An on-the-house latte at the coffee shop. An upgrade to a sweet suite at hotel check-in. Finding $20 in your coat pocket. Who doesn’t love surprise freebies?

Our staff sifted through member benefits that come with credit cards, warehouse clubs, health insurance plans, and more, and discovered dozens of free, often little-known perks. We share examples of gratis stuff you already can access—but might not know about. By doing your own hunting, you’ll likely find more.

Why do companies give away something they could sell? The answer varies from industry to industry. Competition for new credit card customers is so intense that banks often advertise features and benefits to make themselves stand out among other plastic options. You can get some benefits by joining an organization (AAA, USAA, credit unions, etc.) that businesses want to partner with to gain access to millions of potential customers. Most health insurance plans offer free or discounted stuff that promotes healthy lifestyles—and ultimately reduces medical costs.

Once you sign up for a credit card, the issuing company might not worry so much about reminding you about any extras you get. And sometimes organizations and companies do a lousy job of telling members about partner deals—or have so many partnerships it’s difficult to market them all.

Keep in mind that sometimes even “free” isn’t worth the bother. Free trials often come with monthly charges if you don’t cancel. It can be a hassle to trigger a member benefit: You probably won’t, for example, want to spend an hour jumping through hoops to exercise a “lowest-price guarantee” program offered by your credit card just to save $5. Don’t pick a credit card based solely on getting a small discount at Disney; you’ll also want to compare annual fees, interest rates, and other details.

Credit Cards

There are many reasons to pay with a credit card. Many offer points toward free travel or merchandise or cash back. And we often remind you that federal laws and the policies of credit card companies allow you to contest charges for lousy services or products, providing valuable consumer protections.

Many cards also offer other benefits, most of which kick in when you use one to buy something. Log on to your credit card company’s website and check its member benefits pages to see what you have. Then read the fine print to check the requirements needed to access benefits. For example, for warranty coverage, a common roadblock is that you’ll have to provide full documentation of the purchase, including an original credit card receipt.

Unfortunately, in the last few years some card issuers have discontinued their most valuable perks, especially for entry-level cards.

Extended warranties: We advise against buying them, but if they’re free, that’s different. Many credit cards extend the manufacturer’s warranty for stuff you charge. For example, the Citi Platinum Select Card will add to any warranty a 24-month plan, up to seven years total, to cover repairs—plus it will replace items lost or stolen within 90 days of purchase (reimbursements are capped at $10,000 per item). The American Express Gold Card offers a nearly identical perk, although its repair-or-replace provision lasts for only a year longer than any original warranty.

Reimbursement for damaged and stolen stuff: If you use your card to buy something that’s damaged or stolen within 90 days of purchase, if requested, many cards will offer a repair, replacement, or refund. Unfortunately, because these plans are secondary coverage, they’re not terribly useful; if something gets damaged in a fire, storm, or some other hazard covered by your homeowners or renters insurance policy, you first have to file a claim with your insurance company before you can collect from your credit card’s plan.

Guaranteed returns: Charge something to many American Express cards and the company will reimburse you up to $300 if you try to return it to the store within 90 days but the retailer won’t take it back (there’s a maximum of $1,000 per card, per year, for this perk).

Free shipping via ShopRunner: If you have an American Express or World or World Elite Mastercard, you can join ShopRunner—an Amazon Prime competitor that offers two-day shipping and free returns for 100+ retailers—and skip paying its $79 annual membership fee.

Price protection: Some cards let you apply to receive a refund if, within a few weeks of purchasing something, you find you could have bought it for less. You usually must show receipts and proof of the lower price to get the credit. Before you do all that work, check whether the retailer has a price-matching policy; many stores do, and we found it’s very easy to get a price match at the time of purchase or a refund of the difference later.

Preferred boarding and more: Airline-affiliated rewards cards usually let you board before the non-premier-tier masses and check luggage for free on airlines that charge ridiculous bag fees. These perks kick in only if the primary cardholder is part of the itinerary and if you pay for the trip using the airline’s card.

Reimbursement for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or Clear frequent traveler programs: The Capital One Venture Rewards card, for example, provides a statement credit up to $100 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck enrollment (Global Entry includes PreCheck automatically). American Express Platinum provides either a $100 statement credit every four years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 years for a TSA PreCheck (through a TSA official enrollment provider) application fee, when charged to a Platinum-level card. Free Clear memberships are available to cardholders of certain American Express cards, including Green, Platinum, and Centurion (although, curiously, not Gold, which is an Amex tier between Green and Platinum).

