Does Renters Insurance Cover Cash?

Yes, renters insurance covers the reimbursement of cash if it was stolen, destroyed or deemed unusable by an insurance claims adjuster and the cause is directly correlated to one of the 16 covered perils commonly found under renters insurance policies. However, insurance companies put a limit on how much cash they’ll cover per claim.

While there’s a list of common claims filed with home insurance companies, you should be protected if your cash fell victim to the following perils:

The coverage of cash is quite the conundrum with renters insurance. Instead of having coverage for the maximum amount of your policy’s personal property coverage, insurers typically limit cash to $200 per claim. The limit is designed to curb insurance fraud because it’s extremely difficult to actually prove how much cash was destroyed or stolen.

So even though you’ve created a contents list that includes all your personal belongings and their valuations, and if you’ve enrolled in $20,000 worth of personal property coverage, that doesn’t mean you’ll be covered for $20,000 worth of stolen cash.

If you’ve got $500 cash on hand and it gets stolen, you’d be out of luck because your policy would only reimburse you for $200 of that $500. However, when filing a renters insurance claim for cash, you still have to pay your deductible before your insurer steps in to pick up the rest.

The standard renters insurance deductible per claim is $500 to $1,000. So if your cash was the only thing affected, you should refrain from filing a claim because you’d pay more for your deductible than you’d get in return. Plus, each home insurance claim you file tends to raise your premiums.

But if a fire rips through your home, destroying your furniture, clothes and a pile of cash or coins you keep in your closet, you should notate that when filing a claim. In that instance, the combined value of your destroyed belongings would likely eclipse your deductible, and filing a claim would likely be in your favor.

However, there are different stipulations for collectible cash and coins that can increase your coverage. But you’ll have to know what you’re doing in order to increase your coverage.

If you own collectible cash or coins, like those pre-1965 New Orleans mint coins, you can schedule your collection with your insurer to add more coverage. You may be able to schedule each item or the entire collection for up to $5,000 or more, but that depends on your insurer.

To schedule personal property on your policy, you first need to document your collection and get it appraised. After doing that, you can consult with your renters insurance carrier to see what their maximum payout for cash and coin collections. If your collection exceeds that value, you’ll want to look into getting a separate insurance policy that specializes in collector’s items.

Since theft is included in the 16 named perils on renters insurance policies, theft of cash is covered by your renters policy. However, you’re always limited to the $200 maximum imposed by your insurer. Again, if the only thing stolen was cash, you may not want to file a claim because it would likely increase your premiums and you’d still have to pay your deductible, nullifying your payout entirely.

Coverage under your renters insurance extends to your vehicle, which includes the coverage of cash that’s stolen from your vehicle. This coverage also applies to your personal belongings, but your coverage is typically limited to 10% of your overall personal property coverage. So a renter with $20,000 in personal property coverage would only have $2,000 worth of coverage for cash or items that are stolen or damaged outside of your primary residence.

Unfortunately, renters insurance doesn’t cover credit cards or money that was spent on stolen credit cards. Credit cards don’t share the same coverage as cash because the money is more easily trackable and it’s typically your bank’s duty to recover any money used on the thief’s behalf. Also, since credit cards are typically free to replace, there’s no need to file any sort of renters insurance claim to get a new card.