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When deciding which travel rewards card to use for big purchases, it’s important to look beyond the points and miles you earn. Card issuers try to differentiate their products by offering incentives like welcome bonuses, but sometimes, the less-than-glamorous benefits can be more valuable.

In this post, I’ll look at three shopping protection policies offered by many American Express cards and explain how you can take advantage of these benefits to save money.

Related: Your Complete Guide to Purchasing Security on American Express Cards

Purchase protection

Purchase Protection will reimburse you for theft, loss or accidental damage to eligible items within 90 days of purchase. To be eligible, all you have to do is charge a portion of your qualifying purchases to your American Express card — but you’ll only be reimbursed up to the amount charged to your card.

With most Amex cards, you’ll be covered up to $1,000 per covered incident and up to $50,000 per year, but the reimbursement doesn’t include any shipping or handling costs. However, certain premium cards cover your purchases up to $10,000 per occurrence, with a similar limit of up to $50,000 in total claims per calendar year.*

Cards with this high level of coverage include:

As with any insurance policy, the devil is always in the details. In this case, you must have purchased an item eligible for coverage, and the loss cannot be due to an excluded cause.

Information for Centurion, Business Centurion and Hilton Aspire cards is independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

*Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

What is excluded?

The following are ineligible for coverage:

• Covered by an unconditional satisfaction guarantee
• Damage by conflicts or modifications
• animals or living plants
• One-of-a-kind items, such as art and antiques
• Consumable or perishable items like perfume, light bulbs and batteries
• Negotiable instruments including traveler’s checks and gift cards
• Items that are hired, rented or borrowed
• Motorized vehicles, parts and accessories (with limited exceptions)
• Anything purchased for resale or commercial use
• Permanent household fixtures
• land or buildings
• More than one article in a pair or set
• Downloadable Services
• Voluntarily or involuntarily discarded items
• Medical or dental equipment or devices
• Indirect or direct damage to any other thing or property resulting from a covered event
• Items purchased for professional or business use, such as education, training or skills

Loss or damage due to any of the following is also excluded:

• Riots
• illegal activity
• War, acts of war or service in the military
• Normal wear and tear
• Damage by modification
• Items are not secured or left in an unlocked location
• Items seized by Government Officer
• Things under someone else’s control

Additionally, the maximum protection related to a natural disaster is $500. For a complete description of your American Express card’s policies, select your card This page.

Additional terms may apply, and terms may change at any time, so be sure to review your card’s guidelines for benefits.

Related: Best credit cards with purchase protection

How to file a claim

You must file a claim within 30 days of the loss This link or by calling 800-228-6855. You must provide the original store receipt (or a printout of the online receipt). In the event of theft, you must include a copy of the police report.

You may be asked to send the damaged item or a picture for proof of damage, so be sure to keep these until the claim is resolved.

Compensation protection

Purchase protection covers items you want to keep; Return protection covers items you don’t want to keep when the store won’t accept returns.

Cards that offer this benefit include:

This benefit provides refunds to cardmembers when a store will not accept an eligible item for a return within 90 days of purchase. In these cases, Amex will refund the entire purchase price, up to $300 per item, excluding shipping and handling charges.

This benefit is limited to $1,000 annually. To be eligible, you must pay full price for the item with your eligible American Express card, and the purchase must be made in the US or US territories.^

^Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details.

What is excluded?

The purchase must be made in the United States, the item must be in “like new” condition, and the merchant must have previously refused returns.

The following items are excluded from this policy:

• Animals and living plants
• Limited edition items
• One-of-a-kind items, such as antiques and artwork
• Merchandise sale items
• Consumable or perishable items such as food and batteries
• Jewelry and watches
• Services and additional costs, such as installation charges, warranty, shipping, handling and membership
• Rare and precious coins
• Purchase of used and/or altered items
• Custom built items
• Compact discs, digital video discs, mini discs, audiotapes and videotapes
• Computer software
• Firmware, such as console games
• Maps
• Books, magazines or journals of any kind
• Health care items and/or medical equipment
• Personal hygiene items or any devices (medical or non-medical) that are used personally and may constitute a health hazard to others
• Formalware
• Any type of ticket
• Motorized vehicles, their parts and accessories, and those parts and accessories for use with motorized vehicles
• Land, buildings and fixtures
• Arms and ammunition
• Negotiable instruments, such as stamps and traveller’s cheques
• Cash and its equivalents (including, but not limited to, gift cards and gift certificates)
• Items permanently affixed to home, office, vehicle etc.
• seasonal items

See the full return protection policy for your card here.

