Teenagers travelling abroad are using faster payment apps like Barclays Pingit to be reimbursed for travel insurance claims almost instantly: taking the pressure off the “bank of mum and dad”.
Payments via Pingit have more than doubled in the last year, with 18-25 year olds among those particularly inclined to use the app, according to claims and assistance providers CEGA.
“A faster payment app like Pingit lets insurers rather than parents take the immediate financial strain of a teenage mishap overseas,” says CEGA’s Head of Claims Richard Gibbons. “It reassures parents that their offspring won’t be stuck the other side of the world, without the means to pay for that cancelled flight, lost phone or stolen bag – and that they won’t have to call on parents for funds whilst they await their claims payments.”
Once registered for Pingit, customers can receive claims payments into any bank account, via their mobile phone number, within as little as an hour of their claim being approved.
CEGA reports that Pingit payments are being used to pay travel insurance claims for everything from lost glasses and suitcases to disrupted travel and essential medication.
