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Amex Launches New Cell Phone Protection Benefit
Today, American Express launched a new Cell Phone Protection benefit for cardholders of the following cards:
- Platinum Card from American Express
- Business Platinum Card
- Centurion® Card from American Express
- Business Centurion Card®
- Delta SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card
- Delta SkyMiles Reserve Business American Express Card
- The Platinum Card® Exclusively for Charles Schwab
- The Platinum Card® Exclusively for Morgan Stanley
- The Platinum Card® Exclusively for Goldman Sachs
- The Centurion® Card Exclusively for Goldman Sachs
Interestingly, the ultra-premium Hilton Aspire and Bonvoy Brilliant cards are not included. More interestingly to me, the Bonvoy Business credit card, which is offering a $15 monthly credit on wireless charges for all of 2021, and the Honors American Express Business Card, which has a $10 monthly credit in 2021, are not included. And I’m also a bit surprised this wasn’t added as a feature on the $250 annual fee American Express Gold Card.
Included are the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Business American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card – with $15 and $20 monthly credits, respectively.
What’s Covered
Effective April 1, 2021, if a Card Members’ cell phone is stolen or damaged, including a cracked screen, they can be reimbursed for the repair or replacement costs for up to two approved claims, for a maximum of $800 per claim or $1,600 per 12-month period, when their cell phone line is listed on a wireless bill and the prior month’s wireless bill was paid by an Eligible Card Account. A $50 deductible applies to each approved claim.
The cracked screen benefit is nice, however, the $50 deductible on a cracked screen may eat up a lot of that benefit.
You can read the Amex Guide to Cellphone Protection Benefits here.
Coverage Definitions
This is verbatim from the Benefits Guide.
A. To get coverage:
You must charge your monthly Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill to your Eligible Card Account. You are eligible for coverage the first day of the calendar month following the payment of your Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill using your Eligible Card Account. If you pay an Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill with your Eligible Card Account and fail to pay a subsequent bill using your Eligible Card Account in a particular month, your coverage period changes as follows:
- Your coverage is suspended beginning the first day of the calendar month following the month of nonpayment to your Eligible Card Account; and
- Your coverage resumes on the first day of the calendar month following the date of any future payment of your Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill using your Eligible Card Account.
B. The kind of coverage you receive:
• Reimbursement for the actual cost to repair or replace a Stolen or damaged Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone.
• Coverage ends on the earliest of: The date you no longer are a Card Member; the date the Eligible Card Account is determined to be ineligible by the Participating Organization; the date the Participating Organization ceases to pay premium on the Group Policy; the date the Participating Organization ceases to participate in the Group Policy; or the date the Group Policy is terminated.
C. Coverage limitations: Coverage for a Stolen or damaged Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone is subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of liability of this benefit. The maximum liability is $800, per claim, per Eligible Card Account. Each claim is subject to a $ 50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per Eligible Card Account per 12 month period.
Coverage is excess of any other applicable insurance or indemnity available to you. Coverage is limited only to those amounts not covered by any other insurance or indemnity. In no event will this coverage apply as contributing insurance. This “noncontribution” clause will take precedence over a similar clause found in other insurance or indemnity language.
D. What is NOT covered: The following items are excluded from coverage under the Group Policy:
• Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone accessories other than the standard battery and standard antenna provided by the manufacturer;
• Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephones purchased for resale or for professional or commercial use. Exclusion applies for Consumer card accounts only;
• Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephones that are lost or Mysterious Disappearance;
• Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephones under the care and control of a common carrier, including, but not limited to, the U.S. Postal Service, airplanes or delivery service;
• Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephones which have been rented, leased, borrowed or Cellular Wireless Telephones that are received as part of a pre-paid plan;
• Cosmetic damage (i.e. superficial abrasions or scuffs) to the Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone or damage that does not impact the Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone’s ability to make or receive phone calls;
• Damage or theft resulting from abuse, intentional acts, fraud, hostilities of any kind (including, but not limited to, war, invasion, rebellion or insurrection), confiscation by the authorities, risks of contraband, illegal activities, normal wear and tear, flood, earthquake, radioactive contamination, or damage from inherent product defects or vermin;
• Damage or theft resulting from mis-delivery or voluntary parting from the Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone;
• Replacement Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone(s) purchased from anyone other than a cellular service provider’s retail or internet store that has the ability to initiate activation with the cellular service provider;
•Taxes, delivery or transportation charges or any fees associated with the service provided; or Losses covered under a warranty issued by a manufacturer, distributor or seller.
Specifically:
Coverage for a Stolen or damaged Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone is subject to the terms, conditions, exclusions and limits of liability of this benefit. The maximum liability is $800, per claim, per Eligible Card Account. Each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per Eligible Card Account per 12 month period.
- Eligibility and Benefit level varies by Card. Terms, Conditions and Limitations Apply.
- Please visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for more details.
- Underwritten by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.
