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The Chase Freedom Unlimited^® is arguably the most popular no-annual-fee rewards credit card in the U.S. It was a huge hit when it was first released and Chase has continued to boost the value proposition of this card through its regular refreshes.
This credit card is best known as a cash-back credit card, but one of the secret features of this card is that its rewards can be converted to Ultimate Rewards points with the right credit card pairing.
Incredibly, the Freedom Unlimited card comes with basic travel insurance, which is surprisingly rare considering the no-annual-fee nature of this card.
In this guide, we outline all of the details of the Freedom Unlimited card’s travel insurance coverage.
Travel insurance is one of the features of the Freedom Unlimited card, but there are so many other reasons why you’d want to hold this credit card.
Here’s a table summarizing the Freedom Unlimited card’s high-level perks:
This all-purpose cash-back card offers great bonus categories, including bonus points for every purchase you make!
The Chase Freedom Unlimited^® is easily one of the best cash-back credit cards on the market. There aren’t many no-annual-fee credit cards that offer multiple great bonus categories like 5% back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1.5% back on all other purchases.
When paired with other Chase cards in the Ultimate Rewards family, you can transfer that cash back into points if you wish – making it one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet.
Chase Ultimate Rewards
The Freedom Unlimited card absolutely offers travel insurance benefits.
To set expectations, though, the suite of travel insurance benefits is a tiny fraction of what is offered on more premium cards such as The Platinum Card^® from American Express or Chase Sapphire Reserve^®.
But the answer is yes, the Freedom Unlimited card offers travel insurance benefits.
So now that we’ve established that the Freedom Unlimited card offers travel insurance benefits, the next logical question is: what types of coverage are offered?
In this guide, we break down each of the benefits, one by one.
Arguably, the most important travel insurance perk offered by the Freedom Unlimited card is trip cancellation and interruption coverage.
If there’s a covered loss or event, including severe weather, sickness, or other covered situations, you can get reimbursed for your prepaid nonrefundable passenger fares. Covered fares include those on common carriers such as airlines, buses, cruise ships, or trains.
Trip cancellation coverage begins on the initial deposit or booking date of the trip and ends at the point and time of departure on your scheduled departure date.
Meanwhile, trip interruption coverage begins on the scheduled departure date and ends on your scheduled return date.
The maximum coverage you can get through this benefit is $1,500 per covered person with a cap of $6,000 per trip.
Also, trip interruption covers up to $250 in ground transportation expenses for necessary medical treatment, to the airport, terminal, or station of departure, and/or between the arrival airport, terminal, or station and covered travelers’ residences.
Covered people include the cardholder and immediate family members, even if the cardholder is not traveling with them.
You must pay for all or a portion of your trip using your Freedom Unlimited card or using rewards from your Freedom Unlimited card. If you redeem points, Chase will reimburse you at a value of 1 cent per point.
Here are some examples of covered incidences:
Here are some of the exclusions:
You can file a claim 100% online or start the claims process over the phone:
Some examples of required supporting documentation include:
The Freedom Unlimited card provides secondary rental car insurance while you’re traveling. To use it, you will always need to decline the rental car agency’s loss damage waiver (LDW) or collision damage waiver (CDW).
Also, you must pay for the entire rental car transaction using your Freedom Unlimited card. If you book your rental car using your rewards points, you can still qualify for coverage.
Once you do that, you will have:
To get coverage, you must use a Freedom Unlimited card with your name embossed on the card.
Your rental period must be a maximum of 31 consecutive days to get coverage.
Other drivers can get coverage on the car rental, but only if these additional drivers are listed on your auto rental agreement.
There is a series of excluded vehicles:
Many travelers mistake liability coverage with credit card rental car insurance. There aren’t any credit cards that offer liability coverage, so you’ll still be 100% responsible for charges and damages if you are at fault for the incident.
Here’s what’s covered:
Here are some of the exclusions for coverage:
The list goes on, but you’ll notice that these are very niche or unusual exclusions. Just use the rental car as intended, and you shouldn’t run into any major issues.
Filing a claim is easy; just follow these steps:
You’ll also likely need to provide the credit card statement showing the last 4 digits of your Freedom Unlimited card and the car rental purchase to substantiate the rental car booking.
The Freedom Unlimited card includes Roadside Dispatch in its benefits list, which can be used 24/7 as needed. Although the benefit isn’t free, you’ll be able to access roadside assistance on a pay-per-use basis.
For a flat fee of $69.95 per service call, you can access these services:
You just need to call 800-847-2869 when you need roadside assistance, and they’ll ask for your location and further details. After that, you’ll have your services arranged and delivered to you.
The last element of the Freedom Unlimited card’s travel insurance is travel and emergency assistance services.
Essentially, this benefit is designed to help you if you need legal, medical, or other major assistance while you’re away from home.
It doesn’t cover the cost of the services; rather, it connects you to referrals and firms that can help offer these services.
Available 24/7, 365 days per year, travel and emergency assistance services cover the primary cardholder, the cardholder’s spouse or domestic partner, and any dependent children under the age of 22.
Covered services include:
That wraps up the overview of travel coverages offered by the Freedom Unlimited card. Now, let’s see how it stacks up with other options!
The Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card often gets compared to the Freedom Unlimited card.
The Freedom Unlimited card generally outperforms because of its substantial trip interruption and cancellation insurance.
Trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance are benefits that aren’t offered on most annual fee credit cards — so the fact that Chase offers it on a card with no annual fee is impressive.
Generally, no-annual-fee credit cards only offer 2 benefits: secondary rental car insurance and travel accident insurance. The main benefit missing from the Freedom Unlimited card that would make it the undisputed travel insurance leader in the no-annual-fee realm is travel accident insurance.
The travel insurance provided by the Freedom Unlimited card pales in comparison to a full travel insurance policy.
Travel insurance policies usually also cover:
So using the Freedom Unlimited card is by no means a replacement for a travel insurance policy.
That said, travel insurance policies usually cost around 10% of the coverage amount, so that would entail an additional cost you’ll need to budget for.
The Freedom Unlimited card is a great rewards credit card with no annual fee and many useful benefits.
Its travel insurance, in particular, is about as good as you can get for a card with no annual fee.
In fact, the Freedom Unlimited card outperforms its competitors in the travel coverage realm.
Just remember that there are almost no instances in which the Freedom Unlimited card’s travel coverages and protections can actually replace a complete travel insurance policy purchased separately.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card^® from American Express, click here.
The Freedom Unlimited card doesn’t offer a bonus multiplier on “travel” as the Chase Sapphire Reserve card does. However, you can earn 5% cash-back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Your travel must be booked and paid for specifically through Chase Ultimate Rewards to qualify, however.
Chase does not insure all travel. In fact, the travel insurance benefits you get are dependent on what card you have, the type of travel you booked, and more.
The Freedom Unlimited card is a great introductory card for travel. You can earn up to 5% cash-back on travel purchases and utilize travel insurance benefits such as secondary rental car coverage and trip interruption and cancellation insurance.
In general, it depends on what travel insurance benefit you’re referring to. On the Freedom Unlimited card’s trip cancellation and trip interruption benefit, the cardholder (name must be embossed on the Freedom Unlimited card) and immediate family members are covered. Immediate family members include your spouse, spouse’s parents, sons and daughters (including adopted children and stepchildren), parents (including stepparents), brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, domestic partners, and legal guardians or wards.
The Freedom Unlimited card does not waive foreign transaction fees. You’ll need to pay a 3% foreign transaction fee if you make a foreign purchase using your Freedom Unlimited card.
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Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
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