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In times of economic or employment uncertainty, consumers with substantial credit card debt might be tempted to purchase payment protection plans. Offered by most major credit card companies, the plans are supposed to cover minimum payments in case you lose your job or find yourself unable to work.

Consumer advocate attorney Mathew Sheldon says, however, that the real story lies in the fine print.

"I got to tell you as an attorney, I've had a hard time going through all of the exceptions and the disqualifications that are involved," says Sheldon.

For example, should you get laid off but receive a severance package, you might not be allowed to activate the plan. Many other caveats can exist.

"If you're already on a fixed income or you're already on disability or Social Security or something like that, you may not ever qualify for any of the events that would actually trigger the insurance," says financial counselor Chris Dlugozima. "If you already started to miss any payments or gone over the limit, that may also render you ineligible to activate the insurance."

Dlugozima, who works for GreenPath, a nonprofit consumer credit counseling service, says the biggest problem with the protection plans is the cost, which is based on the credit balance. On average, consumers are paying 89 cents for every $100 owed. On a $10,000 balance, that becomes $89 each month that is often charged as a purchase and subject to interest.

"I've had clients come in that owe $50,000 and all their cards have this credit insurance in place. They might be paying an extra $300 a month," says Dlugozima.

Financial experts say the plans are not always a bad idea. If the company announces there may be layoffs at the end of the month, you might want to purchase the protection until things are more secure.

Yet in the long run, experts say there may be better options out there.

"You could easily approach the creditor if you fall behind or are about to fall behind and ask if they have any sort of payment plans in place that have the same effect," says Dlugozima. "The payments won't stop entirely, but they might be able to accept half or a third of what they normally accept."

"There are things like disability insurance, mortgage insurance that if you lose your job it will actually pay your mortgage. I think those are probably much more beneficial type of insurance," says Sheldon. "I think [payment protection plans are] insurance you can bypass. This is the type of insurance I would tell most consumers you probably really don't need."