SBI Card discontinues ₹1 crore air accident insurance coverage. Check details

Mint

6 days ago

If you hold an SBI Credit Card, particularly one of its premium variants, there's an important update for you. With effect from July 15, SBI Card has discontinued free air accident insurance coverage up to ₹ 1 crore for select credit cardholders Elite, Miles Elite and Miles Prime.
Apart from this, several key changes in payment settlement rules of this credit card as well as Minimum Amount Due (MAD) calculations will also come into effect. These changes will impact the premium users the most, especially those who rely on SBI's credit card insurance benefits and flexible repayment terms.
Let us understand more about what has changed and how it may affect you.
So far, select SBI credit cardholders (Elite, Miles Elite and Miles Prime) were entitled to complimentary air accident insurance amounting to ₹ 1 crore. However, this benefit will be discontinued with effect from July 15, 2025, as part of SBI Card's latest policy overhaul.
Affected card variants include SBI Card Elite, SBI Card Miles Elite and SBI Card Miles Prime.
These cards will no longer provide air accident insurance coverage after the cut-off date. If you were relying on this insurance during air travel, then it is vital to re-consider some alternative personal coverage options.
Similarly, some cards which offer ₹ 50 lakh air accident insurance with no additional charges will also lose this benefit from July 15.
The cards which are impacted by this rule include SBI Card Prime and SBI Card Pulse. Now the users of these cards will have to make new arrangements if they want to retain any sort of air travel insurance coverage.
Another major change relates to how SBI adjusts your credit card payments. Earlier, the amount you paid would be distributed based on an internal hierarchy. From July 15, SBI will revise the order in which your payment gets applied to different outstanding amounts.
SBI has also announced to tighten the rules around Minimum Amount Due, i.e., the minimum sum that you must pay to avoid default or penalty. The new formula substantially increases the minimum amount by including more components.
New MAD calculation includes 100 per cent GST, 100 per cent EMI amount, 100 per cent charges and fees, 100 per cent finance charges, Overlimit amount (if applicable) and 2 per cent of the remaining outstanding balance, reveals customer notices given on sbicard.com.
This means if you only pay the minimum due each billing cycle month to avoid late fees, then your minimum amount due will turn out to be higher than before, thus affecting your monthly budget and increasing overall interest costs if the full amount isn't paid regularly.
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