Phone Insurance vs Self Insuring

[catchinup]

What's the reason your needing to use phone insurance, are you dropping/breaking your phones? If so, have you considered an Otterbox Defender type of case for your phone? All of the devices used by our family are equipped with one of those, they have saved countless devices over the years

Phones get lost or stolen. I tend to operate in a distracted mode so it's easy for me to lose track of my personal belongings
I'm getting better about paying attention to my phone though.

[criticalmass]

Just get a credit card that offers cell phone insurance.

Chase Freedom Flex offers $800 cell phone insurance with $50 deductible
Wells Fargo Active Cash offers $600 cell phone insurance with a $25 deductible

You just need to pay your monthly bill on the card. Caution that if you sign up for an annual plan (Mint/US Mobile) then this insurance will not work as it's only active in the month following your last payment.

Every Visa credit card I’ve held that offered phone insurance specifically excluded prepaid plan phones. What credit card covers phones on a prepaid plan like Mint?

[HooCares]

Just get a credit card that offers cell phone insurance.

Chase Freedom Flex offers $800 cell phone insurance with $50 deductible
Wells Fargo Active Cash offers $600 cell phone insurance with a $25 deductible

You just need to pay your monthly bill on the card. Caution that if you sign up for an annual plan (Mint/US Mobile) then this insurance will not work as it's only active in the month following your last payment.

Every Visa credit card I’ve held that offered phone insurance specifically excluded prepaid plan phones. What credit card covers phones on a prepaid plan like Mint?

Perhaps show me in the T&C of the cards you use that say prepaid plans are excluded? Wells Fargo and Chase cover prepaid plans. I have never used AMEX protection, I assume it works the same. As mentioned in my post, credit card cell phone insurance is only works if you charge your monthly bill to the card. It won’t work with Mint since you pay annually. This is one of the reasons I wouldn’t recommend Mint as you end up paying for Apple Care or 3rd party insurance or risk going without. Silly to me if you can get that protection for free.

Here are Chase exclusions:

What is not covered?
• Cellular wireless telephone accessories other than standard
battery and/or standard antenna provided by the manufacturer.
• Cellular wireless telephone purchased for resale.
• Cellular wireless telephones that are lost or “mysteriously
disappear.” “Mysterious disappearance” means the vanishing of
an item in an unexplained manner where there is absence of
evidence of a wrongful act by a person or persons.
• Cellular wireless telephone under the care and control of a
common carrier (including, but not limited to, U.S. Postal Service,
airplanes, or delivery service).
• Cellular wireless telephone stolen from baggage unless
hand-carried and under Your personal supervision, or under the
supervision of Your traveling companion who is previously known
to You.
• Cellular wireless telephone which has been rented, borrowed or
cellular wireless telephones that are received as part of a pre-paid
wireless service plan or “pay as you go” type service plans.
• Cosmetic damage to the cellular wireless telephone or damage
that does not impact the cellular wireless telephone’s capabilities
and functionalities of the phone.
• Damage or theft resulting from abuse, intentional acts, fraud,
hostilities of any kind (including, but not limited to, war, invasion,
rebellion, or insurrection), confiscation by the authorities, risks
of contraband, illegal activities, normal wear and tear, flood,
earthquake, radioactive contamination, or damage from inherent
product defects.
• Damage or theft resulting from misdelivery or voluntary parting
with the cellular wireless telephone.
• Replacement cellular wireless telephone not purchased from a
cellular service provider’s retail or Internet store, (for example:
Verizon Wireless, Sprint Wireless, etc.) or from an authorized
cellular phone retailer.
• Taxes, delivery and transportation charges, and any fees
associated with the cellular service provider.
*
Note: Electronic issues, such as inability to charge, mechanical or
battery failure, where there is no evidence of physical damage,
are not covered under this program

Here are Wells Fargo

What is NOT Covered
Any Cell Phone purchased for resale.
Any Cell Phone purchased for professional or commercial use.
Any Cell Phone that is lost (i.e., mysteriously disappears) without any evidence of a wrongful act.
Cracked screens, cosmetic damage or scratches that do not impact the Cell Phone’s capabilities or functionality.
Any Cell Phone accessories other than the original equipment that came in the original Cell Phone packaging.
A loss when a Cell Phone is under the care, custody, and control of another party or common carrier (including, but not limited to, airlines, the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, or other delivery services).
A loss due to fraud, abuse, gradual deterioration, vermin, inherent product defects, product recalls, war (whether it be declared or not) or hostilities of any kind (including but not limited to, invasion, rebellion or insurrection, radioactive contamination, or risks of contraband).
A loss resulting from confiscation by any government, public authority or customs official.
An Act of God (including but not limited to, flood, hurricane or earthquake), or consequential losses resulting from any Act of God.
A fraudulent act(s) committed or arranged by You.
A loss arising from illegal activity or acts.
A loss due to misdelivery or voluntary parting with the Cell Phone.
Taxes, delivery & transportation charges and any fees associated with the Cell Phone service provider.
Consequential or incidental damages.
The loss or corruption of data and applications.
Any Cell Phone that is not on the Wireless Bill.
Tablets, smartwatches or any other device on Your Wireless Bill or connected to a cellular service other than a wireless telephone.

They say nothing about prepaid plans. And, personally, I have used Chase for a prepaid plan damaged phone claim.

[Yarlonkol12]

What's the reason your needing to use phone insurance, are you dropping/breaking your phones? If so, have you considered an Otterbox Defender type of case for your phone? All of the devices used by our family are equipped with one of those, they have saved countless devices over the years

Phones get lost or stolen. I tend to operate in a distracted mode so it's easy for me to lose track of my personal belongings
I'm getting better about paying attention to my phone though.

