Beware that little plastic rectangle
Got a gift card for Christmas? Thought so. The National Retail Federation estimated in a recent report that more than 80 percent of shoppers were going to include plastic gift cards inside greeting cards this holiday season.
Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, called gift cards “the perfect foolproof option for friends and family.”
Harry Friedman, a retail industry consultant, didn’t dispute that assessment, but he said this isn’t exactly the best reflection of Americans’ t houghtfulness toward others.
“Could we be any more disengaged?” he said. “Gift cards save us the trouble of actually having to think about other people and what they want and what they care about.”
Be that as it may, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to these ubiquitous holiday goodies.
In some states, retailers are allowed to place an expiration date on gift cards. Or they might attach service fees for using them or even a so-called dormancy fee if you don’t use them.
Nationwide, new rules for the gift-card road were laid down in 2009 by the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act.
They require consumers to use a gift card at least once a year to avoid service, dormancy and inactivity fees. They also limit retailers to one such fee per month.
Expiration dates are still allowed by the federal law, but only after at least five years.
If you do get a gift card for Christmas, use it. About $1 billion in gift-card value goes unused each year, according to the consulting firm CEB TowerGroup.