A new survey from American Express reports that 10 percent of consumers actually intend to open their wallets and spend more on holiday gifts relative to last year and 43 percent plan to spend about the same. In the next 30 days, more than one in five U.S. consumers (22%) expect to spend more when compared to the last 30 day period.

The latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, the third in a monthly series, reports about consumers’ views on the economy, what they plan to spend on and what motivates them to spend or save. The research sample of 2011 adults included the general U.S. population, as well as two subgroups – the affluent and young professionals. READ MORE

The Federal Reserve Board has announced proposed rules that it says "would restrict the fees and expiration dates that may apply to gift cards. The rules would protect consumers from certain unexpected costs and would require that gift card terms and conditions be clearly stated." See the highlights of the proposed rules. READ MORE

Western Union has launched a new Visa prepaid gift card and greeting card offering enabling consumers to send the gift of money using Western Union branded prepaid gift cards available at http://www.WesternUnion.com. READ MORE

Univision Communications has announced a strategic alliance with MasterCard Worldwide to introduce two new prepaid financial services, the Univision Prepaid MasterCard Card® (Tarjeta Univision MasterCard Prepagada®) and the Univision MasterCard Gift Card® (Tarjeta de Regalo Univision®). Both of these prepaid cards will be available nationally in 2010 and are being developed to provide Hispanic consumers with access to relevant, flexible and valuable financial tools that can be used anywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted. READ MORE

A consumer survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and undertaken by the Opinion Research Corporation earlier this month revealed widespread misunderstanding of general purpose gift cards. According to the CFA, "only 33 percent of a representative sample of 1004 adult Americans know how much these cards cost to purchase, and only 54 percent are aware that “six to twelve months after purchase, some of these gift cards charge a monthly fee.” READ MORE

Coinstar E-Payment Services has announced that it is expanding its Pay As You Go product offerings including a new Amazon MP3-branded Gift Card, a GoCash Game Card for prepaid online gaming offerings, and two new nFinanSe Discover® branded cards in the reloadable prepaid and gift card categories. READ MORE

Archstone Consulting has announced the results of its 2009 Gift Card Trend Report examining the performance of the gift card market, consumer and retailer trends, and government action.

"Gift cards are still the gift of choice among consumers, but gift card purchases reflect the challenging economic times; values per card are down, and the focus (similar to last year) is on the pragmatic not frivolous," commented Dave Sievers, Principal and the Consumer Products and Retail Practice lead at Archstone Consulting. READ MORE

Blackhawk Network has announced that its Rewards Visa Gift Card will now be offered to businesses through Blackhawk Network’s Incentives and Rewards business-to-business program. The Visa Gift Cards can be customized with a variety of personalization options, such as company logo and branding, custom card and carrier messaging, variable expiration dates, and variable value loads. The card can be redeemed anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. READ MORE

The Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA), a trade association originally formed last October, has announced the addition of Darden Restaurants, AMC Entertainment, Disney, JCPenney, Lowe’s Home Improvement, L.L.Bean, Foot Locker, Bass Pro Shops, Bon Ton, SpaFinder and Giant Eagle to its membership. The RGCA - "established by retailers for retailers" - says it "understands the need to promote a more accurate depiction of the practices, sales and terms related to the closed loop gift card market." READ MORE

Seeking Alpha just posted the transcript from Safeway's quarterly earnings call held on July 23. On the call, Safeway CEO Steven A. Burd commented on Blackhawk Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Safeway:

To give you a brief update on Blackhawk, the value of total card sales—this is what we offer in terms of face value of the card—increased 24% for quarter two and that leaves us at 25% for the first half of this year.

The sales of closed loop partner cards are an interesting one to follow because essentially those cards represent the gift cards of a lot of retailers who are going through the same kind of economic events that we are. The sales of the closed loop partner cards increased 22.4% in the quarter and are growing at a rate that is much faster than our partners' own card sales.

Year-to-date we are on plan for Blackhawk, both in terms of face value card sales and earnings."

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Monday that sets aside $4 billion to subsidize new car purchases by consumers who scrap their old clunkers. The legislation is now moving to the Senate and, according to CNN, is supported by President Obama.

Maybe what this country needs is a Clunker Card to go with this "clunker bill". When you make your purchase, the dealer uses the Clunker Card to authorize the subsidy, allowing the Federal government to track usage, etc.? Think of the psychological power that card will exert on consumers who receive it - they'll just have to spend it!

Reminds me of the American Gift Card that Dan Newman first proposed in an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier this year!

Merchants with existing plastic gift card programs can now take advantage of Mocapay's recently launched mobile gift card iPhone application, available on iTunes. READ MORE

Title IV of The Credit CARD Act of 2009 imposes limits on issuers of gift cards and prepaid cards with respect to dormancy fees and expiration dates to become effective within 15 months. Dormancy fees can't be charged unless fully disclosed and only after a one year period of domancy. Expiration dates cannot be less than five years from either the original date of purchase or from the date of the most recent reload to the card and must also be fully disclosed to the purchaser. The Act requires that the Federal Reserve within 9 months prescribe regulations to carry out this section ... "including such additional requirements as appropriate relating to the amount of dormancy fees, inactivity charges or fees, or service fees that may be assessed and the amount of remaining value of a gift certificate, store gift card, or general-use prepaid card below which such charges or fees may be assessed."

