What Store that Sells Visa Gift Cards?
There is no reason why gift cards should have fees and expiration, especially since gift cards are a loan to the card issuer until the card holder redeems the gift card. Gift card issuers will make more money if they remove fees and expiration from gift cards since the negative publicity around fees and expiration are turning away some consumers from gift cards. I have not yet come across a sound reason why there should be fees or expiration on gift cards. First, by buying gift cards, consumers 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 company goes bankrupt, there is very little chance the money will be returned (except in a few cases, like recently with Linens and Things). So, if consumers are taking on these risks by buying gift cards, why should they then be subjected to fees and expiration? They might as well change the gift card fee disclosures to read like this: We
