I have not however come across a sound cause why there really should be costs or expiration on gift cards. Very first, by purchasing gift cards, buyers are essentially giving the card issuers an unsecured loan, on which they earn no interest, even if the card is not redeemed for a year or much more. Second, if the firm goes bankrupt, there is quite small likelihood the dollars will be returned (except in a couple of instances, like lately with Linens and Items).

So, if customers are taking on these risks by obtaining present cards, why should they then be subjected to fees and expiration? They may as well alter the gift card fee disclosures to read like this:

Dear Present Card Purchaser,

We really appreciate the unsecured loan you gave us. Collectively, you all gave us $97 billion in loans in 2007, up from $83 billion in 2006. You know we could use the added money, provided all the talk of a recession. We thank you for not charging us any interest or costs on the loan. We will put your income to work instantly and create excellent returns on it. You could even hear about all the kudos we will get from Wall Street due to our outstanding earnings (which will be helped by the cash we get when your present card expires). Heck, our CEO might even acquire his third McMansion in the Hamptons just after we reward him for producing very good use of your loan. A few house cleaning items:

1. If you bought the gift card from our web-site, we may charge you a processing charge, separate from the shipping charge, in order to get you the card that shows that we owe you dollars. Feel no cost to buy stuff in our shop up to the quantity of the loan (gift card value). But if you don’t hurry, we will punish you every single month by charging you ridiculous costs. These charges can start as soon as six months into the loan. We may perhaps even start off your costs as early as a month into the loan if we so desire. And keep in ready card balance , the charges will continue until the balance on your gift card reaches ZERO. Why? Since we can. Yes, your state legislatures are all complaining about this for the reason that it is an election year. Do you definitely assume they will do anything about this?

two. Also, we have noticed from experience that some of you like to wait a long time, and we imply a lengthy, lengthy time to redeem your present card. It requires a whilst for us to get your $one hundred gift card to ZERO if all we are charging is $2.50 every single month. So, we now have a better concept. We will charge you the $two.50 for sometime and if you nonetheless don’t redeem your present card by a certain date, say within two years, your card will expire. As soon as your card expires, we will get all the cash left on the card. You are likely wondering if this is legal. Properly, no one particular has told us it isn’t.

three. And never even think about losing your card. We reserve the appropriate not to replace lost or stolen gift cards. Yes, we know that if you lose your Savings Account Statement or CD Certificate, the bank will replace it, but we are not a bank, so we can do what ever we want. If we really feel generous, we may possibly replace your present card, but we will charge you a fee, up to $15 to teach you a lesson.

4. Lastly, if you bought a bank issued gift card (like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Find out), then you better study the fine print and turn out to be familiar with fees like Transaction or Statement Copy Charge, Foreign Currency Conversion Fee, Verify issuance Fee, and Transaction Charge / Balance inquiry Fee. And a single final point Do not get in touch with the FTC for the reason that they may be prepared to push for laws to limit charges on retail present cards but they have not been willing to touch us, the bank issued present cards. Why? Mainly because our lobbyists are performing an exceptional job.

We hope you take pleasure in your gift card.

It is my belief that gift card issuers will be superior off and make more cash if they remove costs and expiration from gift cards considering the fact that the adverse publicity about gift cards from both state lawmakers and the news media has led some shoppers to stay away from gift cards. This is particularly accurate for the duration of the vacation season when every single regional news station and newspaper appear to run a story about the dangers of gift card costs and expiration.