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Publication #FAR9038

 

Giving Your Family Gift Cards1

Mary Harrison2

Have you given or received a gift card recently? They are popular with adults, and teens love them!

There are two kinds of gift cards. There are the multipurpose cards issued by banks and other financial institutions. They can be used at many different places. The other type of gift card is a store-issued card where its credit is good only with that store or company. People like gift cards because they make gift shopping easy. The receiver likes it because he/she can select something they want or can use. No more exchanging unwanted or unusable gifts!

But there are cautions. It's very important to read the fine print carefully and know:

• Do you have to pay a fee to purchase the gift card? Almost all multi-purpose cards require a purchase fee.

• Will monthly fees be deducted from your card? If so, how much are they? After a few months, all of your gift money may be used for fees.

• If you don't use a card for a few weeks or months, some cards charge an inactivity fee; then when you are ready to use the card, your money may be gone.

• Be sure to look at the expiration date of the card. Most cards close out on the expiration date, and you'll lose money left on your card on that date.

So if you're using gift cards, treat them like any other purchase and be sure to read the fine print before you buy!

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website at http://www.familyalbumradio.org.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

References

Comptroller of the Currency, Administrator of National Banks. Gift cards: OCC provides holiday tips for consumers. Retrieved June 5, 2007, from http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/RELEASE/2004-108a.pdf

Lazrony, L. The lowdown on gift cards. (2004). Retrieved June 5, 2007, from http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20031126a1.asp

Websites with gift card information

http://www.bankofamerica.com/giftcard/

http://slate.msn.com/id/2111769

http://promomagazine.com/premiums/teensgiftcards/index.html

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20031126a1.asp

http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/RELEASE/2004-108a.pdf

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR9038, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program XXX. Published on EDIS March 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Mary Harrison earned her bachelor's degree in home economics from Auburn University in 1940 and her master's degree in adult education from Texas College of Arts and Institutes, now Texas A&M, in 1955. She worked for the Cooperative Extension Service at University of Florida for 43 years. Her last position before retiring was as a consumer education professor in the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences. She passed away on June 14, 2006 at age 87.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.