Open your junk drawer. Odds are there’s free money in it.
A 2024 Bankrate survey found that 43% of American adults had at least one gift card, voucher or store credit they hadn’t used. Added up, that’s about $27 billion sitting in wallets, drawers and old birthday cards.
The average person with leftovers had $244 worth. That’s up from $187 the year before.
Think about that: $244 is a nice dinner out for two with change left over or a big chunk of the grandkids’ holiday gifts. And it’s money you already have. You don’t have to earn it, invest it or apply for it. You just have to use it.
Here’s the part that should bother you. More than 1 in 3 Americans, 34%, told Bankrate they’d lost money on a gift card. Some let it expire. Some lost it. Some watched the store close before they got around to shopping there.
Retailers can live with that. Bankrate’s senior analyst, Ted Rossman, noted that big chains such as Walmart and Starbucks are holding upward of $1 billion in gift card money nobody has spent.
With a fresh pile of gift cards headed your way in December, now’s the time to clean out the old ones. Here’s how.
1. Round them up and check every balance
Start with a search party. Check the junk drawer, your wallet, old purses, the glove box, last year’s holiday cards and your email inbox, where digital gift cards tend to get buried.
Then check what’s left on each one. Many cards list a phone number or website on the back. Many store apps will also show the balance once you add the card.
Write the balance on the card with a marker or on a sticky note. A card you can’t remember the value of is a card you won’t use.
While you’re at it, take a photo of the front and back. The Federal Trade Commission advises saving a photo of each card and its receipt, which can help you report a problem to the card company.
2. Spend the ones for stores you actually visit
This is the easy win. If you’ve got a card for a grocery store, a drugstore, a gas station or a restaurant you already go to, put it in your wallet today and use it on your next trip.
Better yet, use it on something you were going to buy anyway. A gift card spent on milk and paper towels frees up the same amount of cash in your checking account.
The holidays are a perfect time to do this. Use an old card for holiday gifts or groceries and you’ve cut your holiday spending without cutting a single name from your list.
The consumer services division in Fairfax County, Virginia, puts it simply: Use gift cards promptly, which keeps fees from nibbling at them and keeps them from getting lost.
3. Swap or sell the rest — carefully
What about the card for a store you’ll never set foot in? You’ve got options.
Regift it. There’s no shame in it, as long as you double-check the balance and pass along any receipt.
Or swap it with a friend or family member who shops there. A $50 card that’s useless to you might be exactly what your sister wanted.
You can also sell unwanted cards to gift card exchange websites. Just know going in that they pay less than face value, and the amount varies by retailer. Compare offers before you sell.
Be careful going the other direction. Fairfax County warns against buying gift cards on online auction or classified-ad sites, where cards may be stolen or counterfeit.
And never let a gift card turn into a payment for anybody who calls, texts or emails you. The FTC says legitimate businesses and government agencies never ask to be paid with a gift card. If someone does, it’s a scam.
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4. Know the federal clock
You’ve got more time than you might think, but not unlimited time.
Under federal rules that took effect in 2010, the money on a store or bank gift card generally can’t expire sooner than five years after the card was issued, or five years after money was last loaded onto it, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s regulation.
The same rule limits fees. Issuers can’t charge a dormancy, inactivity or service fee unless you haven’t used the card for at least a year. Even then, they can charge only one such fee per month, and they have to clearly disclose it.
That means a card you’ve ignored for more than a year could be shrinking. One more reason to use it now instead of “someday.”
Check the back of each card, or its packaging, for its expiration date and fees. And if a card looks expired, don’t toss it until you’ve called the number on the back.
5. Use cards from shaky stores first
In Bankrate’s survey, 12% of Americans said the store shut down before they could spend the card.
That’s a real risk. A retailer that goes bankrupt might not honor its cards.
So triage your pile. If you’re holding a card from a retailer that’s closing locations, struggling in the headlines or just isn’t around the way it used to be, spend that one first.
A card for a big, healthy chain can wait a few weeks. A card for a store that’s on the ropes can’t.
6. Check your state’s unclaimed property list
Here’s one most people never think about. In some states, leftover gift certificate balances can end up with the state as unclaimed property, along with forgotten bank accounts, uncashed paychecks and utility deposits.
Rules vary a lot from state to state, so don’t count on finding your old gift card there. But it takes about two minutes to look, and you may turn up something else you forgot about.
MissingMoney.com, a free site sponsored by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, lets you search many states at once. You can also go straight to your own state’s unclaimed property website. Searching is free, so don’t pay anyone to do it for you.
If you’ve got a little detective in you, check for other forgotten money too. Read more about the billions in savings bonds nobody has cashed and how Texas alone has paid out billions in unclaimed property.
The bottom line
Gift cards are cash with strings attached. The longer you hold them, the more strings there are: fees, closing stores and plain old forgetting.
Set aside 20 minutes this week. Gather every card, check the balances, spend what you can and swap or sell what you can’t.
Then fold the found money into your holiday plans. If you’d like help mapping out the season’s spending, you’ll find budgeting tools in our Solutions Center.
That $244 the average holder is sitting on won’t change your life. But it’s yours, and it’s a lot better in your pocket than on some retailer’s books.
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