Your Guide to Australian Credit Card Travel Insurance

Many Australian credit cards come with complimentary international travel insurance. This can be a handy benefit if you’re travelling overseas as you can save quite a lot of money on travel insurance… if the policy suits your needs.

Banks purchase insurance policies for their credit card customers in bulk from third-party insurers. These policies are designed to meet the basic needs of most travellers, but they are one-size-fits-all by nature.

Not all policies are the same – each comes with different benefits, exclusions and activation requirements. They may or may not cover everything that you need to be protected during your overseas travel.

Before relying on credit card insurance, it’s very important that you read the terms & conditions or Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) carefully. You need to ensure you’re covered for the places you’re going and the activities you’ll be doing.

In this guide, we compare the international travel insurance offered with the premium personal credit cards of the major Australian card issuers.

Overview of Australian credit card travel insurance coverage

The maximum trip duration that credit card travel insurance will cover ranges from 30 consecutive days to a whole year. There are also differences in the age limits, activation requirements and coverage offered.

The table below gives an overview of the overseas travel insurance coverage provided with the premium personal credit cards of the major Australian banks. Note that not all credit cards issued by these banks offer travel insurance.

Tip: If you’re viewing this table on a mobile device, try rotating the screen horizontally for a better experience.

All of the insurance policies in the table above will also reimburse you for lost frequent flyer points.

Our Favourite American Express Cards

Card Name American Express Velocity Platinum

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Card Name American Express Explorer

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100,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points

Apply by 03rd Oct 2024

Card Name Qantas American Express Ultimate

Qantas Frequent Flyer Qantas Points on everyday purchases

50,000 bonus Qantas Points

Apply by 14th Jan 2025

Card Name American Express Platinum Card

American Express Membership Rewards points on everyday purchases

200,000 bonus Membership Rewards points

Apply by 01st Oct 2024

How to activate your credit card travel insurance

It’s important to make sure that your policy is active before you depart on your trip.

Bankwest automatically insures its cardholders, with no activation required. CommBank customers need to manually activate the cover before commencing each trip. Most other banks require you to spend a minimum amount on your card towards your trip, in order to be covered.

Here’s an overview of what each of the major card issuers require you to do:

International travel insurance through credit cards is generally only available if you:

• Are an Australian resident,
• Have a return ticket back to Australia at the time of departure, and
• Intend to return home at the end of your trip.

Please check with your bank and check your policy’s terms & conditions for full details.

Pre-existing medical conditions

Credit card insurance policies do not automatically include coverage for many pre-existing medical conditions. There are exceptions for common ailments, so check your bank’s terms & conditions.

If you have medical conditions that are not automatically covered, some insurers will let you pay an “assessment fee” to declare additional pre-existing conditions. This fee is typically around $75 and is usually refunded if the insurer refuses to cover the condition/s you’ve declared.

If you’re travelling overseas regularly and you have pre-existing medical conditions, it may work out cheaper just to purchase an annual multi-trip travel insurance policy. Those assessment fees can add up over time.

Purchasing a separate policy also makes it easier to tailor the coverage to your personal needs. That way, you can choose travel insurance that’s the best fit for you – rather than one your bank picked off the shelf.

Don’t travel overseas without insurance

The last thing you want is to travel overseas without at least some form of adequate travel insurance.

Ultimately, if you’ve read the PDS, have activated your policy and are happy with the coverage, there is nothing inherently wrong with credit card insurance. But, as we’ve seen time and time again, travelling overseas without proper insurance can have disastrous consequences.

If you’re not sure whether your credit card’s travel insurance is sufficient, it may be a good idea to purchase a separate travel insurance policy for your trip.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Many premium credit cards in Australia offer complimentary international travel insurance to cardholders, including cards offered by American Express, CommBank, NAB, Westpac, Citibank, HSBC, Bankwest and St.George. Check with your bank to see which cards provide this benefit and to read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

Some credit card travel insurance policies will also cover the primary cardholder’s spouse and children if they are travelling together. However, the benefits vary between policies. Check the terms & conditions for your card’s insurance policy for details.

To ensure you receive international travel insurance cover, most credit cards require you to spend a minimum amount on prepaid travel expenses towards your trip (e.g. flights, accommodation, cruise or tour expenses) on your card before you leave Australia. This amount is $250 for ANZ credit cards and $500 for Westpac, St.George, NAB, Citibank, HSBC and CommBank. You must also be an Australian resident and hold a return ticket back to Australia before departing for your trip.

Credit card travel insurance policies are one-size-fits-all in nature, and may or may not meet your personal needs. If in doubt, it could be a good idea to purchase a separate travel insurance policy to ensure you are properly protected for the places you’re going and the activities you’ll be doing.

Many credit card travel insurance policies exclude cover for certain pre-existing medical conditions, but there are exceptions for some common ailments. With some insurance, you could be covered for additional pre-existing medical conditions as long as you declare them in advance. There may be additional fees applicable.

This article provides general information only and is not financial advice. While we try to ensure all information provided is accurate at the time of writing, we cannot completely guarantee its accuracy.

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 80 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.

Community Comments

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Pretty much all top end cards have TI comparable to paid annual multi trip.
Unless your travel outside of the normal, it should be fine; esp the Amex platinum charge card.

“Gotchas” that you might need seperate cover for- age, certain family member might need cover, skiing esp off piste, using points to travel, some domestic trips, certain sports or activities, and if you need a higher $ amount of cover.
For all these just check the pds as many CC will cover them.

Otherwise most of the time CC cover is great. I’d use it more but I’m exhausting a bunch of points and aren’t always covered

Pretty much all top end cards have TI comparable to paid annual multi trip.
Unless your travel outside of the normal, it should be fine; esp the Amex platinum charge card.

“Gotchas” that you might need seperate cover for- age, certain family member might need cover, skiing esp off piste, using points to travel, some domestic trips, certain sports or activities, and if you need a higher $ amount of cover.
For all these just check the pds as many CC will cover them.

Otherwise most of the time CC cover is great. I’d use it more but I’m exhausting a bunch of points and aren’t always covered

While we talk about separate annual multi-trip TI's here, it'd be interesting to know if any of the commonly available credit cards provide TI policies which would be generally adequate to replace a separate insurance policy?

With a separate policy I mean comprehensive plans from the likes of CoverMore, Southern Cross, Allianz, etc. For me, those plans cost around $500 - $700 a year (excluding high-cost countries like US). In this case, if there was a comparable credit card policy, it'd make sense to seriously consider that if the annual fee is at the same ballpark. This would inevitably rule out the high-cost cards (like some of the high-end Amex's) because one can get a low-cost card + separate annual TI for a lot lower price.

One reason to think of this is that I don't feel the need to duplicate plans and pay multiple times for the same. At the same time, I do want the plan (or collection of plans) to cover the likely high-cost or difficult items, should something adverse happen while wandering around.

ANZ Qantas Black at least used to have a pretty good policy and the card currently goes for $425/year (plus you collect QFF points along the way as a bonus). But how good is the policy these days and would there be other cards worthwhile checking out to replace a separate TI?

Providing you meet the requirements, CC insurance is as good as seperate insurance. We used Amex Platinum TI for one trip and I fell down steps and tore my quadriceps tendon. Amex paid out $32K in expenses, medical and lost travel bookings. Can’t complain about that,