I have not but come across a sound cause why there must be costs or expiration on gift cards. First, by buying present cards, shoppers are essentially providing 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 quite small possibility the money will be returned (except in a few instances, like lately with Linens and Points).
So, if customers are taking on these dangers by acquiring gift cards, why ought to they then be subjected to fees and expiration? They could as nicely alter the gift card charge disclosures to read like this:
Dear Gift Card Purchaser,
We actually 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 extra cash, offered all the speak of a recession. We thank you for not charging us any interest or costs on the loan. We will place your revenue to work straight away and generate good returns on it. You may perhaps 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 may perhaps even purchase his third McMansion in the Hamptons right after we reward him for creating good use of your loan. A couple of residence cleaning products:
1. If you purchased the gift card from our web page, we may perhaps charge you a processing fee, separate from the shipping charge, in order to get you the card that shows that we owe you funds. Really feel totally free to get stuff in our retailer up to the amount of the loan (gift card value). But if you never hurry, we will punish you each month by charging you ridiculous fees. These costs can begin as quickly as six months into the loan. We may possibly even commence your costs as early as a month into the loan if we so desire. And remember, the costs will continue till the balance on your gift card reaches ZERO. Why? For the reason that we can. Yes, your state legislatures are all complaining about this for the reason that it is an election year. Do you actually assume they will do a thing about this?
2. Also, we have noticed from practical experience that some of you like to wait a extended time, and we mean a long, lengthy time to redeem your gift card. It requires a while for us to get your $100 gift card to ZERO if all we are charging is $two.50 every single month. So, we now have a much better concept. myprepaidcenter balance will charge you the $two.50 for sometime and if you nonetheless never redeem your present card by a certain date, say within two years, your card will expire. When your card expires, we will get all the cash left on the card. You are almost certainly questioning if this is legal. Well, no a single has told us it is not.
3. And don’t even consider about losing your card. We reserve the right not to replace lost or stolen gift 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 may well replace your present 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 Discover), then you superior read the fine print and develop into familiar with charges like Transaction or Statement Copy Fee, Foreign Currency Conversion Fee, Verify issuance Charge, and Transaction Charge / Balance inquiry Charge. And 1 last issue Don’t get in touch with the FTC simply because they could be prepared to push for laws to limit costs on retail gift cards but they have not been willing to touch us, the bank issued gift cards. Why? Due to the fact our lobbyists are doing an exceptional job.
We hope you take pleasure in your present card.
It is my belief that gift card issuers will be better off and make a lot more income if they get rid of charges and expiration from present cards considering the fact that the damaging publicity about present cards from both state lawmakers and the news media has led some customers to remain away from gift cards. This is specifically correct for the duration of the holiday season when every neighborhood news station and newspaper seem to run a story about the dangers of gift card charges and expiration.