With the holidays upon us and gift cards becoming more ubiquitous (estimated to be $124 billion business), this headline caught my attention. Frankly, I had never given serious thought to this question.  So, what do gift card recipients need to be protected from?  Largely theft or loss which occur to a much larger degree than I had imagined.

From the Fiscal Times:

 “As data breaches have become a fact of life, a lot of cards incorporated a way to recover the balance of the card if it’s lost,” says Claes Bell, CFA, banking analyst at Bankrate. “For example, some general purpose-cards allow people to change the PINs to something they like, so if anyone gets the card, they won’t be able to use it without the PIN.”

That’s a needed perk for many gift recipients. A separate Bankrate survey found that one in four Americans had lost a gift card before spending the entire balance. That happened to Millennials even more frequently, with two in five losing a gift card before using all of the funds.

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Coming soon!  NGPF Lesson focused on Identity Theft.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.