Michael D'Souza, 56, was on his motorcycle when his vehicle skidded in the rain, and he was hospitalised. Unfortunately, he lost his life. His wife, Mary, was going through the procedure of getting the death certificate when a doctor at the hospital
asked her if she had also filed a claim for the accident insurance cover on Michael's debit card. Mary was unaware of the benefit. When she inquired with Michael’s bank, she realised that he was insured for Rs 10 lakh under a personal
accident insurance cover, thanks to his debit card usage. Mary claimed the same and received the amount.
Personal accident insurance is one of the least-known facts about debit and credit cards. Almost all these cards come with personal accident insurance covering the cardholder in case of an untimely injury or death due to an accident.
The accident cover on the cards varies depending on the issuing bank. In the case of some credit cards, it may be certain times your credit card limit. While in other cases it may be fixed irrespective of the limit. In the case of debit cards,
too, the cover is often fixed.
The cover may start as low as Rs 50,000 and go all the way to Rs 10 lakh for personal accident cover. Some cards also offer air accident insurance if the ticket for the flight was booked via that card.
In the case of air accident insurance, the cover could be as high as Rs 1 crore.
In the case of Michael’s debit card, the accident cover was Rs 10 lakh, which his wife was able to claim.
While claiming personal accident insurance, do keep in mind that some banks require credit/debit cardholders to use their card for a POS (Point of Sales) transaction at least once within the 90 days preceding the date of accident. Each
bank has different eligibility criteria, so you would do well to check with your bank.
Documents that need to be submitted to claim personal accident insurance:
- Duly filled, signed, and attested claim form
- Duly filled, signed, and attested Assignee verification form
- Attested debit card/destroyed debit card (Attested by Branch)
- Bank statement for the period of 180 days precedent to date of accident (Attested by Branch)
- Attested hot listing certificate (Attested by Branch)
- Death certificate (Notarized)
- Attested FIR/police intimation (Notarized)
- Attested Panchanama/Inquest Panchanama Copy (Notarized)
- Attested final police report (Notarized)
- Attested copy of post-mortem report (Notarized and stamped by hospital)
- Attested copy of the driving license, if the deceased the person was driving the vehicle. If a driving license is lost/misplaced during an accident, RTO extract is mandatory. (Notarized)
- Certificate from railway Authority in case of rail accident (Notarized)
- If claim pertains to Defence personnel /Govt Employees Attested Identity card issued by Employer (Notarized)
- If the deceased person was admitted in multiple hospitals before death, provide discharge summary, viscera report (If preserved), statement chart, medico-legal opinion all hospital (Notarized)
[Also Read: 7 Common Credit Card Myths and Facts]
Finally, one point to keep in mind is that the insurance only comes into effect if the individual has died due to an accident and provided the deceased was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident.
Know which Axis Bank Debit cards come with personal accident insurance cover and which Axis Bank credit cards come with an air accident cover, visit us online or speak to your relationship
manager.
Disclaimer: The Source, a content creation and curation firm has authored this article. Axis Bank does not influence the views of the author in any way. Axis Bank and The Source shall not be responsible for any direct/indirect loss or liability incurred by the reader for taking any financial decisions based on the contents and information. Please consult your financial advisor before making any financial decision.
