Businesses, such as window companies, at times offer gift cards as incentives to purchase products or services. With other things on your mind, you might receive that gift card, put it away, and then immediately forget it exists. The next time you root through your junk drawer and run across a long-forgotten gift card, do not immediately throw it in the trash (or recycle it if it is paper). Even if it is a few years old, it is still valid and can be used. 

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 (Pub. L. No. 111-24, 123 Stat. 1734 (2009)) is a federal law providing, in part, that gift cards cannot expire for at least five (5) years from the date of purchase. Moreover, any expiration date for a gift card must be clearly stated on the card or its packaging, or the gift card will not expire. The Act also provides that fees associated with inactivity and service cannot be charged until one year after the card has been inactive, and must be clearly disclosed. 

Some states go even further and prohibit the expiration of gift cards for a longer period of time. Other states prohibit their expiration altogether. For instance, in Oregon, gift cards purchased at full value (i.e. not at a discount) cannot expire. ORS 646A.276. 

Large corporations are likely to have legal counsel providing advice on the laws regulating the issuance and use of gift cards, but smaller businesses may not have access to the same level of expertise. Therefore, if you have a gift card purporting to expire in less than 5 years of issuance, do not assume that the business is trying to cheat you. In all fairness to the business, it likely is not aware of the law.

What should you do if you have a card that says it expires less than 5 years after issuance? The easiest thing to do is try to use it and see what happens. Whether you are at a brick-and-mortar store or placing an online order, the business may accept the gift card regardless of the stated expiration date. 

If that does not work, you can share your knowledge of the CARD Act (and/or your own state’s law if it is longer than 5 years) and educate the business about a law it may not know exists. However, to do that, you will also need to be able to prove the date the gift card was issued. If you received the gift card as a gift, this may be difficult unless the purchase date or effective date is stated on the gift card. 

If neither of those options work for you, you can choose to file a claim with an official agency such as the Better Business Bureau, your state’s Attorney General’s Office, or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In return, those agencies will contact the business and ask them to respond. If the gift card has not legally expired, the business may choose to honor the gift card. Obviously, these options take time and effort, so they may not be worth the fuss if the gift card amount is negligible.

The best advice is to avoid any hassle by spending gift cards shortly after you receive them.