Are you double covered? Check insurances on credit cards, etc before taking out certain insurance

Although they may have become more difficult to get these days, there is still sufficient competition among credit card providers for most to offer "free" add-on services and products when you sign up. Since many of these add-ons are insurance cover, it is worth checking just what products you have as a card-holder, in order to avoid paying for the same insurance twice. The following are some of the more common benefits currently on offer:

• Travel insurance - this is probably the most commonly advertised extra, but beware that the cover extended by most credit cards is typically only very basic travel insurance. It is frequently limited to travel accident insurance only and would often not not cover flight or holiday cancellations, delays, or lost or stolen baggage. Always read the terms, conditions and exclusions very carefully and, if in any doubt, still make your own independent travel insurance arrangements;
• Motor legal protection insurance - at least one credit card provider now offers free motor legal protection to its card holders. This provides assistance and cover for the legal costs involved in recovering any uninsured losses you incur in a car you are driving which is involved in an accident for which you are not at fault. Uninsured losses could be your excess or personal injury claim;
• Payment protection insurance - all credit cards will try to sell you additional insurance to ensure continued repayments of outstanding balances on your card if you are incapacitated from work because of accident or illness or involuntarily unemployment. In most cases, this will not be "free" insurance, so make sure you are not covered against the same risks under any other policy and effectively paying for it twice.