IMAGINE this. You are on your way to reach your traveling destination; you stop by at a shop to make some quick purchases. You decide to make your payment through credit card, but to your horror, it has gone missing! Worse, you can’t find your wallet too. Reality strikes; and you know your wallet has been stolen. What can you do?

If you owned just one card, it would be easier to just call up the bank and inform them about the loss. But what if you have multiple cards, or lost your wallet that contained passport, driving license, permanent account number (PAN) card too.

Saviour: CPP !
Here’s an innovation to help you—Card Protection Plan (CPP). A CPP protects your card against any misuse due to card loss, theft and related fraud. It also helps you in the documentation work of your lost passport, PAN, driving license, etc.

Currently, this plan has been launched in India by four banks — Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Kotak Mahindra Bank in partnership with CPP Assistance Services Pvt. Ltd.

Sandeep Bhalla, Business Manager, Cards, Citibank India, recently said in a release, "Losing one’s wallet can be devastating, especially if its contents are stolen and abused. With this protection offer, consumers can now travel and use their cards with a peace of mind, anytime, knowing that their card is protected."

What does it cover?
CPP is available on your financial cards such as credit, debit and automated teller machines (ATM) and also on non-financial cards such as membership, loyalty. Cardholders can choose the relevant plan depending on his/her lifestyle and requirements. The annual membership fees are Rs 995 and Rs 1295 for Classic plan and Premium plan respectively (see plan details page 3).

How much cover?
With a Classic plan you get a fraud protection cover of Rs 50,000. According to this cover, your cards are protected seven days before the loss is reported to CPP India. That means, if you lost your card but did not realise it for a long time, any fraudulent purchases for seven days before you notify the loss will be covered. The cover increases to Rs 15 lakh for any fraudulent purchases after notification of the loss.

Let’s say, you lost your card on 20 March and you reported to CPP India on 1st April. The cover will begin from 23 March i.e. 7 days before the day of reporting. If there is any misuse during these seven days, then CPP will cover the fraud. Any misuse between 20 March and 23 March will not be covered.

-Fraudulent use
Like mentioned above, the plan doesn't completely provide cover against fraudulent use of cards. The plan comes handy only if the misuse occurs seven days before the card loss notification or after notification.

-No cover for online frauds
Another thing which the plan doesn’t cover is online frauds. When you have credit cards, you run the risk of your Card Verification Value or CVV number being misused for online transactions by a third party. If something of this sort happens with you, the plan will not provide any cover for the fraud occurred.

On next page: Lost documents? How CPP helps

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e-mail: Elda Christy

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