How to file a claim

You must file a claim within 90 days of your original purchase through This link or by calling 800-228-6855. You will be asked for a copy of the receipt and a record of your Amex purchase. You may also be asked to return the item to Amex, so hang on until your claim is resolved.

Extended warranty coverage

When you buy an item with a manufacturer’s warranty, this benefit can add an extra year to the warranty. Amex’s extended warranty benefit applies to warranties of five years or less.

All American Express cards offer the same coverage with extended warranty benefits. The extended warranty period is one additional year and is limited to cover the actual purchase amount paid by your card. There is a maximum coverage amount of $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year.*

Dozens of cards offer this benefit. Some of the more popular Amex cards that offer extended warranty coverage include: American Express Platinum Card and other consumer versions of the Platinum Card, American Express Business Platinum Card, American Express Gold CardAmerican Express® Green Card, American Express® Business Gold CardThe Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from Delta Credit Cards, Hilton Credit Cards, Marriott Credit Cards and American Express. You can see the complete list of cards here.

*Eligibility and benefit levels vary by card. Terms, conditions and limitations apply. Visit americanexpress.com/benefitsguide for details. Policies are underwritten by AMEX Assurance Company.

Information for the American Express Green Card is independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

The extended warranty does not cover the following items:

• Products covered by an unconditional satisfaction guarantee
• Motorized vehicles and parts
• Business fixtures including air conditioners, refrigerators and heaters
• land or buildings
• Consumable or perishable items
• animals or living plants
• Items purchased for resale, commercial or business use
• Items that are hired, rented or borrowed
• One-of-a-kind or used items

Also, coverage does not apply to damage caused by natural disasters, alterations or modifications, power surges, war or acts of war, or any item under a product recall. You can see the whole Extended Warranty Policy for each card.

How to file a claim

You must file a claim within 30 days of your covered loss, and you can do so Online or by calling 800-228-6855. You will be asked for a copy of the receipt, a record of your Amex purchase, and the original warranty. If it cannot be repaired you may also be asked to return the item to Amex or provide proof of loss with a repair estimate form or photographs showing the current condition of the item.

Related: Best Credit Cards for Extended Warranty

Amex Shopping Protection policies are in place

It’s easy to write these policies off as too much trouble — or, conversely, too good to be true. However, I have made two claims with Amex in the past; In both cases, I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy the process was.

The first claim was for a child’s bicycle seat that was mounted on the handlebars of my bike. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but once I received it and had a chance to install it, I realized it scared my daughter and seemed dangerous to me.

Since I was outside the store’s 30-day return policy but still within 90 days of purchase, I filed a return protection claim online with Amex. The claim was accepted quickly, and I was given a statement credit for my purchase.

My next opportunity to use these benefits came when a computer part failed a year and a half after purchase and it only had a one year warranty. The manufacturer was completely unwilling to repair or replace it, but once again, I remembered my Amex extended warranty policy and filled out an online claim form.

I was notified about a week later that my claim had been accepted, and I was given a statement credit for the purchase price. In no case was I asked to return the items in question.

TPG Credit Card Author Olivia Mittak also had an easy time filing a claim at Amex after her air fryer was stolen from the package area of ​​her apartment. She still hadn’t paid the charge on her statement, so Amex reversed it. Amex initially asked for a signed letter from his landlord verifying the theft but returned the charge without the letter.

How to get the most out of these policies

First, you need to have the right card. In addition, it is wise to consider this security when deciding which card to use whenever you make a large purchase. I lean toward my Amex card when I’m buying a television, computer, or major appliance that can be expensive to repair — even if it means sacrificing bonus points.

I admit that I don’t save a copy of the register receipt for everything I buy — I’m not that organized. Luckily, it’s easy to search through my email inbox to find receipts for everything I’ve bought online. Failing that, I can also find my order history on Amazon, eBay and other online retailers that I use.

A growing number of brick-and-mortar retailers (from The Home Depot to the Apple Store) will now email you a receipt from the register. These online records helped me quickly file my Amex claims instead of digging through a shoebox full of paper receipts.

After all, it is not difficult to take a photo of the receipt and preserve it in the cloud storage archive of your smartphone for several years.

Related: The best credit cards with price protection

The bottom line

When we think of travel rewards card benefits, we think Lounge access, free checked bags and companion tickets, but don’t stop there. By taking advantage of the valuable shopping protection policies offered by most American Express cards, you can save hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars when a purchase doesn’t work out as you expected.

Related: Monthly Checklist: Credit Card Benefits and Perks You Should Be Using