Custom Cash Cell Phone Protection

So, I am at open emrollment for insurance on my cell phones. I would rpefer to not pay the $50+/mo for it and twmpted to cancel it.

I noticed my Custom Cash does offer cell phone protection, but this would mean I would have to pay my cell phone bill with the Custom Cash CC, yes?

So since that is under $500 (about $350/mo+) I am guessing the CB loss would not be as much as paying for the Cell protection.

I wonder, is Cell it's own category, or are other things like "bills" included? I will research it, too.

This may be a difficult choice because it is my grocery CC. No other CC I have offers straight 5% CB for groceries. 1-2% tops. So would it then negate any beneift of having the Cell protection? Or I guess I could pay both groceries and Cell (cell would be at 1% CB then).

This would nearly render my Cash+ useless since it is not covering utilities. The only thing I really have left is Cell lol

Ugh. Such a tough choice. Thoughts? What do you do?

What card do you current use for your cell phone and what CB% does it give?

Even at 5% back, that's only leaving $14 on the table compared to a 1% card... so you'd be "paying" $14 for something that you said costs $50. That sounds like the better deal to me.

BrutalBodyShots wrote: ↑Wed Mar 09, 2022 9:45 pm What card do you current use for your cell phone and what CB% does it give? Even at 5% back, that's only leaving $14 on the table compared to a 1% card... so you'd be "paying" $14 for something that you said costs $50. That sounds like the better deal to me.

That is what I was thinking. I currently use my Cash+ and before that QS. Still more cost effective in the end. It will lower the cell bill, probably to $300, so $3 cash back vs roughly $17.50 (@$350), so seems like the smartest move. I may just take the 1% and use the Custom Cash for both cell and groceries (at 5% - I will manage to spend more on groceries than cell). One other important question - does this cover all devices on the cell plan? Because I also have 2 watches covered w/ins. That may also make a difference. Now to decide what I can use the Cash+ for lol

I tried reaching out to Citi - talk about a loooong set of phone options to weed through! I finally got a human and they couldn't assist me. Got directed to "benefits dept", whicn closed less than an hour ago. I will be givi g them a call tomorrow.

From what I have been reading, Citi has quite the generous cell protection coverage compared to other banks. $1k/claim w/$50 deductible, up to 2 claims/yr for up to $1.5k total. Not the worst, at all. It is not traditional cell coverage, so it certainly would not cover the whole cost of the device if it was stolen, maybe 55.5% of it, but I am not sure how replacing the whole device would work in that case. Reimbursement for the max? I don't tend to have my phone stolen, a cracked screen at worst, but just a consideration. Some CCs only cover up to $200 bucks, plus have a $25-$100 deductible - ouch!

I am quite new to having CC benefits/perks, so forgive me!

I also did not realize the Cap One plat has price protection, up to $250! Up to 4 times a year...woulda been nice to know that lol

I personally wouldn't rely on credit card cell phone protection. When I had Asurion, I knew if I break or lose my phone, I pay my deductible and a replacement will be in my hands within 48 hours. With credit card insurance, it is my understanding that you have to actually pay to get repairs done and then file a claim for reimbursement.

Honestly insurance is really a waste of money. I've never managed to break or lose a phone going back 20 years of owning cell phones, only had warranty issues, so all the money I wasted on insurance over the years could have bought me a number of more phones.

Wow $1000 is the highest I’ve heard but I don’t understand the 55%.

Saeren wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:20 am Honestly insurance is really a waste of money. I've never managed to break or lose a phone going back 20 years of owning cell phones, only had warranty issues, so all the money I wasted on insurance over the years could have bought me a number of more phones.

And if I remember correctly, you've had 20+ phones too, lol.

@Birdman My device, at full price would be about $1.9k+., so 1k does not cover that full amount, and makes me think if it were stolen, I would be footing the bill for just under half of it. Unless I am misunderstanding how it works?

BrutalBodyShots wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 9:08 pm

Saeren wrote: ↑Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:20 am Honestly insurance is really a waste of money. I've never managed to break or lose a phone going back 20 years of owning cell phones, only had warranty issues, so all the money I wasted on insurance over the years could have bought me a number of more phones.

And if I remember correctly, you've had 20+ phones too, lol.

I'm on my 30th smartphone.

Current: OnePlus 9 Retired: Danger Sidekick 2, UTStarcom PPC-6700, HTC Mogul, HTC Touch, HTC Touch Pro, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Hero, HTC Evo, BlackBerry Curve 8330, BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Inspire 4G, HTC MyTouch 4G, HTC Sensation 4G, LG G2x, Samsung Captivate, Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One (m7), HTC One (m8), Motorola Nexus 6, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, HTC 10, HTC U11, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XS Max, LG G8, iPhone 12 Pro Max, Google Pixel 3 XL.

And yeah, you have it right @LaHossBoss. You would get the $950 and the rest of the phone would be a write off. Also, $1900?!?

30th!

Oh boy. That's a lot of phones. You must be an expert on them at this point.

@Saeren , it looks like it is going for 1.5k now, so I guess out $400, but I suppose that difference could potentially be the cost of the ins?

LaHossBoss wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 12:19 pm @Saeren , it looks like it is going for 1.5k now, so I guess out $400, but I suppose that difference could potentially be the cost of the ins?

Now I understand my mind wasn’t working very clearly. What do you mean $1500 now? Thousand dollars was the largest I’ve heard.

BrutalBodyShots wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 9:23 am 30th! Oh boy. That's a lot of phones. You must be an expert on them at this point.

I definitely have a problem lol. Like I will probably upgrade my OnePlus 9 to something else later this year even though there is no need for me to do so. *shrug* Never really got into ROM development though because the last time I got into development I got pissed off with demanding people and just walked away from the project after teaching someone else how to do it. I do like messing with custom ROMs and all that though, just haven't gotten around to it with the OnePlus yet.

LaHossBoss wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 12:19 pm @Saeren , it looks like it is going for 1.5k now, so I guess out $400, but I suppose that difference could potentially be the cost of the ins?

That's definitely an obscene amount of money to spend on a phone. $1099 is the most I have ever spent. You have to sit down and figure out the cost for you and whether the insurance is a benefit or not. I personally won't pay for insurance again until I manage to lose or break a phone for the first time and even then I probably won't because I have back up devices and upgrade frequently anyway so I can just switch to my 12 Pro Max until the next upgrade period comes along.

Birdman wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 4:47 pm

LaHossBoss wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 12:19 pm @Saeren , it looks like it is going for 1.5k now, so I guess out $400, but I suppose that difference could potentially be the cost of the ins?

Now I understand my mind wasn’t working very clearly. What do you mean $1500 now? Thousand dollars was the largest I’ve heard.

I have the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, 512gb, and it is not the newest model, so it looks like it is now selling for $1.5k +/- There are definitely expensive phones out there. My last phone, the Samsung Galaxy 10+, 1T, was also hefty, about $1.6k. A chunk of it is due to storage. Many phones do not have SD card slots, so I have to buy a phone with more storage. I know I can upload to the cloud or whatever (have off device storage), but I prefer to keep things on the device, itself. The Samsung Fold was around the $2k mark.

Saeren wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 4:52 pm I definitely have a problem lol. Like I will probably upgrade my OnePlus 9 to something else later this year even though there is no need for me to do so. *shrug*

All good, we all have our "thing" or two!