Travel insurance: Like extended warranties, we think trip-protection policies sold by airlines and travel-booking companies are bad buys. They’re of so little value that some credit cards provide similar protection gratis. Some refund fares if you nix a trip due to illness, or if weather cancels your trip; some refund prepaid charges for hotel rooms and the like. Some policies reimburse for lost baggage or pay out if there’s an accident and you die, are dismembered, lose your eyesight, or other morbid scenarios.

Cellphone protection coverage: Many (mostly high-end) credit cards now offer this benefit, which kicks in if your phone is damaged or stolen. To qualify you usually must use your eligible credit card to pay for your phone and your monthly service bill. Instead of paying the entire cost of repairs or replacement on your own, you can use your coverage to help cover some of the cost. For many, this can save hundreds of dollars. Coverage generally applies to all phones included on the cell phone bill. Coverage can vary by credit card, so read your card agreement to familiarize yourself with any coverage. U.S. Bank’s Platinum Card, for example, offers up to $600 per claim for damage or theft when your monthly bill is paid with that card, with a $25 deductible per claim; there’s an annual $1,200 maximum payout.

Rental-car coverage: In the last few years, some cards dropped this type of benefit, but many still provide limited protection (typically, collision damage waiver [CDW] coverage) when you rent using their cards. We have a very dim view of the policies pushed by rental companies—you usually get adequate protection against big risks from your personal auto policy.

Credit report monitoring: Many cards will email you if your credit score changes or an affiliated credit bureau reports that it received an application for new credit. Offering this perk helps protect both you and your credit card company, but a far better way to thwart identity thieves is to place security freezes with all three credit bureaus.

Museums for free: Bank of America, Merrill, and Bank of America Private Bank credit or debit cardholders get free access to more than 225 cultural institutions nationwide during the first full weekend of every month.

Think outside the box office: Many cards offer access to special seating options, presales, and other insider benefits for concerts, theater, and more. Click here for more advice on scoring a seat for less.

Costco Membership

Costco often delivers more than just low prices and 10-year supplies of paper products.

Tech support: At the end of your rope trying to program or hook up a new TV? Can’t configure that new laptop? If you bought something at Costco, you can call on free tech support for help.

Travel deals: We’ve sometimes found good deals on hotel rooms, airfare, cruises, and car rentals through travel services offered by Costco.

Get entertained for less: Members can get discounts on theme park passes, spa gift cards, movie tickets, and restaurant gift cards.

Tire care: We shopped for tires at major chains and independent sellers and found you’ll likely save enough by buying at Costco to recoup the cost of its annual membership. You’ll also get free tire-related services that most other outlets charge for: flat-tire fixes, rotation and balancing, and inflation. Costco will even replace punctured tires it can’t fix.

Extra warranty time for major appliance purchases: Costco extends the manufacturer’s warranty on televisions, projectors, computers, refrigerators, freezers, ranges, cooktops, over-the-range microwaves, dishwashers, water heaters, washers, and dryers for up to two years from the date of warehouse purchase or date of delivery of an online purchase. We also find Costco offers low prices—albeit with limited selection—for major appliances.

Health Insurance Plans

Many health insurers offer free or discounted products and services that promote healthy habits—or, if you’re a cynic, to attract a large pool of health-conscious customers who are less likely to run up huge medical bills.

Weight loss programs: Many plans pay or subsidize fees for WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and other companies.

Free or discounted fitness center memberships: Many insurers offer deals on gym memberships. Some will even reimburse gym fees if you go often enough. Check your plan’s website to see what you can get with your contract. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, check out the SilverSneakers and Silver&Fit programs, which offer free or nearly free memberships at many gyms.

Smoking cessation: Your health insurance company would love to help you kick your habit, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other federal laws and rules require most plans to cover some level of tobacco cessation treatments. Most offer free counseling, and many offer free nicotine-replacement products.

Get pumped: Health insurance plans are required to cover breastfeeding equipment and counseling. Breast pumps don’t come cheap: Most electric models cost $150 to $500. Before putting one on your baby registry, check with your plan; it might pay.

