Discover Bank is stripping most of its credit cards of key benefits, such as car rental coverage, extended warranty, purchase protection, return guarantee and flight accident insurance, effective Feb. 28.
Car rental collision damage waiver provides coverage in case of an accident. Extended warranty prolongs a manufacturer’s warranty by a full year. Purchase protection covers recently purchased items for theft or damage. Return guarantee allows sending an item back in case a retailer doesn’t accept the return. Flight accident insurance covers the accidental death of a traveler on a ticket purchased with a Discover credit card for up to $500,000.
If you hold a Discover credit card, any card, this isn’t good news. The bank is not removing these benefits from a single card; the issuer is removing the perks from an entire portfolio of cards.
Price protection, as well as point earning, cash back match and access to FICO scores, will remain the same. Price protection offers cardholders a refund in case a purchased item drops in price within an eligible time frame.
Removing valuable credit card benefits will make Discover cards less desirable for everyday use. Many cards offer rental car insurance, for example, and removing this benefit will shift that particular spending onto other cards for many cardholders. It would be interesting to see whether the card issuer would add other perks to replace the ones being discontinued or if the issuer would leave things as is.
Cardmembers can continue to use the full list of currently available benefits until Feb. 28.
In light of this news, will you keep using your Discover credit card?
No comments:
Post a Comment