Retailer Gift Cards Have Fewer Strings Attached

Sandra Block writes for USA Today in her Your Money column about gift cards - recommending that gift givers avoid bank-issued "open loop" gift cards and thereby avoid the "expiration dates, inactivity fees and other restrictions" typically found on those cards. She cites the fourth annual report on gift cards issued last week by the Office of Consumer Protection in Montgomery County, Maryland titled "Gift Cards 2006: Retail Cards Continue to Improve (with Prodding); Bank Cards Still Have Problems" (PDF). The study reviewed "gift cards, packaging and inserts, websites, and policies of 40 major retailers and restaurant chains and ten bank card issuers" - concluding that "some major retailers and restaurants have made substantial improvements in their cards" while finding no such improvements in bank-issued gift cards saying "they continue to impose a slew of fees."