The Ancestry Subscription Discount from AARP is for real!
You can save $100 on an annual Ancestry World Explorer subscription if you are an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) member. A few weeks ago, I published a post about the 30 percent AARP discount to Ancestry.com subscriptions for new or renewing Ancestry World Explorer subscribers.
There was confusion among readers about Ancestry‘s actual pricing for this subscription discount, so here’s what I learned when I called today to renew my annual subscription.
Ancestry Membership Levels:
There are now three levels of Ancestry subscriptions:
U.S. Discovery: All U.S. records on Ancestry.com ($20/monthly or $99/6 months but no discount through AARP)
World Explorer: All U.S. & international records on Ancestry.com ($34.99/monthly, $149/6 months or $104/6 months with AARP membership, renewable for another six months at the AARP discount rate)
World Explorer Plus: All U.S. & international records on Ancestry.com + Fold3.com + Newspapers.com ($45/monthly or $199/6 months but no discount through AARP)
Getting the AARP Discount
If you are an existing Ancestry subscriber, wait until you are a few days out from your renewal and call 1-800-514-4645 (7 days a week, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET) to link your AARP membership to your Ancestry account for the discount. If you are a new Ancestry subscriber, call the same number to get started using the discount.
The Ancestry representative I talked to this afternoon advised me to switch to a 6-month rate using the AARP discount ($104) with automatic renewal for another 6 months at the AARP discount rate. Because my renewal date is October 25, Ancestry credited me another month for the three days of service I lost by renewing today. And the Ancestry representative told me to call a few days before my 2015 annual renewal in November of 2015 to gain another extra month’s credit for sacrificing a few days of service.
So the math for me works out like this: $104 for Ancestry World Explorer through May 2015, with automatic 6-month renewal to November 2015 for another $104. Call November 20th and gain another free month for renewing annually at the regular rate. That equals 14 months of World Explorer for $208.
Ancestry might want to think about making this clearer for new and renewing subscribers, because right now it resembles figuring out your cell phone bill, but with nicer customer service reps.
The Bottom Line
TL;DR (too long; didn’t read): The Ancestry Subscription Discount from AARP is good for one year if you renew for two six-month periods at the World Explorer level.
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