NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you're like a lot of people, you probably got a gift card for Christmas...and if you're like a lot of people, you probably still have gift cards you got last Christmas or even before.
The National Retail Federation says there are tens of billions of dollars worth of gift cards out there just waiting to be used. But you don't want to wait too long to use them, because a lot of them have expiration dates.
Under federal law, you have five years from the time of purchase to use gift cards. Some states like New York have made it even longer.
Folks in New York have nine years. But here in Tennessee, we have five.
Some companies like Visa or Mastercard have inactivity fees that accrue if the card is not used for a year.
If the gift card is never used, about 19 states require companies to work with unclaimed property programs to return the money.
You can check missingmoney.com to see if you have any unclaimed money.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
