From Scripps Howard via the Quad-City Times: "If Santa brings a gift card, make sure you use it quickly"--
The 75 percent of shoppers who will buy gift cards this holiday must learn to scan the fine print . . . because the cards can carry all kinds of fees and rules including time limits for redemption, warns Bill Hampel of the Credit Union National Association.
Often the story here is use it or lose it,” he says. “Ask the vendor how long the gift card is good for, if it carries fees to check balances and the like and if the card will cost the recipient anything. If the answer is yes ... get something else.”
Help is on the way for gift card buyers, expected to spend $45 billion on cards this year, by consultant Bain & Co.’s estimate. The National Retail Federation predicts $17.34 billion worth to be sold this month.
States have begun policing gift card practices for hidden fees and other requirements that can erase the face value of the cards. Starting with California in 1996, a number of states have enacted laws extending expiration dates and prohibiting hidden fees, and a dozen more have proposed similar legislation.
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