Chances are you've got one in your wallet. As one of the most-coveted presents of the holiday season, gift cards plumped up retailers' pockets and landed in consumers' hands by the billions last month.
But using them? Sometimes it's the gift that gives complications.
As popular as they are, the rules for spending or cashing in gift cards can be confusing. And January is when the first frustrations start to surface.
Take Janice Critchlow. She's been holding a clutch of fast-food $5 gift cards for weeks. They're leftovers from $3,000 worth of cards she purchased through her work as a consultant on homeless issues.
But cashing in the cards -- to popular fast-food outlets including Burger King, Dairy Queen, Jack in the Box and McDonald's -- hasn't been easy.
Although California law says you can redeem cards worth less than $10 for cash, some fast-food employees told Critchlow their cash registers couldn't handle the transaction. Some had to call corporate offices for permission. One flat out refused, she says.
In the case of Jack in the Box, which required her to fax in 24 pages showing the front and back of each $5 card, it took three weeks before she received her $120 payment.
"They make it so difficult. But most people don't even know there's a law that you can turn them in for cash," Critchlow said.
During the 2009 holiday season, shoppers spent an estimated $26.63 billion on the plastic presents, according to the National Retail Federation.
Yet many of those cards won't be used, or won't be redeemed for their full amount. Nearly $5 billion in gift card value goes unspent each year, according to a study by Massachusetts-based research firm TowerGroup.
That's because so many people lose, forget or use only part of the amount placed on the gift card. Or the cards sit around so long that fees drain away the balance. And if a store goes bankrupt or out of business, you'll be in a long line behind other creditors to redeem your gift card.
California law prevents expiration dates and service fees, but only on cards issued by a single store or chain of stores.
Those rules don't apply to bank or mall-issued credit cards. If you've got a mall card issued by American Express, for instance, it will impose a monthly $2 inactivity fee, starting 12 months after the date the card was purchased.
Under the Credit CARD Act passed by Congress last year, expiration dates will be extended to five years from the date of card activation, and inactivity fees will be prohibited during the first year. But those protections don't go into effect until August.
A number of online sites -- PlasticJungle.com, SwapaGift.com or GiftCardRescue.com -- will buy your gift card for anywhere from 60 percent to 90 percent of the card's value. You mail in that unwanted retailer's card and get back cash or a substitute card to the retailer you love, whether it's Amazon or Abercrombie.
The post-holiday season is especially busy for these types of card exchangers. "People are clearly looking for creative ways to save money, or to turn their unwanted gift cards into cash," said Kristin Donelson, spokeswoman for Mountain View-based Plastic Jungle.
Currently, the most-wanted cards by Plastic Jungle consumers are from Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco and Best Buy, Donelson said.
The most-frequently dumped cards? Numbers aren't available for the 2009 holiday season, but a year ago it was Lowe's, Panera Bread, Circuit City, CVS and Starbucks, she said.
Another word to the wise: Keep your gift card receipts. Tracy Daniels of Sacramento found that out when she tried to use a $41 gift card at a Wal-Mart. When the store clerk swiped her gift card, it turned up empty: a blank card with no balance. She said store officials first implied she had tried passing a gift card off the rack. Ultimately, after Daniels found her gift card receipt, the store honored her card.
Perhaps the best advice on gift cards: "Make it a new year's resolution to use them in January. All those after-Christmas sales will just extend their value," said Ben Woolsey, spokesman for CreditCards.com. "If you stick 'em in a drawer, there's a good chance you'll forget them."
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