Credit card purchase protection in Canada

Three benefits on a Canadian credit card cover the things you buy rather than the trips you take: purchase protection, extended warranty, and on some cards a mobile device benefit. All three are written into a certificate of insurance, and that certificate is the document that decides a claim.

Every figure below was read from the issuer’s certificate, which is linked on each row. This page reports what those documents say. It does not rank the cards and it is not insurance advice. Travel coverage is a separate question and is compared separately.

What does credit card purchase protection cover?

A new item, against theft or damage, for a set window after purchase. 56 of the 59 cards here publish that window, and this is the least interesting table on the page precisely because the answer barely moves: 90 days on 47 of them, with 120 days on 5 and 180 days on 4. Where a per-item cap is stated it is $1,000 on all 16 that state one, and the annual cap runs $10,000 on 4, $50,000 on 9, $60,000 on 3.

Purchase protection is therefore rarely a reason to pick one card over another. It is worth knowing you have it, and worth knowing the window is measured from the purchase date rather than from when you noticed the loss.

A dash means the certificate states no figure we could confirm. Many certificates set the window without printing a dollar cap, which is why the last two columns are sparser than the first.

Which credit cards have extended warranty coverage?

Extended warranty doubles or extends the manufacturer’s own warranty period. 55 cards publish terms, adding 1 year on 29, 2 years on 6. The years added barely vary. The cap does: it runs from $1,000 to $60,000, a spread of more than sixty times, and it is the figure that decides whether the benefit is worth invoking on a large appliance or a laptop.

Which credit cards cover a mobile phone?

This is where the cards actually separate. 33 publish a mobile device benefit, from $1,000 to $2,000 per claim, and 9 affirmatively exclude it, each with a quote from the certificate proving the exclusion rather than an absence of mention.

The condition to read before anything else is how the phone was paid for. 17 of the 29 certificates that state the condition require the device’s full cost to have been charged to the card. A phone bought on a carrier instalment plan can fall outside that, and it is the most common way this benefit turns out not to apply. Some certificates accept an up-front payment on the card with the balance financed, provided the instalments are billed to it too.

What the mobile device benefit actually covers

The events that trigger a claim differ more than the dollar figures do, and the clauses are reproduced word for word below rather than summarised. Several certificates cover accidental damage and theft but not loss, a distinction that decides most real claims and that a paraphrase would flatten.

Frequently asked questions

What does credit card purchase protection cover in Canada?

It covers a new item against theft or damage for a set window after you buy it, and that window is 90 days on 47 of the 56 cards here, with 120 days on 5 and 180 days on 4. The per-item cap is $1,000 on all 16 that state one. This is the coverage with the least variation in the whole comparison: on the question of how long you are covered, almost every card gives the same answer, so it is rarely a reason to choose one card over another.

Which credit cards have extended warranty coverage?

55 of the 59 cards here publish extended warranty terms. What they add to the manufacturer's warranty is 1 year on 29, 2 years on 6. The cap on what the benefit will pay is where they genuinely differ: it runs from $1,000 to $60,000, a spread of more than sixty times, and the table above lists it per card. The figure to check is the cap, not the number of years.

Which credit cards cover a mobile phone in Canada?

33 of the cards here publish a mobile device benefit, from $1,000 to $2,000 per claim, and 9 affirmatively exclude it with a quote from the certificate proving so. Coverage is usually conditional: 17 of the 29 that state the condition require the device's full cost to have been charged to the card, so a phone bought on a carrier instalment plan may not qualify. Deductibles apply on several.

Does buying on a payment plan void mobile device coverage?

It can, and this is the condition most likely to catch someone out. 17 of the 29 certificates stating the condition require the full cost of the device to reach the card. Some accept an up-front payment charged to the card with the balance financed, provided the instalments are also billed to it. The wording differs per certificate and each one is linked in the table above, so check yours before assuming a carrier-financed phone is covered.