Price Protection

What Is Price Protection?

Price protection is a feature that credit card companies offer that allows cardholders to receive a refund when an item they bought with that credit card drops in price within a specified period.

Deeper Definition

Price protection is a feature many credit cards companies offer their users. The program gives users a refund on purchases they made with the credit card if the price of those purchases goes down within a specified period.

Imagine you bought a ticket from an airline for $720 with your credit card. After 14 days, the airline reduced the same ticket price to $600. With a price protection feature, the credit card company owes you a refund of $120.

Each credit card company has their set of terms and conditions that governs the refund program. 

Some companies may exclude certain purchases from price protection. Also, some companies may set a maximum yearly refund amount. For instance, a company may set the total amount of refunds a cardholder is entitled to in a year as $1000. Typically, the time frame most companies offer for this is within 30 to 60 days. 

Not many cardholders know about this credit card feature, so many cardholders do not take advantage of it. For a cardholder to get a refund, they must file a claim, with proof of old and new price, with the credit card company used to make the purchase.

Price protection offers an excellent way for shoppers to save money. However, some shoppers may ignore it if the price change is insignificant, i.e., $1 difference.

Price Protection Example

John bought a washing machine from an online store using his credit card. Some days later, while shopping for another item, he discovered that the price of the washing machine he bought earlier is $300 lower than what he paid. To receive a refund of the price difference, John filed a complaint with his credit card company.