Costco: They have decent prices and products; it’s the home of Kirkland and they give out free samples. It’s a great store. It’s thanks to Costco that I have this blog post. You see, Costco used to refund everything as long as you bought the product from them. It didn’t matter what the condition of the product was or if I came back used. You could have bought it years ago and they would still refund it no questions asked. Well, awhile back they decided to change their policy. They are no longer the exchanging machine they used to be. Since I lost that buffer, I needed to come up with another way to get an extended warranty. I wasn’t going to pay for one because I always feel I’m getting ripped off when I do. If the warranty costs as much as the product I don’t see the benefit.  I did some research, and It turns out making my purchases with a credit card solves my problem.

Now there are a million different types of credit cards so I’m not going to go through specific ones. Everything I go over will be generalities that you can look for when choosing a card; However, I can give you some hints to push you in the right direction. If you want a credit card to help supply a warranty on your purchases look for ones that are considered premium cards. They will usually have names with the word gold or platinum in it. These types of cards generally have the best warranty opportunities. In some cases they will even double your warranty period.

OK, so you bought something with your platinum card and it broke. Now what do you do? Credit card companies will require you to send them an estimate, the original receipt, and your credit card statement. Once you submit this to them they should send you the money to either get the original item fixed or for you to buy a new one.

If you’re thinking “hey Chris this all sounds great, but why do they do this?” The answer is simple. They want your business. Credit card companies know that if you are buying something that requires a warranty it’s probably fairly expensive. Their hopes are that you won’t pay your card off right away. That’s why it’s so important to you do. If the credit card companies want you to do one thing you should do the other.

So go out there and find the right card for you. Just remember Pay it off every month!