paid no more than $ 200, regardless of how much the criminals took away from him.
All these conditions are spelled out in the contract with the insurance company.
The price of the policy directly depends on the amount of maximum compensation and the set of insurance claims. It can range from $ 10 to $ 150 rubles per year.
So is it worth insuring the card?
As a rule, banks, which act as agents of insurance companies, actively offer card protection to their clients. But in some cases, the bank, even without insurance, is obliged to return the money stolen by the fraudsters. For this, two conditions must be met:
- You reported the theft to the bank no later than the next day from the moment you received a notification about a suspicious card transaction. If the bank for some reason did not send a message about the transaction at all and you yourself accidentally discovered an illegal write-off, then you have the right to demand to return the money later - at any time, even a year after the operation.
- You have followed the safety rules when using the card. In particular, they did not write the PIN code directly on the card or did not store it together with the card, they gave it to anyone to photograph and did not upload photos on social networks themselves, did not disclose secret data to fraudsters.
The more carefully you use your bank card, the less sense it makes to insure it. But if you plan to withdraw large amounts from the card and are afraid of robbers, you can purchase a policy. After all, banks do not return money in case of robbery or theft of cash.
Insurance against cyber fraudsters can be useful for those who, for example, often download games or shop at new online stores. The main thing is to carefully study the terms of the contract before signing it.
If you are imposed on a policy or you simply change your mind about using it, you can return it within 14 days after purchase. Read more about the return policy in the text " How to opt out of unnecessary insurance".
In any case, whether you issue a policy on the card or not, always follow the rules of financial security: keep the full card details and secret codes secret, connect SMS or push notifications about all card transactions in order to immediately find out about suspicious charges.
You can find out in what ways scammers lure money and card data and how to protect yourself from this in the "Fraud" section.