U.S. Bank recently issued its 30 millionth gift card - saying it remains "the top Visa gift card issuer and a leader in prepaid cards across the United States." READ MORE

Mocapay has announced that ink! Coffee, a specialty coffee retailer with multiple stores throughout the greater Denver metro area and Aspen, has selected Mocapay to implement and operate its mobile gift program. ink! Coffee currently offers plastic gift cards at all of its locations and expects to "go live" with Mocapay's mobile gift in the second quarter of this year. READ MORE

CashStar, a new interactive gift card and incentives company, has announced the launch of a e-gifting, marketing and promotions platform that enables businesses and consumers to securely e-mail monetary value such as Interactive Gift Cards, rewards, incentives and rebates. The company says that "several companies, including Uno Chicago Grill, Travelocity Incentives and Gorham Bike & Ski, are already offering Interactive Gift Cards via the CashStar platform. In addition, the company disclosed that is has secured more than $4 million in funding." READ MORE

Citi has announced it is offering members of its ThankYou Rewards Network the chance to put their creativity into wallets around the world with the launch of the ThankYou Gift Card Design Contest. READ MORE

Cristin Frederick has written an article titled "Gift Card Value when Issuers Go Bankrupt" which is included in the Winter issue of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Communities & Banking quarterly.

Circuit City threw in the towel today - announcing it was shutting down:

Circuit City would like to thank all of the customers who have shopped with us over the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are going out of business.

If you happen to hold a Circuit City gift card, you need to get moving and use it - or be prepared to lose its value:

Q. Will Circuit City stores continue to accept Circuit City gift cards?

A. Yes, customers holding Circuit City gift cards may redeem them at full value at our stores during the liquidation sales. Once the stores are closed and the company is out of business, the gift cards will have no value.

"Closing sales will run as long as it takes to sell existing inventory, but are expected to wrap up by the end of March. When the liquidation sales are completed, the stores will be closed."

Starbucks Coffee Company has announced that beginning January 3, customers will have the opportunity to make their purchase at Starbucks stores (RED) when they use the new (STARBUCKS)RED Card, a stored value Card that can be given as a gift or purchased for personal use at participating stores in the U.S. and Canada. Starting January 3 and continuing through December 31, 2009, every time a customer uses this Card to make a purchase at Starbucks, five cents will go directly to the Global Fund to help save lives in Africa. READ MORE

Several major US retailers led by founding members Applebee's, Best Buy, Home Depot, Marriott International and Subway have announced they are joining together "to create an industry group whose goal is to ensure shoppers have only positive experiences with the gift cards they buy and use. The Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA) formed in October with a mission to create consumer-centered policies and procedures for members that will let consumers continue to confidently buy and use the cards that have become the #1 gift choice over last several years." READ MORE

GiftCertificates.com has announced the launch of the GiftCards application - calling it "the first iPhone application that empowers customers to select, personalize, and purchase gift cards for friends, families and co-workers directly from their iPhone or iPod Touch without the need to go to an outside website. The GiftCards application, developed for GiftCertificates.com by Trillusion Media, Inc., is available for download today at http://www.GiftCardsApp.com or the App Store in iTunes." READ MORE

TowerGroup has announced new research finding that total gift card sales for the 2008 holiday season will take nearly a 9 percent hit - owing largely to the downturn in the US economy. "That 9 percent decrease will be largely due to an expected 14 percent decline in the sales of merchant-sponsored (also “closed-loop” or private label) gift cards. Sales of bank sponsored (network-branded) gift cards are expected to increase 5.6 percent, a positive showing in the current climate." READ MORE

Chase Paymentech has announced the results of a survey commissioned to provide insight into consumers’ attitudes towards gift cards. "The study, which polled 850 American adults, found that gift card awareness and usage remains very high, with nine in ten respondents having received or purchased a gift card. Additionally, two-thirds of respondents have bought at least one gift card within the past 12 months." READ MORE

VIPGift, a provider of corporate and consumer incentive programs and prepaid card solutions, has announced that it has received a majority investment from Summit Partners and Bridgescale Partners. Founded in 2000, VIPGift offers corporate and consumer incentive programs to Fortune 500 companies. READ MORE

http://www.ficentive.com/ has announced that it has signed an agreement with SwipePay Mobile to deliver a SwipePay Mobile MasterCard Prepaid and MasterCard Gift Card to their mobile customers. READ MORE

Earlier today, Circuit City announced it was filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. An obvious question is what effect this will have on holders of Circuit City gift cards? READ MORE

First Data and InComm have announced that "they have mutually agreed to terminate the planned acquisition of InComm. Instead, First Data and InComm have signed a distribution agreement and will continue to support their joint customers with prepaid card processing, program management and a distribution network that allows First Data and its merchants to sell prepaid products in InComm prepaid card malls." READ MORE

FiCentive has announced that it has signed an agreement with Discover Financial Services that allows for the creation and management of specific Discover Network prepaid and gift card programs. According to FiCentive, it "will work with Discover Network, a business unit of Discover Financial Services, to develop general spend reloadable prepaid products that will run on the Discover Network in addition to providing all program management services." READ MORE

Safeway has announced it is doubling its PowerPump Gas Rewards for gift cards purchased at Safeway stores. READ MORE