With the holiday shopping season nearly wrapped up, one credit card benefit that has become rare but you won’t want to ignore is price protection, whereby you can get a refund from the bank if the item you purchased drops in price. Unfortunately, this is one benefit that has gone from prevalent to mostly absent. However, in updating this guide, I found that there are a few cards which I’d previously missed that do in fact include price protection, so there are some good options that remain.
Price Protection Explained
Simply put, price protection is like insurance against a future price drop; you buy an item today and if it drops in price within a specified period of time after purchase, the bank will refund you the difference.
For instance, let’s say you purchased a TV from Best Buy today for $500 and you buy it with your Bank ABC credit card. Next month, that same TV goes on sale at Target for $400. You file a claim with Bank ABC, showing Target’s ad for the same TV at a better price, and the bank refunds you $100. That’s the idea, though keep in mind that different banks have slightly different rules regarding timeframe, amount, etc.
Generally speaking, you’ll need a copy of the advertised lower price and your original receipt (and sometimes the credit card statement showing the charge for that purchase). After you call the claims administrator at the phone numbers below, they will give you further instructions as to where to send that information to process your claim. Rules vary by issuer and sometimes by card as seen below. Also keep in mind that most issuers no longer cover Black Friday sales, though I believe both Citi and Discover still will this year, which might make them your go-to choices once we catch wind of Black Friday ads.
Price Protection negative changes
Up through the 2017 holiday season, most of the major issuers offered some type of price protection on at least some of their cards. Unfortunately, over the past year, we’ve seen issuers modify or pull price protection completely on a number of cards. Casualties include:
- Discover: No more price protection as of 10/31/18
- Chase: No more price protection on most cards as of June 1, 2018. Since cutting price protection on the IHG cards in November 2019, just a few of the Mileage Plus cards still carry price protection (as shown below).
- Citi:
Reduced maximums to $200 per claim / $1K per year per card on July 29, 2018 (previously $500 / $2500). No more price protection for purchases as of 9/22/19. - Barclays: Removed price protection from all of its cards 11/1/19.
Price protection overview by issuer
American Express
American Express does not offer price protection on any US-based cards
Bank of America
BOA does not offer price protection
Barclays
Barclays no longer offers price protection as of 11/1/19.
Capital One
Capital One price protection varies by card, but is generally available on some Capital One Mastercards and also on Visa Business Signature cards. In this case, the price protection is available through Mastercard itself on Platinum Mastercards, World Mastercards, and World Elite Mastercards. World Elite Business Mastercards also offer price protection, though the rules and administrator are significantly different. See the various guides to benefits found on this page to see the specifics for your type of card.
For most readers, the key cards offering this benefit are Capital One Visa Business Signature cards, including the Capital One® Spark® Cash for Business, Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business, Capital One® Spark® Cash Select for Business, and Capital One® Spark® Miles Select for Business credit cards. The good news is that each of those cards offers price protection for 60 days, up to $500 per item and $2500 per year.
UPDATE: Before relying on Capital One price protection, please see this reader comment. It might be way harder to use than it should be.
Key Details:
- Find a lower price within: 60-120 days (varies by card)
- Limits: $250 per claim, 4 claims per 12-month period OR up to $500 per claim up to $2,500 per year (varies by card)
- Phone number to file: Varies by card type. Could be: 1-800-MC-ASSIST / 1-800-553-7520 / 1-844-288-2140. Your best bet is to find the guide to benefits that applies to your card.
Exclusions:
What is NOT covered:
Any item purchased from an Internet site whose primary purpose is not the sale of the item or related items.
Items purchased for resale, rental, professional, or commercial use.
Jewelry, art, used or antique items; collectibles of any kind (such as items designed for people to collect or items that
over time become collectibles); recycled, previously owned, refurbished, rebuilt, or remanufactured items.
Customized/personalized, one-of-a-kind, or special-order items.
Layaway items; items returned to any store.
Any items purchased from an auction.
Items for which the printed advertisement or non-auction Internet advertisement containing the lower price was
published after sixty (60) days from the date you purchased the item.
Items advertised or shown as price quotes, bids or final sale amounts from a non-auction Internet site.