Questions and Answers
I tend to have more questions than most, and generally readers appreciate that, so I took my questions about this new benefit to the Amex Communications team. Unfortunately (and I assume due to compliance reasons) the answers aren’t as specific as I’d hoped. But here are three things to consider:
1) Question: Must the *entire* cell phone bill be paid with the eligible card? Example: If a consumer has both the Bonvoy Business Card and the Business Platinum Card, they would obviously (ideally) want to use the $15 monthly cell phone bill credit on the Bonvoy Business (which does not have this benefit) before charging the balance to their Business Platinum Card. But would this cause the Cell Phone Protection benefit to be lost?
Answer: If a cell phone listed on a wireless bill that is paid entirely by an Eligible Card Account is Stolen or damaged and the prior month’s wireless bill was paid on the Eligible Card Account, you can be reimbursed for your repair or replacement costs. Please see your Guide to Benefits for more information.
In other words, it’s as I assumed: If you use a credit on a different card, even another Amex, it will not count as paying in full.
2) Question: Exclusion of “professional use” on a personal card: If someone has a business entity and makes monthly payments with a Consumer Amex in this program, would that claim be denied because the cell phone provider statement showed a business name?
Answer:
- Each claim is handled on a case-by-case basis based on the information supplied when completing a claim
- General rule of thumb, if you want the opportunity to use Cell Phone Protection coverage, use an Eligible Amex Card Account to pay your monthly wireless bill.
I’m going to interpret this to mean that indeed you should be careful using a consumer card to pay a cell phone bill that is in a business name, as it’s possible that this limitation would cause a denial.
3) Question: The line that says: “Replacement Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone(s) purchased from anyone other than a cellular service provider’s retail or internet store that has the ability to initiate activation with the cellular service provider” – does this mean that a phone replaced by Apple rather than a carrier would lose coverage? Or is this line trying to say something else entirely?
Answer:
- Each claim is handled on a case-by-case basis based on the information supplied when completing a claim
- General rule of thumb, if you want the opportunity to use Cell Phone Protection coverage, use an Eligible Amex Card Account to pay your monthly wireless bill.
Yes, it was the same answer 😉 However in this case, I don’t think I would actually worry about my example and if you had a replacement from Apple I *think* it would be fine, but again, Amex isn’t committing to that so it’s something to be aware of.
Other Business Credit Cards with Cell Phone Protection
The Chase Ink Business Preferred used to be the king of cell phone protection for small business credit cards. That coverage is as follows:
Get up to $600 per claim in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for you and your employees listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card. Maximum of 3 claims in a 12 month period with a $100 deductible per claim.
The new Amex benefit is superior to the Chase Ink Business Preferred benefit, with just a $50 deductible and $800 per claim vs. $100 and $600. It’s worth nothing that is you are especially clumsy, the Ink Business Peferred does allow 3 claims a year vs. 2.
Other Personal Credit Cards with Cell Phone Protection
There’s actually a no annual fee Amex branded credit card (although it won’t earn Membership Rewards points) that offers complimentary cell phone protection – the Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card.
The Wells Fargo Propel coverage states: This is supplemental coverage not otherwise covered by another insurance policy (for example, cell phone insurance programs, or your homeowner’s, renter’s, automobile, or employer’s insurance policies) and may be applied after all other insurance is exhausted. Reimbursement is limited to the repair or replacement of your original cell phone, less a $25 deductible with an allowable maximum of two paid claims per 12 month period. Each approved claim has a benefit limit of $600. This benefit does not cover cell phones that are lost (i.e. disappear without explanation). This protection is only available when cell phone bills are paid from your Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Card.
The Citi Prestige offers up to $1,000 per claim with up to 2 claims per year. Max is $1,500 in a 12-month period with a $50 deductible per claim.
All Mastercard World Elite Cards: Last year, all credit cards that are under the Mastercard World Elite branding received cell phone coverage as a benefit. The Chase Freedom Flex is one that includes this benefit and without an annual fee!
The maximum liability is $600 per claim for World Mastercard, and $1,000 per Covered Card per 12 month period. Each claim is subject to a $50 deductible. Coverage is limited to two (2) claims per Covered Card per 12 month period.
Bottom Line
At $800 per claim and $1,600 a year, the new Amex benefit is just about on par with the Citi Prestige benefit and will be more widely accessible (since the Citi Prestige is a shell of the ultra-premium card it once was). Still, some might be perfectly happy with the Chase Ink Business Preferred protection or the World Elite Mastercard benefits.
Overall, it’s great to see Amex continue to add more and more benefits to their cards. Since the pandemic hit, Amex has been far and away the most proactive card issuer and continues to be with this move.
As far as I can tell, all of the benefit plans above require the bill to be paid in full with the card (unless any of you have experienced otherwise) meaning that using an Amex credit for part of your bill will indeed render the Cell Phone Protection benefit useless. Also consider that some cell phone providers may offer much more comprehensive insurance, though also for a rather large monthly fee.
Thoughts?
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