Gift cards: 5-year limit, expiration dates help consumers
Michigan – It’s almost become a holiday tradition: You receive a gift card, toss it in a drawer and forget about it for awhile – maybe a long while. Then when you finally go to redeem it, the retail clerk tells you the card has expired. There is nothing on the card indicating an expiration date, only the clerk’s explanation that it is “store policy.” Sorry.
Such scenarios should become a thing of the past for anyone purchasing a gift card or gift certificate in Michigan after Nov. 1.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm this week signed into law legislation mandating that any gift cards or certificates sold after that date cannot expire in less than five years after purchase. Furthermore, the expiration date must be printed conspicuously on the gift card or certificate so that recipients easily can see how long they have to redeem it.
While some retailers may not be pleased – after all, who wouldn’t love to be paid for goods or services never rendered? – we think the new regulations bring much-needed clarity to an issue that has caused frustration for a great many gift-card buyers and recipients.