Items advertised in or as a result of “limited quantity,” “going out-of-business sales,” “close out”, or as “discontinued”.
Printed advertisements or non-auction Internet advertisements that display pricing lower than your purchased
item due to rebates, special offerings, bonuses, free items/giveaways, manufacturer’s coupons, or special financing.
Professional services, including workmanship, installation, professional advice/counseling, and technical support, or help line.
Plants, shrubs, animals, pets, consumables, and perishables.
Motorized vehicles, including, but not limited to, automobiles, watercraft/boats, aircraft, and motorcycles, or their
motors, equipment, or accessories.
Land, any buildings (including, but not limited, to homes and dwellings), permanently installed items, fixtures, structures,
or home improvement.
Game animals, pets or specimens preserved for display (e.g., fish, birds, reptiles, or mammals).
Traveler’s checks, tickets of any kind (e.g., for airlines, sporting events, concerts, or lottery), negotiable instruments,
bullion, rare or precious metals, stamps, and coins, currency or its equivalent.
Differences in price due to sales tax, storage, shipping, handling, postage, transportation, and delivery.
Differences in price due to foreign exchange rates or fluctuation in foreign exchange rates.
Chase
Chase slashed price protection from most of its credit cards in 2018 and then also from the IHG credit cards in November 2019. However, the benefit remains on the follow cards:
- United TravelBank Card
- United Explorer Business Card
- United Club Card
- United Club Business Card
Notably absent from the list of United cards is the United MileagePlus Explorer (personal). While the Club cards and the Explorer business card and even the no-fee TravelBank card offer price protection, the more mainstream Explorer personal card does not.
Key Details:
- Find a lower price within: 90 days
- Limits: Up to $500 per claim up to $2500 in claims per year
- Phone number to file: The guide to benefits just says to contact the benefits administrator. It makes sense to start with the number on the back of your card.
These cards all offer price protection within 90 days of purchase for a difference of up to $500 per claim and a max of $2,500 in claims per year.
Exclusions:
Price Protection does not cover the following items:
• Animals and living plants
• Boats, automobiles, and any other motorized vehicles and their
motors, equipment, and accessories
• Cell phone service agreements and cell phone contracts
• Items advertised or shown as price quotes, and bids or final sale
amounts from a non-auction Internet site
• Items returned to any store and layaway items
• Items previously owned, sold “as is,” and refurbished items
• Items purchased for resale, professional, or commercial use
• Items purchased outside of the United States
• Jewelry, antiques, collectible items, rare or one-of-a-kind items,
special order items, custom items, and tailored items
• Manufacturer or merchant rebates
• Perishables, services, consumables, and limited-life items
including, but not limited to, rechargeable batteries
• Price differences involving manufacturer and/or merchant
rebates, shipping and handling fees, and sales tax, if any, are not
covered by the Price Protection benefit
• Traveler’s checks, cash, tickets, credit or debit cards, and any
other negotiable instruments
Citibank
Update 9/19: Citi no longer offers price protection.
Discover
Discover no longer offers price protection.
HSBC
The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard® credit card offers price protection. Oddly, the guide to benefits says that coverage applies for 120 days from the date of purchase but then goes on to say that if you do not file your claim within 60 days of purchase it may be denied. YMMV.
Key Details:
- Find a lower price within: 60 days or 120 days (unclear from the guide to benefits)
- Limits: Up to $250 per claim up to 4 claims per year
- Phone number to file: 1-800-MASTERCARD
Exclusions:
- Any item purchased from an Internet site whose primary purpose is not the sale of the
item or related items. - Items purchased for resale, rental, professional, or commercial use.
- Jewelry, art, used or antique items; collectibles of any kind (such as items designed
for people to collect or items that over time become collectibles); recycled, previously
owned, refurbished, rebuilt, or remanufactured items. - Customized/personalized, one-of-a-kind, or special-order items.
- Layaway items; items returned to any store.
- Any items purchased from an auction.