In that case, I'd be more worried about the data/app access on a lost or stolen phone than I would about the price of buying a new phone, personally. If you use Apple IPhone you may want to consider setting up the Find My service so you can locate your phone, it also gives you a chance to remote wipe the device in the event it's lost or stolen (assuming it's on)

[MorgansRun]

Every Visa credit card I’ve held that offered phone insurance specifically excluded prepaid plan phones. What credit card covers phones on a prepaid plan like Mint?

Perhaps show me in the T&C of the cards you use that say prepaid plans are excluded? Wells Fargo and Chase cover prepaid plans. I have never used AMEX protection, I assume it works the same. As mentioned in my post, credit card cell phone insurance is only works if you charge your monthly bill to the card. It won’t work with Mint since you pay annually. This is one of the reasons I wouldn’t recommend Mint as you end up paying for Apple Care or 3rd party insurance or risk going without. Silly to me if you can get that protection for free.

Here are Chase exclusions:

What is not covered?
• Cellular wireless telephone accessories other than standard
battery and/or standard antenna provided by the manufacturer.
• Cellular wireless telephone purchased for resale.
• Cellular wireless telephones that are lost or “mysteriously
disappear.” “Mysterious disappearance” means the vanishing of
an item in an unexplained manner where there is absence of
evidence of a wrongful act by a person or persons.
• Cellular wireless telephone under the care and control of a
common carrier (including, but not limited to, U.S. Postal Service,
airplanes, or delivery service).
• Cellular wireless telephone stolen from baggage unless
hand-carried and under Your personal supervision, or under the
supervision of Your traveling companion who is previously known
to You.
• Cellular wireless telephone which has been rented, borrowed or
cellular wireless telephones that are received as part of a pre-paid
wireless service plan or “pay as you go” type service plans.
• Cosmetic damage to the cellular wireless telephone or damage
that does not impact the cellular wireless telephone’s capabilities
and functionalities of the phone.
• Damage or theft resulting from abuse, intentional acts, fraud,
hostilities of any kind (including, but not limited to, war, invasion,
rebellion, or insurrection), confiscation by the authorities, risks
of contraband, illegal activities, normal wear and tear, flood,
earthquake, radioactive contamination, or damage from inherent
product defects.
• Damage or theft resulting from misdelivery or voluntary parting
with the cellular wireless telephone.
• Replacement cellular wireless telephone not purchased from a
cellular service provider’s retail or Internet store, (for example:
Verizon Wireless, Sprint Wireless, etc.) or from an authorized
cellular phone retailer.
• Taxes, delivery and transportation charges, and any fees
associated with the cellular service provider.
*
Note: Electronic issues, such as inability to charge, mechanical or
battery failure, where there is no evidence of physical damage,
are not covered under this program

Here are Wells Fargo

What is NOT Covered
Any Cell Phone purchased for resale.
Any Cell Phone purchased for professional or commercial use.
Any Cell Phone that is lost (i.e., mysteriously disappears) without any evidence of a wrongful act.
Cracked screens, cosmetic damage or scratches that do not impact the Cell Phone’s capabilities or functionality.
Any Cell Phone accessories other than the original equipment that came in the original Cell Phone packaging.
A loss when a Cell Phone is under the care, custody, and control of another party or common carrier (including, but not limited to, airlines, the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, or other delivery services).
A loss due to fraud, abuse, gradual deterioration, vermin, inherent product defects, product recalls, war (whether it be declared or not) or hostilities of any kind (including but not limited to, invasion, rebellion or insurrection, radioactive contamination, or risks of contraband).
A loss resulting from confiscation by any government, public authority or customs official.
An Act of God (including but not limited to, flood, hurricane or earthquake), or consequential losses resulting from any Act of God.
A fraudulent act(s) committed or arranged by You.
A loss arising from illegal activity or acts.
A loss due to misdelivery or voluntary parting with the Cell Phone.
Taxes, delivery & transportation charges and any fees associated with the Cell Phone service provider.
Consequential or incidental damages.
The loss or corruption of data and applications.
Any Cell Phone that is not on the Wireless Bill.
Tablets, smartwatches or any other device on Your Wireless Bill or connected to a cellular service other than a wireless telephone.

They say nothing about prepaid plans. And, personally, I have used Chase for a prepaid plan damaged phone claim.

As inexpensive as Mint is, my 5gb Mint plan costs way less than any of the Big 3’s cheapest plan when annualized. So in a sense, that’s self-insuring…which is what I do.

[HooCares]

Perhaps show me in the T&C of the cards you use that say prepaid plans are excluded? Wells Fargo and Chase cover prepaid plans. I have never used AMEX protection, I assume it works the same. As mentioned in my post, credit card cell phone insurance is only works if you charge your monthly bill to the card. It won’t work with Mint since you pay annually. This is one of the reasons I wouldn’t recommend Mint as you end up paying for Apple Care or 3rd party insurance or risk going without. Silly to me if you can get that protection for free.

Here are Chase exclusions:



Here are Wells Fargo



They say nothing about prepaid plans. And, personally, I have used Chase for a prepaid plan damaged phone claim.

As inexpensive as Mint is, my 5gb Mint plan costs way less than any of the Big 3’s cheapest plan when annualized. So in a sense, that’s self-insuring…which is what I do.

Yes, but you can get the same 5gb $15 plan, with taxes included, from US Mobile and get the insurance as well. And if you’re willing to pay just a few bucks more you can get unlimited everything+hotspot from Visible.