Tips For Buying A Gift Card

There is good news starting in November of 2009 concerning gift card purchases. The Federal Reserve Board has made changes and new rules that will greatly benefit the consumer.

The rules apply to the fees and expiration dates that apply to many of the gift cards.

It used to be that the gift cards had expiration dates, that if you didn't use the card by that date that you could forfeit your money that you had on the card. Also if you didn't use the card for a certain period of time that they would slowly take money from your card each month until the card was totally drained.

The new rules are now that they can only start taking fees if the card has not been used at all for at least one full year. Only then can they start charging fees on the gift cards.

The Feds also enacted that only one fee could be charged per month, and they must include the disclosures at the date of purchase of the fees and the rules pertaining to the gift cards.


Now the gift card that you get for Christmas or other Holiday gifts are and will be worth more longer if you chose not to use it right away.

You will want to treat your gift card just as you would if you had cash. Since there is no name on the card, if it is lost, it could be fair game and used by anyone that finds it.

Sometimes if you lose a card or have it stolen you can try to report it immediately to the issuer and they may replace it, sometimes they will charge a fee, but if someone who stolen the card or found the card have used it, you may be out of the money on that card.

You can get discounted gift cards online and save money while doing it. If you are buying a discount gift card off an online auction such as EBay you will want to check the sellers feedback before purchasing the card. Don't buy a card from someone that doesn't have an excellent feedback rating. When you do get the gift card in the mail you will immediately want to call the company using the toll free number on the card and verify the amount.

The drawbacks of buying a gift card online is that the person that you bought the card from may have wrote down the number and the pin number and even though your card is telling you that you have a full balance that you were expecting, they may make a purchase using the number that they wrote down, leaving your card drained. Always do your homework before purchasing a card online.

If you are looking for discount gift cards you can find them online easily. There are many places that will have gift card trades and discount gift cards available to purchase. If you look at places like Craigslist you will also find people selling gift cards for less money that is on the cards for cash. These are usually cards that they have gotten for Holidays and they don't shop at the places or just need the cash.

Before heading to the store or ordering something online with the gift card, call the number on the card to verify the amount on the card.

If using the card online for an online purchase make sure that the website that you are using is secured.

Write down the information such as the PIN number and the gift card number before heading out to the store. You may also want to write down the toll free number on the card just in case you misplace the card.

Treat the gift card as cash. Most of the time if you lose the grift card you will be out the money that was on the card.