Gift cards would be the quintessential easy gift idea. Everybody uses them, and they avoid questions like “Will this fit her?” or “Will he like this?” Gift cards and gift certificates are available from all sorts of stores, ranging from the mundane like supermarkets and drug stores to more specialized businesses like spas and travel agencies. No matter where you get or receive a card from, however, it is very important to guard yourself as a consumer and be familiar together with your rights surrounding gift card use. In the end, they are used as form of currency and should be treated as frugally as you might treat cash.
What can I really do with something special card I don’t want?
There are a large amount of options for putting gift cards you don’t want to good use. You will find websites that exist for the sole intent behind buying and selling gift cards. buy airbnb gift card Gift Card Granny, like, will buy your card for 60%-80% of its value. You may also sell your card on a website like Craigslist or eBay. Other websites like Gift Card Swapping permit you to trade your gift card for just one you’ll actually use.
In 2009, the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act [gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ24/pdf/PLAW-111publ24.pdf] passed into federal law. The act covers lots of ground surrounding the protection of credit cardholders, but it addittionally created some federal standards for gift card issuers which can be designed to protect consumers. These include requiring that cards, with a couple of exceptions, expire at least five years after issuance and that dormancy fees can only just be charged after twelve months of inactivity and only when these fees are fully disclosed to consumers. In line with the CARD Act, stores are allowed to start charging dormancy fees – meaning, a charge to help keep the card active when it has not been used after a specific amount of time – after twelve months of inactivity, and no multiple charge per month. Eventually, these charges may deplete the worth of the card. This is an important way stores and major card issuers like American Express make money. However, some states have introduced additional, and sometimes contradictory, legislation surrounding gift card law.
For instance, New York law allows stores to start charging monthly dormancy fees after just twelve months of inactivity. It can be legal for stores to charge a replacement fee for lost cards, and they don’t require stores to give cash back for small balances on cards. Additionally, after five years cards are deemed “abandoned” and the total amount of the card is forfeited to the state. Other states, like New Jersey, establish abandonment after as low as couple of years of inactivity. (In New Jersey’s case, this policy has been deemed unconstitutional, so the state remains in flux between enforcing the overturned state standard and the federal standard.) Such provisions, which remove the profit for card sellers that accompany unused cards, have caused major issuers like American Express to grab of grocery and convenience stores in certain states.
For comparison, California grants gift card users with protection beyond the federal standard. Cards are never permitted to expire, even after five years, and dormancy fees can only just be charged after couple of years of inactivity and only when the total amount on the card is less than $5.
What if there’s only a little money left on my card?
You might be able to get your balance in cash. Beneath the CARD Act, most businesses are needed to supply cash for the remaining balance on a card if the total amount is less than $5. (In some states, this minimum value is higher.) Obviously, businesses often fail to train their front-of-the-line staff with this law, so you might need to escalate through the ranks to find someone actually informed of the law.
What should I learn about online gift cards?
Online “gift certificate” sites offering deals like Groupon and LivingSocial fall under a notably gray area of the law. Generally, they are treated as coupons rather than gift cards, meaning they can generally set their own terms in regards to expiration dates and redemption policies. Groupon, like, requires that stores honor the worth an individual paid for a package after the deal has expired, but only as a store credit.
Virtual cards, such as the popular Amazon or iTunes cards which can be often sent via email, don’t usually expire. Sometimes they could be redeemed only online and not at brick-and-mortar stores, so read the terms of the card carefully. Otherwise, they are at the mercy of exactly the same laws as tangible cards; like, Amazon includes the necessary language to indicate that cash refunds are only available where “required by applicable state law,” although it generally does not give information on how to go about claiming small balances in cash.