AAA

Along with towing, roadside assistance, and battery-replacement services, AAA memberships often come with freebies. Since availability, fees, and policies vary from local association to association, check with yours to see what you get.

Discounts: In addition to unlocking lower hotel rates at many properties, your AAA membership can score you discounts on admission to theme parks, movies, ski resorts, concerts, and more.

Bicycle repair and towing: The higher-tier plans offer a longer towing range.

Travel planning help: Along with free maps and guidebooks, and discounts on hotel rooms and tickets for amusement parks, shows, and museums, AAA members can turn to full-service travel agents at most of its offices for help finding lodging, cruises, planes, trains, and automobiles. Simple advice is free, but you might have to pay fees for research or if they book for you (in our experience, AAA offers lower fees than other travel agencies).

Lockout help: Doh! If you lock your keys in your car, AAA will reimburse $50-$150 (depending on membership type) to get you back in. If you need help breaking into your own home, Premier members can get reimbursed up to $150 for locksmithing help.

Travel insurance: AAA members receive $500-$1,500 (depending on membership level) trip-interruption coverage if they have an out-of-town auto breakdown. Plus and Premier members also get $100,000-$200,000 of travel accident coverage.

Car seat loaners and more: All AAA members can join Hertz’s Gold Plus Rewards program for free. Our favorite program benefit: Free car seat loaners! You can borrow one (or a booster) for free. Plus, Hertz Gold members age 20 to 24 can rent vehicles without paying its $29-per-day young-driver surcharge. Hertz also offers AAA members half off the price of SiriusXM for the length of their rental reservation. Thrifty also offers free car seat loaners for AAA members.

Amazon Prime

Most Prime subscribers signed on for expanded free-and-faster shipping, and to stream free movies, TV, and exclusive Prime Video stuff, which increasingly includes live sporting events. But a $139/year (or $14.99/month) subscription also offers:

Unlimited photo storage/backup: This is our favorite freebie. Plenty of cloud-based companies offer to store your digital stuff, but most cap it at 5GB, and you have to pay up if you need more space. Because our kids are so darn photogenic, we need more—a lot more. With Prime, you get free unlimited full-resolution photo storage/backup, plus 5GB storage for video.

Music streaming: Companies like Apple and Spotify offer unlimited listening libraries, but charge for them. If you have Prime, you get its similar ad-free, on-demand music service at no cost.

Free e-reads: Unlimited free access to more than 1,000 e-books and magazines. Prime members also get early access to one soon-to-be-released “editor’s pick” title each month. Click here for more free e-reading options.

Half-price annual subscription to One Medical: The “concierge light” chain of primary care docs is now owned by Amazon. If you’re a Prime member the annual fee is reduced from $199 to $99, and additional family members pay $66/year.

Prime discounts at Whole Foods: Prime members receive an extra 10 percent off all sale prices, plus get access to Prime-only deals.

Free Twitch subscription: Prime members can subscribe to one channel per month for free.

Free expedited shipping from Zappos.com and shopbop.com.

Free GrubHub+ food delivery membership: Delivery fees are waived and members get exclusive offers, i.e. free garlic knots when you spend $30 on pizza.

Access to Prime Try Before You Buy: Buying clothes and shoes online is a pain. With this program, you can select up to six items at a time, try them out for free for up to seven days, then return what you don’t like. You get charged for what you keep.

Discounts: Save five to 15 percent, depending on how many items in your order, on many household and personal-care products if you sign up for regular delivery. It’s easy to turn off subscriptions or skip a shipment.

Reduced rates for college students, young adults (18-24), and low-income customers: College students and young adults can access a free six-month trial to Prime. After the trial, they can continue for $7.49 a month, which is half the normal price. Customers who receive qualifying government assistance and households within 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines are eligible for Prime Access, which offers all Prime benefits for $6.99 a month.

More Perk Providers

Other groups offer perks. Good places to hunt for them include credit unions, USAA, and college alumni groups. Many large employers offer benefits such as discounts on mobile phone plans and free gym memberships; check with HR.

Seniors, armed forces members, teachers, and healthcare workers also often get perks like special hotel rates, retailer discounts, and free coffee (!). We like Senior Living’s roundup of senior perks; it’s updated regularly.