Don't Book That Trip With Your Travel Rewards Credit Card Yet

Trip Cancellation Insurance Is Important

First Published Date: March 6, 2016

Before booking your next trip, make sure your travel rewards credit cards offer a very important insurance called Trip Cancellation Insurance. Many rewards travel credit cards do not offer this important insurance, although you will find mega sites like MoneySense or Rewards Canada are recommending these cards as the best travel credit cards and misleading consumers.

Trip Cancellation Insurance reimburses you in case a trip has to be cancelled due to covered causes like illness, death, and much more. You should not go on a trip without this insurance, as it will be a lifesaver in case you have to cancel your trip.

However, if you follow MoneySense or Rewards Canada blindly and book your trip with their number one recommended travel cards WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard (MoneySense 2015) and American Express Gold (Rewards Canada 2016) and you need to cancel your trip due to illness, you will get burned heavily before your sun-filled trip to the Caribbean even begins because these “number one” cards do not come with trip cancellation insurance.

The methods these sites are using to rank the best travel credit cards are questionable and they do not have the consumer’s best interest at heart, as they are withholding vital pieces of information that you need to know before picking the best travel credit cards for you. For example, you will not find mentioned anywhere that those best travel credit cards are missing trip cancellation insurance. I wrote more about this in these articles:

Before picking any rewards credit cards, always do your research and look for independent web sites such as A Dawn Journal that are not affiliated with or compensated by credit card companies.

Canada Gets New Credit Card Rules

Understanding the New Credit Card Laws

First Published Date: Oct 17, 2010

In an effort to make it easier for customers to pay back their credit cards and not fall behind to the point where they are swimming in debt. These rules actually came in effect on Sept. 1, but many residents of Canada do not know about them. To help educate people on the new rules, here is a brief rundown of what you need to know.

1.    There is a minimum grace period now of 21 days that are interest free on all new credit card purchases when a customer pays the outstanding balance completely.

2.    When a customer pays the minimum payment in excess, meaning they pay more than the minimum payment, the credit card company must allocate the excess so that it is put on the balance with the higher interest rate first, and then distributed proportionally to all other types of balance such as cash advances.

3.    Credit card issuers must inform consumers of their monthly statement and how long it will take to fully repay the balance if only the minimum payment is paid. This gives you a better understanding of how much time it is going to take for you to pay it off if you make no purchases on it.

4.    Another rule is that there must be a complete disclosure of interest-rate increases prior to those rates taking effect at all.

The biggest problem with these rules is that the Canadian public has not been educated on them, so many do not even know that they exist. The main reason is the government has not worked hard enough to publicize the rules, which means that many credit card companies can break the rules illegally, and consumers will not even know that their rights are being stepped on. It is very important that consumers learn these rules and pay attention to their credit cards so they can know whether or not they are being cheated out of the regulations put in effect to help them.

There was a voluntary code in place that would help to stop merchants from paying higher and higher costs from credit card companies but the problem was that credit card companies chose not to comply with it. As a result, those temporary rules became permanent and credit card companies are now forced to follow them, including allow merchants to cancel contracts without a penalty.

Credit card debt can literally sink a household and make it impossible for the house to pay their bills and survive day to day on what they have left. As a result, Canada is making it much easier for consumers to pay their credit card bills by ensuring that there are rules in place to protect the consumer. However, it is up to you as the consumer to know the rules and to make sure that the credit card companies are following them when they are dealing with you. It is your right as a Canadian citizen, so do not let credit card companies off the hook.

Two Common Rewards the American Express Gold Rewards Card Is Not Giving You

What’s The Amex Gold Rewards Card Missing?

First Published Date: November 15, 2015

Although the American Express Gold Rewards Card is a premium travel rewards card with a hefty $150 annual fee, it’s missing two common benefits that are a must for a travel rewards card. Most other premium travel credit cards that have an annual fee of $99 to $120 will provide you these important benefits.

These two benefits are:

– Trip Cancellation Insurance and

– Concierge Service

You should not go on a trip without these two, as they will be lifesavers in case you have to cancel your trip or require assistance before or during with concierge service help.

