$100 Loblaws Gift Card!

$100 Loblaws Gift Card!

I have not yet come across a sound reason there should be fees or expiration on gift idea cards. First, by buying gift cards, people are essentially providing the card issuers an unsecured loan, on which they earn no interest, even if the card is not redeemed for a 12 months or more. Second, if the company goes insolvent, there is very little chance the amount of money will be returned (except in a few cases, like lately with Linens and Things). So, if consumers are dealing with these risks by buying present cards, why should they then be subjected to fees and expiration? They may as well change the gift card charge disclosures to read like this: Precious Gift Card Buyer, We all really appreciate the unsecured loan you gave us all. Together, you all provided us $97 billion in loans in 2007, up from $83 billion in 2006. You know we could use the extra cash, given all the look at a recession. We i want to thank not charging us any interest or fees on the loan. We will put your hard earned money to work immediately and generate great returns on it. You may even hear about all the kudos we will get from Wall Street credited to our outstanding earnings (which will be helped by the money we get when your gift idea card expires). Heck, our CEO may even buy his third McMansion in the Hamptons after we reward him for making good use of your loan. Several house cleaning items:

 1. In the event you purchased the surprise card from our website, we may charge you a processing fee, separate from the shipping and delivery charge, to acquire you the card that implies that we owe you money. Feel free to buy stuff within our store up to the amount of the loan (gift card value). But if you don't hurry, we will punish you every 30 days by charging you ridiculous fees. These fees can start as soon as half a year into the loan. We may even start your fees around a month into the loan if we so desire. In addition to remember, the fees will continue till the balance on your surprise card gets to ZERO. Why? Because we can. Yes, your express legislatures are all going on about this because it is an election year. Do you really think they are going to do something about this? 2. Also, we have noticed from experience that some of you like to wait a long time, and we mean an extended, long time to redeem your gift idea credit card.

 It takes quite some time for us to get your $100 present card to ZERO if all we are charging is $2. 50 each month. Therefore , we now have an improved idea. You will charge you the $2. 50 for sometime and if you'll still don't redeem your gift idea card by a certain date, say within two years, your card will expire. Once your credit card expires, you will get all the money left on the card. You are probably wondering if this is legal. Well, no one has told us it isn't. 3. And don't even think about losing your card. We reserve the right not to replace lost or stolen gift idea cards. Yes, we know that if you lose your Savings Account Assertion or CD Certificate, the bank will replace it, but we are not a bank, so we can do whatever we want. In case we feel generous, we might replace your gift cards, but we will charge you a fee, up to $15 to train you a lesson. 4. Lastly, if you purchased a bank issued gift card (like Visa, MasterCard, American Convey, or Discover), then you better read the fine print and become knowledgeable about fees like Transaction or Statement Copy Fee, Money Conversion Fee, Check issuance Fee, and Transaction Payment / Balance inquiry Fee. And one last thing; Don't call the FTC because they might be willing to push for laws to limit fees on store gift cards nevertheless they have not been willing to touch usFind Article, the bank issued surprise cards. Exactly why? Because our lobbyists are doing a fantastic job. We hope you enjoy your gift card.

 It is my belief that present credit providers will be better off and make more money if they remove fees and expiration from gift idea cards since the negative publicity around present cards from both state congress and the news media has led some consumers to stay away from gift idea cards. This is particularly true during the holiday season when every local news station and newspaper seem to be to run a story about the risks of present card fees and expiration.