I have not however come across a sound explanation why there ought to be charges or expiration on gift cards. First, by buying 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 more. Second, if the firm goes bankrupt, there is extremely tiny possibility the money will be returned (except in a couple of cases, like recently with Linens and Points).

So, if customers are taking on these dangers by purchasing present cards, why must they then be subjected to fees and expiration? They may as nicely adjust the present card fee disclosures to study like this:

Dear Present Card Purchaser,

We definitely appreciate the unsecured loan you gave us. Together, you all gave us $97 billion in loans in 2007, up from $83 billion in 2006. You know we could use the extra cash, given all the talk of a recession. We thank you for not charging us any interest or charges on the loan. We will put your cash to perform instantly and create great returns on it. You might 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 present card expires). Heck, our CEO might even acquire his third McMansion in the Hamptons following we reward him for producing very good use of your loan. A couple of property cleaning items:

1. If you purchased the present card from our site, we might charge you a processing fee, separate from the shipping charge, in order to get you the card that shows that we owe you dollars. Really feel free to acquire stuff in our store up to the amount of the loan (gift card value). But if you don’t hurry, we will punish you each and every month by charging you ridiculous charges. These costs can begin as quickly as six months into the loan. We may well even begin your costs as early as a month into the loan if we so want. And bear in mind, the fees will continue until the balance on your present card reaches ZERO. Why? Because we can. Yes, your state legislatures are all complaining about this because it is an election year. Do you actually assume they will do some thing about this?

two. Also, we have noticed from encounter that some of you like to wait a lengthy time, and we imply a lengthy, long time to redeem your present card. It requires a even though for us to get your $one hundred gift card to ZERO if all we are charging is $two.50 each month. So, we now have a far better notion. We will charge you the $two.50 for sometime and if you nevertheless do not redeem your gift card by a certain date, say inside two years, your card will expire. As soon as your card expires, we will get all the income left on the card. You are likely asking yourself if this is legal. Well, no a single has told us it isn’t.

3. And do not even assume about losing your card. We reserve the right not to replace lost or stolen present cards. Yes, we know that if you shed 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 could replace your gift card, but we will charge you a fee, up to $15 to teach you a lesson.

four. Lastly, if you purchased a bank issued present card (like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Find out), then you better study the fine print and turn into familiar with fees like Transaction or Statement Copy Charge, Foreign Currency Conversion Fee, Verify issuance Fee, and Transaction Fee / Balance inquiry Fee. And Check giftcardmall balance because they may be prepared to push for laws to limit costs on retail present cards but they have not been willing to touch us, the bank issued gift cards. Why? Due to the fact our lobbyists are undertaking an fantastic job.

We hope you love your present card.

It is my belief that gift card issuers will be much better off and make far more dollars if they take away fees and expiration from present cards considering the fact that the adverse publicity around present cards from both state lawmakers and the news media has led some buyers to remain away from gift cards. This is especially accurate throughout the vacation season when every nearby news station and newspaper look to run a story about the dangers of present card fees and expiration.