Trip Cancellation Insurance reimburses you in case a trip has to be cancelled due to covered causes like illness, death, and much more. Concierge Service is like having your own personal assistant and can help you in various scenarios in your own country or foreign lands where you don’t know anyone.

Features like these (and many others like those discussed here) aren’t provided by the American Express Gold Rewards Card, but you will find these features in many other travel rewards credit cards that have a lower annual fee than Amex gold.

Before making your rewards credit cards selections, do thorough research and visit the A Dawn Journal Credit Card Section for more tips. Here are some articles you can start with.

Credit Card Travel Emergency Hacks You Were Not Aware Of

How Your Credit Cards Can Help in a Travel Emergency

First Published Date : June 25, 2016

When you are travelling, if you run into unexpected troubles or in the event of emergency, travel credit cards can help you in foreign lands 24/7 and help is only a phone call away. You can even make free collect calls from foreign countries. Today, I will go over some of these free services that travel credit cards come with that can be lifesavers if you run into troubles.

You Lost Your Luggage – You can go through the traditional system in place and file a complaint that usually ends up with you making endless calls or spending a lot of time talking to the airline counter OR you can just call the concierge service provided by your credit cards and they will take care of the rest. Better yet, you may be eligible to receive coverage for expenses that incur due to lost luggage if your card provides lost luggage insurance.

You Are Stranded at Airport – A call to your concierge can sort things out for you and you may be eligible to receive coverage for costs such as hotel, transportation, food, and others if your card provides Flight Delay insurance.

You Need Medical Help – If you need medical assistance in foreign lands, travel credit cards can offer referrals to doctors, hospitals, consultation, medical transportation to the nearest facility or to your home country, transport your family from home to you, air-transport you from a foreign country to your home country if required, provide payments for all these costs and much more. Just make sure your travel credit cards come with a solid medical travel insurance from a reputable insurance provider.

You Need Legal Assistance – If you run into legal problems in foreign countries such as involved in car accidents, detained by local authorities, and so on, your travel credit cards can arrange to seek help from lawyers, embassies or consulates, assist with bail bond and so on.

You Lost Everything – You lost your passport, travel documents, cash and are stranded in the middle of nowhere? Relax and take a deep breath. Your travel credit cards can arrange and provide emergency cash, card replacement, assist with replacement travel documents, tickets, visa, immigration, customs, and much more.

What I mentioned above and possibly more can be covered by your travel credit cards. The art is to pick the best travel credit cards that meet your needs and make sure the concierge and insurance benefits are provided by reputable providers with adequate coverage. A Dawn Journal has lots of credit card articles that are unbiased and without any affiliations to any credit cards, unlike most other sites (meaning I do not collect any commissions for referring or providing links to credit card companies). And also keep an open for my next book Credit Card Hacks: What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know.

Which Credit Cards Offer an Annual Companion Flight?

Save Money with an Annual Companion Flight

First Published Date: November 25, 2015

There are many perks and features credit cards come with that a lot of people aren’t aware of. Today, I will talk about how you can travel for a lot less with the annual companion flight that comes with some credit cards.

There are currently two credit cards that offer an annual companion flight. What this means is that you buy one plane ticket at regular price and you get a companion ticket at a heavily-discounted price. Here are the two cards:

WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard – Buy a ticket at regular price anywhere within Canada or U.S. (excludes Hawaii and Puerto Rico) where WestJet flies and get a companion round-trip with you for $99 (excluding taxes, fees and charges). Read my WestJet RBC World Elite review here. Annual fee = $99.

MBNA Alaska World Elite MasterCard – Buy a ticket at regular price anywhere within Canada, U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii) or Mexico where Alaska Airlines flies and get a companion round-trip with you for from $121 USD. Annual fee = $75.

There are some other cards that offer an annual companion flight with a catch, such as you have to fly on rewards points or spend certain amounts. Example: American Express Air Miles Reserve Card, American Express AeroplanPlus Reserve Card, American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Card, and RBC British Airways Visa Infinite