Pros And Cons Of Digital Coupons
BOSTON (CBS) - With six children, Meghan Caron spends much of Sunday clipping coupons.
"It's a massive undertaking. I really anticipate the Sunday paper coming," she said.
Now she is trying digital coupons as an alternative.
These are promotions or discounts that are automatically loaded onto your debit card, credit card, or store loyalty card.
When one of those cards is used, the savings are automatically deducted.
Janna Herron of bankrate.com expects the use of these types of coupons to grow dramatically.
"It's convenient," she explained.
"Consumers don't have to stuff their purse or their wallet with a bunch of paper coupons, and they don't have to worry about forgetting them because it is linked to a card."
Some coupons can be found directly on your credit or debit card statements.
Others are available thru third party web sites, such as mylinkables.com and pgesaver.com.
Herron said, "Typically, you register your debit card or credit card or store loyalty card on either the third party web site or your bank's web site. And then, when you see the coupon you want, you just click it on."
Tom Burgess of mylinkables.com said his company supports 99-percent of all credit or debit cards from around the country.
Meghan registered with mylinkables and is already seeing savings, like during her last visit to a home improvement store.
"My savings there was between $5-$10, which was very significant savings for us."
While digital coupons can save you money, Herron says it's important to know that most services monitor your purchase history, so you can receive targeted coupons.
There is also a risk that some information will be sold to retailers.
Herron added, "Consumers should read the privacy policy before signing up for these services so they know how the information is gathered, what is collected, who it is being shared with."
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports
Burgess wants consumers to know his company protects data.
"We deal with directly," he said. "The consumers data, all that personally identifiable information, your name, your address, and so forth, remains behind the firewall of the bank."
