Your Money Jax: How to better save and protect yourself on Black Friday

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Black Friday sales are already underway, and you’ve made your gift list. You know your budget. Now what?

Well, it’s “Your Money Jax,” so we looked into ways you can protect yourself this holiday season.

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Our friends at Consumers’ Checkbook have some good advice for shoppers before you part with your hard-earned cash.

First, don’t use cash. Protect yourself by paying with a credit card.

When you pay with plastic, you get strong consumer protections. If you’re a victim of fraud or get something that’s broken or in poor quality and the seller won’t make it right, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company. That’s harder to do with debit, however.

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Plus, certain credit cards give you more protection than others.

“So, this was on my Chase Freedom Flex card, which is not an annual fee cashback card. They will reimburse you for certain damages or theft within I believe 90 days of purchase,” explained Ted Rossman with Bankrate. “So, my wife bought an Apple Watch. She accidentally dropped it like a month after buying it. The screen cracked. The credit card company actually paid for a new one.”

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Second, skip extended warranties.

If you’re shopping for a phone, TV, computer, appliance or a dozen other products, you’ll likely get urged to shell out for a “protection plan.” They’re also known as extended warranties.

Consumers’ Checkbook said these policies are easy money for retailers that hawk them and for the insurance companies that administer them, but they are usually bad deals for customers. Stay away!

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Finally, check return policies and keep your receipts.

Many stores have strict return policies and make sending back online purchases a huge hassle, and now, more are trying to discourage returns by making you pay to ship them back.

Before you buy, familiarize yourself with the return policy. Most policies are flexible during the holiday shopping season.

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