Does USAA offer extended warranty protection?

Nearly all Mastercard, Visa and American Express credit cards provide an extended warranty benefit. However, a credit card’s benefits are up to the card issuer. For example, Citi has removed extended warranty benefits from nearly all its cards. Another major issuer, Wells Fargo, axed the benefit from all its cards, altogether.... read full answer

Best Credit Cards with Extended Warranty

How Extended Warranty Works

A credit card extended warranty will add at least 1 extra year to an existing U.S. manufacturer’s warranty. It covers eligible items purchased with the card. Extended warranties provide up to $10,000 in coverage per item. In most cases, there’s a $50,000 limit per account. Some of the best extended warranty policies do not set a maximum dollar amount per account.

Not all items qualify for the benefit. Non-covered items vary depending on the card. Most programs will not cover motorized vehicles, computer software, used items and medical equipment.

How to File a Claim

To file a credit card extended warranty claim, you’ll have to contact the card’s benefit administrator. You will typically need to do so within 90 days of an item breaking, depending on the card. You will then need to file a claim form along with any relevant supporting documentation, such as your credit card statement, store receipt and original warranty. You may also have to send a copy of a repair order, if applicable. Networks and issuers have varying deadlines for submitting the claim form and other documents. Refer to your card’s benefits guide for specifics.

If your credit card originally came with an extended warranty benefit, it may be worth checking with your card issuer to see if the benefit still applies. Citi isn’t the only card issuer to slash extended warranty benefits in recent years. For instance, American Express used to have one of the best credit card extended warranty programs on the market. However, Amex cut its former 2-year extended warranty down to 1 year in 2020, and removed the benefit completely from several no-annual-fee credit cards.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

You should use your credit card for everything you would otherwise buy with your checking account or debit card, as long as credit cards are an accepted form of payment. It’s beneficial to use a credit card for daily purchases because credit cards offer $0 fraud liability guarantees, and you could be earning extra rewards by using a credit card.... read full answer

Reasons to use a credit card for everything:

• Fraud is easier to handle on a credit card. If unauthorized charges end up on your credit card, you aren’t responsible for paying them, and the money hasn’t actually left your bank account yet. The process of cancelling fraudulent charges on a credit card is relatively simple when compared to the same process on a debit card. Unauthorized charges on a debit card have usually cleared by the time you notice them, so the bank has to investigate the claim and get your money back before the stolen money can be returned to your bank account.
• You could save extra by earning rewards. Rewards credit cards typically give cardholders a percentage of their purchases back to them in the form of cash back, miles, or points. Lots of rewards credit cards have generous signup bonus offers for new cardholders, too. These give a certain amount of points, cash back, or miles as a one-time bonus for meeting a spending threshold in the first few months after account opening. If you were already going to spend that amount of money anyway, you may as well get a big bonus for it.
• If you always pay your bill in full and the card has no annual fee, you get to borrow money for free. The time you’re given to pay for a credit card purchase – i.e. the rest of the billing cycle plus the grace period – can cut you some slack on cash flow from month to month. And as long as you pay the bill in full by the due date, you’ll get to keep that grace period.

Downsides of using credit cards for everything

It’s not always a great idea to use your credit card every time you have something to pay for. Budgeting can easily take a backseat in that scenario, and it’s possible that you’ll spend more than you can afford to quickly repay, leading to expensive finance charges. Paying interest on a credit card balance will usually negate any rewards you’ve accumulated, and then some, given the high ongoing interest rates that credit cards tend to charge. That’s why it’s important to pay off the balance on time every month when using a credit card for everyday purchases.

On the other hand, if you have a credit card with a 0% APR period, you can strategically use it to finance specific big-ticket purchases or reduce the cost of existing debt. But because that promotional APR period ends, you should not use that credit card for everything – if you do, you’ll risk having too big of a balance to pay by the time interest begins accruing. Besides, the credit cards with the best rates rarely have great rewards.

Things you should NOT use your credit card for

Credit cards are not accepted for everything, at least not directly or without significant fees. So, using one for every type of expense you might come across is not ultimately possible or cost-effective.

For example, using a credit card for mortgage, rent, or loan payments will generally require the use of a third-party money transfer app – and those transfers are usually expensive. Money transfer apps usually treat credit card transactions as cash advances, so they should be avoided due to high APRs and cash advance fees.

A good rule of thumb is, if you have to jump through some hoops or incur a high fee to use a credit card for something, it’s probably not a good idea.

Nothing much happens if you don’t use your credit card for a month. You’ll just need to keep up to date with your monthly payment if you have an existing balance. But your credit card issuer isn’t going to close your account for less than three months of inactivity. And on top of that, you’ll still receive a monthly statement if you don’t make any purchases, but there won’t be anything new to pay off.... read full answer

Interest will still accrue on any balance you had from past months, and you’ll still need to make a monthly payment on that balance. So don’t forget to send that in, if applicable. But if you always pay in full, you don’t need to do anything.

Here’s why you should use your card frequently

The only other thing to consider is that if your card offers rewards, you’ll miss out on a month’s worth if you don’t use it. You’re going to spend some money on necessities anyway, so it’s probably worth it to put your groceries or gas on your card. And it’s good for your credit score to use your card every month, too.