Jason Steele is a Senior Points and Miles Contributor who has been writing for The Points Guy since 2012. An expert in credit cards and award travel, Jason travels frequently across the United States and around the world with his wife and three children. Jason lives in Denver, Colorado, where he enjoys cycling, snowboarding, and piloting airplanes.
Emily Thompson Credit cards editorEmily Thompson specializes in beginner content as a credit cards editor. She taps into her prior experience as a high school English teacher to help others demystify credit scores and unlock experiences that credit card rewards can make possible.
Dec. 25, 2023 13 min read
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When deciding which travel rewards card to use for large purchases, it's important to look beyond the points and miles you earn. Card issuers strive to set their products apart by offering incentives like welcome bonuses, but sometimes, the less-flashy benefits can be even more valuable.
In this post, I'll look at the three shopping protection policies offered by many American Express cards and explain how you can leverage these benefits to save money.
Purchase protection will reimburse you for theft, loss or accidental damage to eligible items that occurred within 90 days of purchase. To be eligible, all you have to do is charge a portion of your qualifying purchase to your American Express card — but you'll only be reimbursed up to the amount charged to your card.
With most Amex cards, you're covered for up to $1,000 per covered incident and up to $50,000 per year, but the reimbursement doesn't include any shipping or handling expenses. However, certain premium cards cover your purchases for up to $10,000 per incident, with the same limit of up to $50,000 in total claims per calendar year.*
Cards with this higher level of coverage include:
The information for the Centurion, Business Centurion and Hilton Aspire cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
* Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
Daily Newsletter Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s expertsAs with any insurance policy, the devil is always in the details. In this case, you must purchase an item eligible for coverage, and the loss can't be due to an excluded reason.
The following are ineligible for coverage:
Also excluded is loss or damage due to any of the following reasons:
Additionally, the maximum protection related to a natural disaster is $500. For a complete description of the policies of your American Express card, select your card on this page.
You must file a claim within 30 days of loss through this link or by calling 800-228-6855. You must provide an original store receipt (or a printout of an online receipt). In the event of theft, you must include a copy of a police report.
You may be asked to send in a damaged item or a picture for proof of loss, so be sure to keep all of these until the claim is resolved.
Purchase protection covers items you want to keep; return protection covers items you don't want to keep where the store won't accept a return.
American Express removed this perk from most of its cards in 2020. Cards that still offer this benefit include:
The information for the Hilton Aspire has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
This benefit compensates cardholders when a store will not accept an eligible item for return within 90 days of purchase. In these cases, Amex will refund the entire purchase price up to $300 per item, excluding shipping and handling charges. This benefit is limited to $1,000 annually. To be eligible, you must pay for the entire cost of the item with your eligible American Express card, and purchases must be made in the U.S. or U.S. territories.^
^Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details.
The purchase must be made in the United States, the item must be in "like new" condition, and the merchant must have previously denied the return.
The following items are excluded from this policy:
See the entire return protection policy for your card here.
You must file a claim within 90 days of your original purchase through this link or by calling 800-228-6855. You'll be asked for a copy of the receipt and your Amex purchase record. You may also be asked to return the item to Amex, so hang onto it until your claim is resolved.
When you purchase an item with a manufacturer's warranty, this benefit can add an extra year to the warranty. Amex's extended warranty perk applies to warranties of five years or less.
All American Express cards with extended warranty benefits provide the same coverage. The extended warranty period is an additional year and is limited to covering the actual purchase amount paid for with your card. There is a maximum coverage amount of $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year.*
*Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.
The information for the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
The extended warranty does not cover the following items:
Also, coverage does not apply to damage from natural disasters, alterations or modifications, power surges, war or acts of war or any item under a product recall. You can view the full extended warranty policy for each card.
You must file a claim within 30 days of your covered loss, and you can do so online or by calling 800-228-6855. You will be asked for a copy of the receipt, your Amex purchase record and the original warranty. You may also be asked to return the item to Amex if it can't be repaired or to provide proof of loss via a repair estimate form or photographs showing the item's current condition.
It's easy to write off these policies as being too much of a hassle — or, conversely, too good to be true. However, I've filed two claims with Amex in the past; in both cases, I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy the process was.
The first claim was for a child's bicycle seat that was supposed to be mounted on my bike's handlebars. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but once I received it and had a chance to install it, I realized that it scared my daughter and seemed too dangerous to me as well. Since I was outside of the store's 30-day return policy but still within 90 days of purchase, I filed a return protection claim online with Amex. The claim was quickly accepted, and I was issued a statement credit for my purchase.
My next chance to use these benefits came when a computer part failed about a year and a half after purchase and had a warranty of just one year. The manufacturer was completely unwilling to repair or replace it, but once again, I remembered my Amex extended warranty policy and filled out an online claim form. I was notified about a week later that my claim had been accepted, and I was issued a statement credit for the purchase price. I was not asked to return the items in question in either case.
First, you have to have the right card. Beyond that, it's prudent to factor these protections in deciding which card to use whenever you make a large purchase. I lean toward my Amex card when I buy a television, computer or a major appliance that can be costly to repair — even if it means sacrificing bonus points.
I confess that I don't save a copy of the register receipt from every purchase I make — I'm just not that organized. Thankfully, it's easy to search my email inbox to find receipts for everything I've bought online. Failing that, I can also search my order history at Amazon, eBay and other online retailers I use. An increasing number of brick-and-mortar retailers (from The Home Depot to the Apple Store) will now email you a receipt from the register. These online records helped me file my Amex claims quickly, rather than digging through a shoebox full of paper receipts. Finally, it's not hard to snap a photo of a receipt and retain it in your smartphone's cloud storage archive for many years.
When we think of travel rewards card benefits, we tend to think of lounge access, free checked bags and companion tickets, but don't stop there. By taking advantage of the valuable shopping protection policies offered by most American Express cards, you can save hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars when a purchase doesn't work out as you'd hoped.
Featured image by FAJRUL ISLAM/GETTY IMAGESEditorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
