“The protection program for funds on accounts and cards is one of the most popular products of SberStrakhovanie,” CEO of the company Alexander Abramov told Rossiyskaya Gazeta, “more than 6 million policies of this type were issued in 2023 , 10% more than in 2023. the year “previously, in the first four months of 2024, the company’s clients signed 2.1 million bank card protection agreements.”
At Sovcombank Insurance, demand for insurance for bank cards increased by approximately 13%. “We are seeing increased awareness in product choice and demand from customers as the risk has become more evident,” the company added. VSK also confirms the growing interest in this type of insurance. According to Olga Yakunina, head of the business development directorate at Absolut Insurance, short-term policies with a period of 1 month or more are popular – subscription insurance with monthly repayments.
The average cost of monthly insurance starts at 100 rubles. At SberStrakhovanie, the policy costs from 163 rubles per month, the minimum insured amount is 110 thousand rubles, and the maximum is 1 million rubles.
As of October 1, 2023, the Bank of Russia has established minimum requirements for this type of insurance: the minimum allowable amount of the insured amount is 100 thousand rubles. The maximum amount of the insured amount is not limited by law; Each insurer has the right to independently determine its own maximum limit of liability for the product.
“The amount of compensation is determined by the insurer in the amount of expenses actually incurred by the policyholder or insured caused by the insured incident, but not more than the insured amount established by the insurance contract having take into account the rule introduced last time. year by the Central Bank, each insurance contract concluded after October 1, 2023 includes coverage of at least 100 thousand rubles,” explained Olga Yakunina.
Policies protect against a wide range of risks, noted Alexander Abramov: telephone and Internet fraud, theft of bank card data, unauthorized transfers, payments and cash withdrawals from ATMs. Additionally, clients can provide compensation in case of theft after withdrawing cash from an ATM, payment in case of loss or theft of keys and documents, as well as reimbursement of legal costs incurred through the fault of criminals. “In addition, our program covers the risks of independently transferring funds to scammers. It is precisely these types of insurance events that SberInsurance clients encounter most often,” said the expert.
Sovcombank Insurance also notes that out of 100 calls for the product, 90 are related to telephone fraud (calls, messages in instant messengers), the rest are a transition to phishing sites, unauthorized debits through a mobile application, payment without contact after losing a card. “Partner banks often sell a product that also protects against unauthorized withdrawal by third parties of funds from the insured’s bank account, using fraudulently obtained bank card information (including the use of phishing, skimming) to carry out payments for purchases, works and services. one card costs 300 thousand rubles,” the company said.
Experts point out that the policy payout depends on whether the insured has taken all measures within its power to minimize potential and actual damages. “If the card was lost or stolen, it is necessary to inform the bank; actions taken by attackers from the moment of loss until the bank is notified may not be covered by insurance,” warns the Banki.ru analyst , Ilya Churikov. The situation is similar with the period between the detection of plastic loss and the blocking of the card: all actions of attackers during this period of time, as a rule, are not an insured event.”
According to him, similar exceptions may concern the mandatory availability of current versions of antivirus software, the voluntary transfer of confirmation codes to attackers, etc.
Sometimes financial organizations unfairly refuse to pay for an insured event when money is debited from a card. In April, a resident of Yoshkar-Ola contacted the Financial Ombudsman, whose telephone scammers had written off 100 thousand rubles from her secured card. She was denied payment, but financial ombudsman Denis Novak established that the list of insured events under the agreement between the applicant and the financial organization included a transfer as a result of illegal actions of third parties (fraud or theft). As a result, the insurance amount was paid.
As the Financial Ombudsman Service informed RG, appeals from consumers to insurance organizations under insurance contracts with bank cards to demand the collection of insurance compensation in connection with the cancellation of funds. When considering such applications, the financial ombudsman makes a decision based on the terms of the insurance contract and the circumstances of the cancellation of funds in each specific case.
