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       Many credit card issuers also offer protection for those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Like the disability and life insurance, credit card protection for unemployment is based upon a percentage of your unpaid balance. Whether this kind of insurance is important to you depends on many things. Certainly, if you are a business owner with a business that is doing well, you don’t have to worry about being unemployed. This insurance is not for illness or anything of that nature; it is solely for those cardholders who find themselves out of work due to layoffs, downsizing, company closings, and other similar situations.

The thing to remember about the unemployment insurance is that it will not cover anyone who quits their job with no valid reason – works similar to unemployment compensation in that respect. The rules state you must be unemployed through no fault of your own; however, there are circumstances that would justify that just as there are circumstances under which you can quit your job and file for unemployment, namely those incidents in which the employer is violating the labor law in some way.

Even if you have held the same job for many years and have never faced a layoff, with the economy being what it is today and with companies merging and downsizing, it’s a good idea to protect yourself. It’s not uncommon for companies to force older workers into retirement, and if your company doesn’t have a nice severance package, you can be financially ruined. Taking insurance to cover your payments should you become unemployed is a good way to prevent that from happening. Remember, the older you are, the more difficult it is to find more work, and in the present state of the economy, companies are seeing how they can do more with less people. No one’s job is secure today, thus the reason many people are opening businesses or starting businesses at home.

The rate for the insurance is going to vary from card issuer to card issuer, so if you have more than one credit card from different issuers, do not assume the rates will be the same even if the balances are close. Like all insurance, there can be a number of reasons for this including a large number of claims and the number of participants in the program.