- Items for which the printed advertisement or nonauction Internet advertisement
containing the lower price was published after one hundred and twenty (120) days from
the date you purchased the item. - Items advertised or shown as price quotes, bids or final sale amounts from a non-auction
Internet site. - Items advertised in or as a result of “limited quantity,” “going out-of-business sales,”
“close out”, or as “discontinued”. - Printed advertisements or non-auction Internet advertisements that display
pricing lower than your purchased item due to rebates, special offerings, bonuses, free
items/giveaways, manufacturer’s coupons, or special financing. - Professional services, including workmanship, installation, professional advice/
counseling, and technical support, or help line. - Plants, shrubs, animals, pets, consumables, and perishables.
- Motorized vehicles, including, but not limited to, automobiles, watercraft/boats, aircraft,
and motorcycles, or their motors, equipment, or accessories. - Land, any buildings (including, but not limited, to homes and dwellings), permanently
installed items, fixtures, structures, or home improvement. - Game animals, pets or specimens preserved for display (e.g., fish, birds, reptiles, or
mammals). - Traveler’s checks, tickets of any kind (e.g., for airlines, sporting events, concerts, or
lottery), negotiable instruments, bullion, rare or precious metals, stamps, and coins,
currency or its equivalent. - Differences in price due to sales tax, storage, shipping, handling, postage, transportation,
and delivery. - Differences in price due to foreign exchange rates or fluctuation in foreign exchange rates
Synchrony
The Rakuten Cash Back Visa Credit Card offers price protection (here is the guide to benefits). It is possible that other Synchrony cards have this benefit, though it does not appear to be common on their cards.
Key Details:
- Find a lower price within: 60 days of purchase
- Limits: Up to $500 per item up to $2500 per year
- Phone number to file a claim: 1-800-553-7520. The guide to benefits also suggests that you can file a claim online at cardbenefitservices.com.
Exclusions:
- Internet Auction Advertisements including but not limited to sites such as eBay, Ubid, Yahoo and public or private live auction sites.
- Advertisements of cash-only sales, close-out sales, flea markets, fire sales, going-out-of-business sales, limited-quantity promotions or liquidation sales.
- Advertisements of sales of seasonal or discontinued items including, but not limited to, holiday decorations.
- Animals and living plants.
- Boats, automobiles, and any other motorized vehicles and their motors, equipment, or accessories.
- Cell phone service agreements and cell phone contracts.
- Items purchased for resale, professional, or commercial use.
- Jewelry, antiques, and collectible items, rare or one-of-a-kind items, special order items, custom items, or tailored items.
- Manufacturer and/or merchant rebates.
- Perishables, services, consumables, and limited-life items including, but not limited to, rechargeable batteries.
- Real estate and items which are intended to become part of real estate including, but not limited to, items that are hard-wired or hard-plumbed, garage doors, garage door openers, and ceiling fans.
- Traveler’s checks, cash, tickets, credit or debit cards, and any other negotiable instruments.
- Items purchased outside of the United States.
- Items that are previously owned, sold “as is,” and/or refurbished.
TD Bank
TD Bank does not offer price protection.
US Bank
Price protection is only available on the Cash 365 American Express card (and they call it a “Best Value Guarantee”). Here’s a link to the benefit information,
Key Details:
- Find a lower price within: 30 days
- Limits: $250 per claim, $1K per year
- Phone number to file: 1-855-327-1424
Exclusions:
ltems not covered are: animals and living plants; one-of-a kind items (including antiques, artwork and furs);
limited quantity items; items that the advertisement states can be purchased with cash only; demonstration items;
going-out-of-business sales items; “discontinued” items; consumable or perishable items with limited life spans
(such as, but not limited to perfume, light bulbs, non-rechargeable batteries); jewelry (including, but not limited to
loose gems, precious stones, metals, and pearls); watches; services and additional costs (such as installation charges,
warranties, shipping, taxes, or car rentals); rare and precious coins; stamps; used; rebuilt and refurbished items;
cellular phones; pagers; tickets of any kind; travelers cheques; motorized vehicles (such as cars, trucks, motorcycles,
boats, or airplanes) and their parts; land and buildings; negotiable instruments (such as promissory notes); cash and
its equivalent.
