Credit Cards

How about this for a sales pitch? If you have a credit card from Citicorp, or one from Valley National Bank of Arizona, or from First Bank System Inc., Minneapolis, you are promised that you will get the best deal on whatever you buy.

The credit card banks will pay refunds to MasterCard and Visa cardholders when the items they buy with their cards are advertised at prices lower than they already paid.

According to the marketing experts who thought up this great plan, people overpay for merchandise much more often than they break or lose things. Therefore, they feel this price-protection program is much more useful to card holders than buyer-protection plans, now a standard feature on most credit cards, which extend manufacturers' warranties against loss, theft and damage.

If you buy furniture, clothing, electronics, or an appliance with your Citibank Visa or MasterCard and during the next 60 days after you buy it you see the same item advertised by any store at a lower cost in a newspaper or magazine, you simply ask the Citibank to reimburse you the difference.

To do that you call a toll-free number, get a claim form, and send it back to the bank along with the appropriate receipts and a copy of the advertisement. The bank will provide coverage of up to $250 on each claim, and up to $1,000 a year per customer.

Valley National Bank reimburses only when the prices of items are reduced at the store of purchase and are limited to $100 a claim.

The American Banker, which first reported this story on April 2, 1991, said they couldn't get any report on activity from First Bank System, Inc.

Copyright © 1991 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 2, No. 4, 5/91