Free life insurance of up to Rs 30 lakh with your debit/credit card

We all know the importance of life insurance. But how many of us know that the debit/credit cards that we use provide considerable cover in case of accidental death and absolutely free of cost.

Having an active debit card or credit card makes you eligible for accidental death cover of up to Rs 30 lakh, depending upon the type of credit or debit card you are using.

According to rules, debit or credit card users are given free accidental death cover that can be claimed within 90 days in the event of an account holder’s death. General death cover is up to Rs 20 lakh and air death cover up to Rs 30 lakh, depending on the card and the issuer.

For multiple cards

The rule also makes it clear that this free accidental life cover will be given on just one credit or debit card. If the person has more than one credit or debit card, then it doesn’t mean the card holder will get insurance claim on each card.

In the case of one credit card and one debit card, insurance amount can be claimed on only one card, either the credit or on the debit card. And it should be claimed within 90 days of the incident.

How can you claim?

Every credit or debit card kit has the details of this insurance policy. Without throwing away the product literature, one must wade through the fine print carefully.

The get the benefit the card should be in active state and there should be at least one transaction in the 30 days preceding the accident. After the incident family members, or the nominee, have to visit the branch and get a claim form from the manager.

He/she has to submit all the relevant documents along with the details and submit it to the branch.

After due verification from the bank authority, the amount would be credited to the beneficiary’s account.

Almost all credit card and debit card issuers offer free air accident cover up to Rs 30 lakh to the customer. This amount is always a bit high than the usual accidents.

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI and some other leading banks also offer Rs 40 lakh air accident cover for premium customers. The procedure to claim is the same as the normal accidents.

Jan Dhan account

If you have a basic account under PMJDY and a RuPay debit card then you are eligible for these types of insurance schemes. Jan Dhan account holders are eligible for Rs 30,000 accidental death cover on their RuPay debit card.

This accidental death cover against the RuPay debit card of the Jan Dhan account holders is an additional insurance cover. The Jan Dhan account itself gives a cover of Rs 2 lakh to all the account holders.

Card details

According to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest data till April 2021 there were 6.23 crore credit cards and 91 crore debit cards in the system. All these cards have these types of insurance facilities.