Wells Fargo
The Wells Fargo Visa Signature card offers price protection. Here is the Wells Fargo Visa Signature Guide to Benefits.
Key Details:
- Find a lower price within: 60 days
- Limits: $250 per item, $1K per year per eligible account
- Phone number to file: 1-800-553-7520
Exclusions:
What is not covered?
Price Protection does not cover the following:
• Advertisements of cash-only sales, close-out sales, flea markets, fire
sales, going-out-of-business sales, limited-quantity promotions,
liquidation sales, or auctions
• Advertisements of sales of seasonal or discontinued items including, but
not limited to, holiday decorations
• Animals and living plants
• Boats, automobiles, and any other motorized vehicles and their motors,
9
equipment, or accessories
• Cell phone service agreements and cell phone contracts
• Items purchased for resale, professional, or commercial use
• Jewelry, antiques, and collectible items, rare or one-of-a-kind items,
special order items, custom items, or tailored items
• Manufacturer and/or merchant rebates
• Perishables, services, consumables, and limited-life items including, but
not limited to, rechargeable batteries
• Real estate and items which are intended to become part of real
estate including, but not limited to, items that are hard-wired or hardplumbed,
garage doors, garage door openers, and ceiling fans
• Traveler’s checks, cash, tickets, credit or debit cards, and any other
negotiable instruments
• Items purchased outside of the United States
• Items that are previously owned, sold “as is,” and/or refurbished
Leveraging price protection
It’s important to keep in mind that things like portal rewards and rebates will likely not affect your claim nor be affected by it. For instance, you might find the same item available for $800 with a $150 rebate through Retailer A or for $600 and no rebate through Retailer B. You could theoretically purchase from Retailer A and file your price protection claim. In that case, you should get $200 back from your bank and still get your $150 rebate for a net cost of $450. Stack that with portal rewards for even greater potential savings. For an example of how that might work, see this old (and long expired) deal: Great deal on a 60″ 4K Home Theater Display at Dell with cash back & price protection).
That said, be sure to check the guide to benefits for your card. Some guides will insist that your first recourse is with the retailer itself to ask for any kind of price guarantee or return policy, so it’s worth giving your benefits a read-through before you dive in.
Bottom Line
Price protection can be a valuable benefit to have, especially during retail sales season as it is common for items to go on sale — sometimes for significantly less in the coming weeks. Be aware that most issuers no longer cover Black Friday sales, but other holiday and post-holiday sales should probably be fair game. It pays to keep this kind of thing in the back of your mind to make a great deal outstanding.
Just to confirm, as far as the Chase United Explorer Business card goes, which card is it referring to? The discontinued United Explorer Business card? Or the currently-available United Business card? It would be great if the article was updated to specify which of these two cards are currently eligible.
The new United Quest from Chase doesnt seem to cover price protection, although it has purchase protection and extended warranty..
I am guessing some of this article is still relevant… I will check my spark Visa next…
having the most infuriating issue. I’m likely the only person ever to deal with this (though how could that be??) but figured I’d post in case anyone else has experienced it. I recently signed up for a Capital One Spark Business card. Was told by Capital One that it came with Price Protection, confirmed via phone call prior to applying for the card. I now have a claim I’d like to submit and I’m not able to do so. Capital One continues to say I have the benefit and Mastercard vehemently states I do not. I’ve spoken to CS on both sides and even had calls where they speak to each other, and nobody will take the responsibility of fixing (though unclear if there is something to fix, since I think it simply just does not come with the benefit) or even explaining what’s going on. I should’ve recorded the call with both parties, if only to laugh later…MC saying “I don’t know what to say sir (sir being Cap One’s cs), she doesn’t have this benefit” and Cap One saying “ma’am (ma’am being MC’s cs), she does.” anyway, worth nothing that the Capital One Spark Business card seemingly does NOT have Price Protection 🙂
also, to clarify further, my card is a Mastercard World Elite
Yikes. That’s crazy. I’ll put a note in the post. Thanks for sharing.
