11-22-2014, 01:06 AM
Price matching is not a new credit card perk, but it’s one that consumers often overlook — potentially forgoing $1,000 or more in holiday savings.
Some call it price matching, some call it a price guarantee, but no matter the name, many credit card issuers and network, including Discover, Citi and MasterCard are offering consumers refunds for the difference in price should they buy an item and then find it for a lower price later on.
Discover Card
Citi Cards
Even those who do know about the perk may be stymied by the red tape involved in actually taking advantage of it.
Many popular gift items are typically excluded from the price match programs, such as jewelry, art, antiques, motorized vehicles, many types of travel, items sold at a business closeout sale, items sold in very limited quantities (like some door-buster deals), items sold on online auction sites, food and animals.
So is the price-match guarantee worth using? Why not, there’s no downside.
Citi’s program may be best for people who don’t have the desire to do legwork to find competitive prices. But for those willing to do the legwork, Discover’s program may be best, as it is potentially the most lucrative (since its annual limit is $2,500, significantly higher than both Citi and MasterCard) and has a long period over which it will honor a price match (90 days vs. 60 for most Citi and MasterCard cardholders).
Plus, the Discover card offers up to 5% cash back in rotating categories and 1% on all other purchases; plus, Discover has its own shopping portal that includes most of the major department stores and gives up to about 10% and sometimes more off to cardholders, and has 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 14 months.
If you want to get a new card, the Barclay Arrival Plus MasterCard has a sign-up bonus worth upward of $400, which you can get if you spend $3,000 in the first three months of getting the card, and it has a generous rewards program that lets you earn more.
Some call it price matching, some call it a price guarantee, but no matter the name, many credit card issuers and network, including Discover, Citi and MasterCard are offering consumers refunds for the difference in price should they buy an item and then find it for a lower price later on.
Discover Card
- Discover will refund the difference up to $500 if you find your item at a lower price within 90 days of making a Discover card purchase.
- The annual limit is $2,500.
- The process - you have to submit your Discover card statement showing the entire original purchase price, the sales receipt, and either a copy of the dated, printed, lower-price ad, or a statement, signed by the store manager on store stationery (this is considered proof of the lower price, if the dated, printed ad cannot be provided), documenting the details of the lower price of the identical item.
Citi Cards
- It will refund the difference in price up to $300 per item if its price-finding service discovers a lower price within 60 days of the purchase.
- Annual limit is $1,200.
- The process - you register the items you want to price check on Citi’s site, then the company does that price checking for you.
- MasterCard will refund up to $250 within 60 days or 120 days, depending on which type of MasterCard you use.
- Annual limit is $1,000.
- The process is similar to Discovercard's process.
Even those who do know about the perk may be stymied by the red tape involved in actually taking advantage of it.
Many popular gift items are typically excluded from the price match programs, such as jewelry, art, antiques, motorized vehicles, many types of travel, items sold at a business closeout sale, items sold in very limited quantities (like some door-buster deals), items sold on online auction sites, food and animals.
So is the price-match guarantee worth using? Why not, there’s no downside.
Citi’s program may be best for people who don’t have the desire to do legwork to find competitive prices. But for those willing to do the legwork, Discover’s program may be best, as it is potentially the most lucrative (since its annual limit is $2,500, significantly higher than both Citi and MasterCard) and has a long period over which it will honor a price match (90 days vs. 60 for most Citi and MasterCard cardholders).
Plus, the Discover card offers up to 5% cash back in rotating categories and 1% on all other purchases; plus, Discover has its own shopping portal that includes most of the major department stores and gives up to about 10% and sometimes more off to cardholders, and has 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 14 months.
If you want to get a new card, the Barclay Arrival Plus MasterCard has a sign-up bonus worth upward of $400, which you can get if you spend $3,000 in the first three months of getting the card, and it has a generous rewards program that lets you earn more.