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Gift Cards Protected by CARD Act

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act is set to go into effect soon. Through the CARD Act millions of consumers will begin to enjoy better disclosure from their credit card companies and straightforward rules regarding purchases and repayments.

In addition to all of the benefits that millions of consumers will enjoy with the CARD Act, individuals with gift cards will now be covered, too.

Gift cards are an incredibly convenient and practical alternative to cash gifts and are certain to please the recipient. Now, they are protected under the CARD Act, too!

Some of the new changes regarding gift cards include:

• No inactivity charges unless the card hasn’t been used in one year – Many gift card companies would charge steep inactivity fees much, much sooner; now you can enjoy your gift card without worrying that the balance will be affected by inactivity fees.
• No expiration for a period of five years – Many gift cards in recent years would expire in as little as 13 months; now, they cannot expire unless they have not been used for five years. Now you can actually take your time to decide what you want instead of spending before the gift card expires!
• All relevant information must be disclosed on the card – Any pertinent information about the gift card, such as the expiration date, the toll-free number and any fees related to the gift card will need to be written on the gift card. Now there won’t be any second guessing when you find a gift card that you haven’t used for a while!

Other features of the CARD Act that will change the way we use our credit cards include:

• The average late fee or over-the-limit fee will change to $39.
• Credit card companies can no longer charge an inactivity fee or an annual fee. For all those credit card consumers concerned with paying fees if they don’t use their credit regularly, this part of the CARD Act will prove to be incredibly useful.
• Credit card issuers will need to evaluate rate increases every six months on anything imposed after January 2009.

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Posted on Monday, Aug 30, 2010 under "Introduction"
Post tags: annual fee, CARD act, Credit Card Accountability, gift cards, inactivity charges, late fee, Responsibility and Disclosure

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