[…] though I imagine it may show the phone purchased at full price and the gift card free. See our Price Protection by issuer guide for more information on this […]
[…] The chart below is a summary of the known options. See also this post for more details: Price Protection overview by issuer. […]
Hi Nick, for the Chase United cards, is there somewhere official to find price protection as a listed benefit? I’ve tried looking through the card benefits and can’t find price protection.
Barclays Priceline Visa also has price protection.
this has me thinking. Anybody try doing this with the ebates card yet?
I’m trying right now
Priceline card from Barclays still offer price protection
https://www.pricelinevisa.com/priceline-credit-card/?expb=true&referrerid=PTRPRLFOOTBA1217
so if this article was revamped – it could be written in very short form.
Price Protection is just about dead.
– Most Capital One Visa Bus Cards, and some M/Cs
– A few Chase United cards, but not the personal
– (1) each from Us Bank 365, Wells Fargo Visa Sig, Rakuten Visa, and HSBC Visa
That’s a good summary. For those who have a BOA card, Discover card, etc, and land here by Googling whether or not their card has price protection, they’ll also have a quick answer to their question. The advantage of adding a table of contents to this post is that you can quickly click to see which issuer(s) apply to you and we can easily update under those issuers if one of them adds / changes benefits (hopefully Citi will at some point).
Yes, good observation! U guys are thorough! Well..maybe I will go for the Rakuten Visa in 2020, don’t got any Price Protection cards now. Been good for a few hundred dollars, no more than 5, in cash back over the last few years.
Got no Capital One love, but do get their mailers. Always weary of their pulling from all bureaus. Someday I’ll go for one of their cards. Maybe 2020 is the year of CO love.
Quasimodo needs more sunlight!
So the options are pretty limited and then you have to figure out what you are losing in order to gain the price protection. Are you trading off extra points via a portal for it? Or are you trading off an extended warranty for it? Etc. At this point, I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to get it. There are enough price tracking sites out there that you can get a good idea of whether something is priced high or low and wait for the low prices.
There are many uses where price protection will far outweigh points you could have earned otherwise.
As an example, I realize I was stupid to have passed up the offer when Google was offering the Pixel 4 or Pixel 4 XL with Google Fi credit. If I remember correctly, the Pixel 4 was selling for $800 and Google was bundling $400 in Google Fi credit. Today, that same phone is $700 from Google. Theoretically, one could have bought it for $800 last month and then gotten $100 back from Price Protection this month and essentially have one’s cake and eat it, too. I think I’ve seen the Pixel 4 on sale for even less somewhere else.
The same kind of thing can be useful when there’s a big increase in portal rewards — let’s imagine buying an $800 item with 15% cash back. If it then drops in price, you can once again likely keep the portal rewards *and* get the lower price. Since the price adjustment comes form the bank (not the retailer), it shouldn’t affect your portal cash back.
Generally speaking, the trade you might make in terms of earning fewer rewards on the purchase probably doesn’t outweigh the money you could get back from a price protection claim near the max limits. If you aren’t reasonably confident that you’ll find the item at a lower price, that obviously means you’re making a tradeoff. But with many items, if you’ve been tracking prices, you can probably make a reasonable guess as to what kind of a deal you might be able to find in the next couple of months that could be worthwhile.
Last paragraph that references Citi/Discover no longer applies to them
Thanks! Forgot to change that. Fixed.
One thing I didn’t notice in the terms was that non-refundable hotel stays aren’t excluded. Could that be a way to get both a Best Price Guarantee (from the hotels) and possibly get a reimbursement for a stay if the hotel goes down in price?
No idea if it would actually work, but just an idea…
Not likely to work. I think all of them have clear terms that price protection applies to physical items you purchase. It doesn’t work for stuff like that (nor plane tickets, event tickets, etc).
[…] coverage provided by all its cards from 120 days to 90 days. Chase, Citi and Discover have all been reducing their purchase protection coverage over the past year or so, so it’s no surprise that Amex has decided to follow […]
“Any item purchased from an Internet site whose primary purpose is not the sale of the item or related items.”
What does that mean? If I purchased a phone from cell operator at full retail price. E.g Verizon or google fi. Their main business is wireless provider, not electronic store.
Can I get price match for the Amazon price?
DPs are welcome.