Your credit card will refund a price drop, but you have to ask

May 29, 2026

By Kim Komando

I found out I was owed $140 from a TV I bought two months ago. The store dropped the price.

That’s price protection. You buy something. The price drops. Your credit card refunds you the difference. And they’ll pay it, quietly, as long as you ask.

Most people never do.

💳 Here’s how it works 

You buy a laptop for $1,100. Six weeks later, it drops to $899. You are owed $201. The store doesn’t have to honor a thing. Your card does. The window is typically 60 to 90 days from purchase, sometimes 120. After that? Gone. The clock started ticking the day you swiped.

The average cardholder leaves $300 to $500 in unclaimed benefits on the table every single year. Because nobody told you the benefit existed. The card company isn’t printing billboards about it. They’d rather you forget.

Price protection is most common on Visa Signature, Mastercard World Elite, Chase Sapphire, Capital One Venture and most Amex cards. FYI, some issuers have scaled this benefit back in recent years.

🤖 One prompt, five minutes

Start with one purchase from the last 60 days. A TV. A laSSptop. A phone. Anything over $100. 

Then open ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok and paste this handy prompt I use. Be smart about things, and don’t include your account number. Just sayin’.

I bought [item] for [price] on [date] from [store nSame]. My credit card is [card name]. Search for the current price of this exact item at [store name] and at least two other major retailers. If the price has dropped anywhere since my purchase date, tell me: (1) exactly how much I’m owed and where, (2) how to file a price protection claim with my card, (3) what documentation I need and (4) my exact deadline to file..courier-new { font-family: “Courier New”, Courier, monospace; }

The AI finds the price drop for you, tells you if you’re owed money and hands you step-by-step claim instructions. You don’t have to already know the price fell. The prompt does the hunting. 

💓 Yeah, you love me for this. Once you win one claim, you’ll never buy anything over $100 without thinking about it again. That’s what happened to me.

🗣️ TEXT/POST THIS STAT: The average cardholder leaves $300 to $500 in unclaimed benefits on the table every year. Your credit card has a secret refund feature, but the clock is ticking. @KimKomando 

📩 Send this to someone who bought something big in the last two months and hasn’t given it a second thought since.