New York
CNN
—
Some individuals love them, some individuals hate them. Worse, numerous us who obtain them on particular events are detached to them, and even neglect about them completely.
Such is the unhappy destiny of present playing cards – hundreds of thousands of which go unused every year and have a collective worth estimated to be within the billions of {dollars}.
Virtually two-thirds of American customers have a minimum of one unspent present card tucked away in a drawer, pocket, pockets or purse. And a minimum of half of these customers lose a present card earlier than they use it, in response to a brand new report from Credit score Summit, a web-based supplier of economic advisory companies.
The report mentioned there’s as a lot as $21 billion of unspent cash tied up in unused and misplaced present playing cards. Of these surveyed, a majority of respondents mentioned their unredeemed playing cards had been price $200 or much less.
The Credit score Summit report relies on a December 2022 survey of 1,200 customers aged 16 and older. (Of the respondents, 60% had been feminine, and the earnings vary of these surveyed ranged from lower than $25,000 to greater than $150,000 per yr.)
“Reward playing cards are extraordinarily standard and virtually everybody enjoys getting them. However many individuals go away them sitting in a drawer to redeem on a special day. Use them, don’t save them,” mentioned Rebecca Stumpf, an editor with Credit score Summit.
“If somebody has given you a present card, they need you to spend the cash,” she mentioned.
A separate examine on present card utilization discovered the typical quantity on unused present playing cards final yr was $175 per particular person, up from $116 in 2021.
“I assumed with excessive inflation, individuals would go to city with their present playing cards. however I used to be shocked,” mentioned Ted Rossman, a senior trade analyst with CreditCards.com and Bankrate.com.
In line with a July 2022 survey of two,372 US adults carried out by CreditCards.com, 47% of respondents mentioned they’ve a minimum of one unused present card voucher or retailer credit score.
So why aren’t we utilizing up what individuals have taken the difficulty to provide us?
“Inertia is a giant issue,” mentioned Rossman. “Generally the present card is for a retailer that you just don’t significantly like or it’s not handy to go there.”
Nonetheless, ignoring the present of free cash is unwise, he mentioned.
“They’re not going to get extra helpful over time; it’s the precise reverse, as inflation eats away on the worth. And the longer you maintain onto these unused present playing cards, the extra seemingly you’re to lose them or neglect about them or have the shop exit of enterprise,” mentioned Rossman.
Some Visa, Mastercard and American Specific present playing cards add penalties in the event that they’re not utilized in a selected time frame, mentioned Stumpf. Underneath federal regulation, however, a gift card cannot expire until at least five years from the date it was activated; the regulation additionally locations normal limitations on charges for dormant playing cards.
And should you simply don’t need to be bothered with the cardboard you obtained, there are some straightforward fixes there, too. “There are a number of web sites on which you’ll promote or change them,” mentioned Rossman.