Do you know EPFO gives you free insurance? Know more about 4 such free insurance covers

Did you know that around 75% of credit cards come with some insurance benefits linked to them? Probably not, as many of us do not read the fine print or check the welcome email and pamphlets given at the time of taking the card.

There are many such in-built covers which we are not aware of. Since, they don’t need any documentation, we tend to miss out in them.

Here’s a list of four such covers:

Employee Deposit Linked Insurance

Employee Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI) is an insurance cover provided by the EPFO at no extra cost. The cost of this insurance is borne by your employer at 0.50% subject to a maximum of Rs 75.

Coverage: The claim amount under the EDLI scheme is 30 times the sum of basic salary and dearness allowance. There’s an additional bonus of Rs 1.5 lakh, which is payable with the claim amount. The minimum claim amount is fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh, while the maximum is capped at Rs 6 lakh.

How to Claim: In order to initiate the claims process, you need to fill out Form 5. EDLI claims are only admissible if the deceased person was actively employed at the time of death. The application for the claim must be attested by the employer.

Free Insurance With Credit Cards

Most of the credit and debit cards come with free insurance. But very few people know about such benefits.

Rahul Mathur, founder of Mumbai-based insurtech startup BimePe, said: “I would say around 75% of all credit cards and 60% of all debit cards come with some insurance benefits linked to it. But the awareness is poor about the insurance cover available on your credit card. A data point from our research showed that out of 450 UX research calls we have done at BimaPe, 97% mentioned they first heard about the hidden insurance benefits on their cards via our ‘Know Your Card – Insurance’ tool.”

Coverage: Usually, credit cards offer personal accident policies or travel insurance covering baggage loss, death from a plane crash or misplaced travel documents being the most common.

How to claim: The claim process is not very different from that of an insurance product. “The card issuer will specify which hotline number to call and/or provide details of the claims form and insurance company contact details,” Mathur explained.

Free Insurance With LPG Cylinders

Though most consumers are not aware of it, oil marketing companies and distributors of LPG cylinders offer third party cover to the consumers.

Coverage: In the event of death, there is generally a personal accident cover of Rs 6 lakh per person. There is also a medical expenses cover of Rs 2 lakh per person and a similar amount for damage of property. It is advisable to check with your dealer as the coverage may vary from distributor to distributor.

How to Claim: The accident has to be first reported to police station. You should also inform your gas distributor as soon as possible to expedite the claim settlement process. “In any case of accident, consumers must inform his/her distributor as soon as possible. This is crucial to expedite the process of claiming insurance in case of loss to life or property,” said Bijan Bihari Biswas, president, Indane Distributors Association in West Bengal.

“The consumer/insured shall give written notice to the company as soon as reasonably practicable of any claim up to the last date of the policy period or extended reporting period but not exceeding 90 days from the date of Incident and shall give all such additional information as the Company may require,” according to the third party public liability insurance policy for LPG consumers of Indian Oil. The terms and conditions may vary from insurer to insurer.

Deposit insurance

Your bank deposits are insured up to Rs 5 lakh against default by banks. The limit applies to all accounts, including savings, fixed, current and recurring. All commercial banks including branches of foreign banks functioning in India, local area banks and regional rural banks are insured by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India or RBI. The deposit insurance premium is borne entirely by the insured bank.

Coverage: Under the policy, each depositor’s principal and interest are insured up to Rs 5 lakh in the event of liquidation, cancellation of licence or merger. If you have deposits with more than one bank, the deposit insurance coverage limit is applied separately to the deposits in each bank. If deposits are kept in different branches of a bank, then the balance is aggregated and a maximum of up to Rs 5 lakh is paid.

How to claim: If a bank goes into liquidation, DICGC is liable to pay to the liquidator the claim amount of each depositor up to Rs 5 lakh within two months from the date of receipt of the claim list from the liquidator. The liquidator has to disburse the claim amount to each insured depositor corresponding to their claim amount.