The verdict is out. Gulf News asked readers if a credit shield had ever helped them in the time of crisis, the response was mostly in the negative.

For Indian expatriate Rajesh, the credit shield turned into a nightmare when he lost his job in November 2008.

He said: "I got married in November and therefore had a lot of expenses on my credit cards. I was expecting my job confirmation in December, but got laid off."

It was a shock to Rajesh. However, the final straw was when he realised that his credit shield would not cover the outstanding expenses on the credit cards.

He said: "The bank needed a written termination letter and my company had informed me of the lay off verbally. I had expenses of more than Dh40,000 on my card."

When he was signing up for the credit card, Rajesh was told by the salesperson that he was covered in case of involuntary job loss. Later, when he reviewed the terms and conditions for the credit shield, he realised that he had been paying for a service that would not be of any use.

However, Rajesh was lucky to find a new job and has settled his credit cards. "The terms and conditions were like a web. They had one reason or another for preventing me from availing the credit shield. With my wife's support, I was able to repay the dues," he said.

Zeeshan Bari, a senior accountant working in Dubai, came to a similar conclusion when he found out about the details of the credit shield from his bank.

He said: "The credit shield is absolutely unnecessary. There are so many criteria when you go for an insurance claim, and my card's shield did not cover job loss." This led him to remove the credit shield from his three cards. Banks across the UAE offer credit shields, while most cover death and permanent disability, there are many which do not cover job loss. With a nominal percentage of your outstanding amount charged for the credit shield, many customers seem not so perturbed by the waste of money.

30-year-old Canadian expatriate, Ryan Copeland thinks of a credit shield as a fire extinguisher - present but you are not clear on how to use it. "I do know that it [credit shield] covers a certain amount of money if you default, but it would come with clauses."

Citibank has been offering a credit shield programme since 2006 to its customers. According to the bank, the shield was based on a thorough study of the major risks from a customer's point of view.

William Keliehor, Citi Credit Cards Head, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, said: "We view credit shield as a product that can protect customers. Our approach has been to offer ... [it] in a very transparent way to let them decide on its value to them."

Vimal Kumar, Head of Credit Cards for Mashreq, said that the credit shield offered by Mashreq protected their customers in the unfortunate event that he or she is not able to pay his or her outstanding credit card bill, in the event of "loss of life, permanent total disability or involuntary loss of employment".

While the Citibank and Mashreq credit shields protect the customer against job loss, other banks, like HSBC, do not cover it. Thimal Perera, Head of Cards, HSBC Middle East, said the credit cover is an optional comprehensive insurance cover, which protects the cardholder's outstanding balance against the unfortunate event of death or permanent total disability. "A premium of 0.2 per cent on the cardholder's monthly outstanding is charged for credit cover insurance and is reflected in the cardholder's monthly account statement," Perera said.

Girish Advani, Head of Cards Business at First Gulf Bank, added that the bank has been regularly paying out valid claims. He said: "We carefully select our strategic partners for insurance initiatives to ensure that they are well in tune with our customer-focused approach ... to ensure our customers receive [the] best possible service when they file claims."