Gift cards...ouch!
I am currently guilty of carrying around...let me count...nine gift cards, plus an extra Starbucks card at home. I'm guessing you are only slightly less guilty than me. But watch out for stores that slowly chip away at your gift card balance, warns a story from Stateline.org. "...some cards come with expiration dates or maintenance fees that make using them a hassle. For example: Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s gift cards expire two years after they were last used. Shell’s gas cards impose a fee of $1.75 each month after a year of non-use. The All-Access Visa Gift Card charges a processing fee, a $4.95 monthly fee after the first year, and 50 cents just to check the balance of the gift by phone."
But not all is lost. The story continues "...30 states have some sort of limitation on expiration dates or fees, while another seven require that fees and expirations be disclosed." Stores such as Barnes & Noble, Blockbuster, Kmart and Toys “R” Us have dropped their expiration dates and service fees.
Pay special attention to prepaid cards like those from Visa and American Express. They can be used at any store but have the highest processing fees, monthly service fees, and expiration dates, the story says. "Even without card fees, retailers are still raking in money because many gift cards never get used. Nationally, about 10 percent of the value of gift cards is never spent, and in 2006, that added up to $8 billion."
