I have not but come across a sound cause why there must be charges or expiration on present cards. Very first, by obtaining present cards, shoppers are primarily providing the card issuers an unsecured loan, on which they earn no interest, even if the card is not redeemed for a year or additional. Second, if the enterprise goes bankrupt, there is very small opportunity the funds will be returned (except in a handful of situations, like recently with Linens and Things).

So, if customers are taking on these risks by acquiring gift cards, why should they then be subjected to charges and expiration? They could as effectively change the present card charge disclosures to study like this:

Dear Present Card Buyer,

We seriously appreciate the unsecured loan you gave us. With each other, you all gave us $97 billion in loans in 2007, up from $83 billion in 2006. You know we could use the additional money, given all the speak of a recession. We thank you for not charging us any interest or charges on the loan. We will put your revenue to work right away and create excellent returns on it. You may possibly even hear about all the kudos we will get from Wall Street due to our outstanding earnings (which will be helped by the money we get when your gift card expires). myprepaidcenter balance , our CEO may well even get his third McMansion in the Hamptons just after we reward him for making great use of your loan. A couple of residence cleaning products:

1. If you bought the present card from our web-site, we could charge you a processing fee, separate from the shipping charge, in order to get you the card that shows that we owe you money. Feel free to obtain stuff in our store up to the amount of the loan (present card worth). But if you never hurry, we will punish you every single month by charging you ridiculous costs. These charges can start as quickly as six months into the loan. We might even start out your costs as early as a month into the loan if we so desire. And try to remember, the fees will continue until the balance on your gift card reaches ZERO. Why? Due to the fact we can. Yes, your state legislatures are all complaining about this for the reason that it is an election year. Do you really believe they will do a thing about this?

two. Also, we have noticed from practical experience that some of you like to wait a lengthy time, and we imply a lengthy, lengthy time to redeem your gift card. It requires a when for us to get your $100 gift card to ZERO if all we are charging is $2.50 every month. So, we now have a improved thought. We will charge you the $two.50 for sometime and if you nevertheless don’t redeem your gift card by a certain date, say inside two years, your card will expire. After your card expires, we will get all the money left on the card. You are possibly asking yourself if this is legal. Effectively, no a single has told us it isn’t.

3. And don’t even assume about losing your card. We reserve the right not to replace lost or stolen present 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 whatever we want. If we feel generous, we could replace your present card, but we will charge you a charge, up to $15 to teach you a lesson.

4. Lastly, if you purchased a bank issued gift card (like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), then you greater read the fine print and turn into familiar with charges like Transaction or Statement Copy Charge, Foreign Currency Conversion Charge, Verify issuance Fee, and Transaction Fee / Balance inquiry Fee. And 1 last thing Never call the FTC simply because they may perhaps be willing to push for laws to limit fees on retail gift cards but they have not been willing to touch us, the bank issued present cards. Why? Because our lobbyists are carrying out an great job.

We hope you appreciate your gift card.

It is my belief that present card issuers will be superior off and make extra cash if they take away fees and expiration from present cards because the damaging publicity about gift cards from each state lawmakers and the news media has led some consumers to keep away from present cards. This is particularly correct for the duration of the holiday season when just about every regional news station and newspaper look to run a story about the dangers of gift card costs and expiration.