As the holidays approach, many people are busy about figuring out the perfect gifts for their loved ones. Then there are the lazy folks like myself who are grateful everyday to the genius who invented the gift card. Gift cards are fantastic for a number of reasons, the first being convenience. After all, you can you buy a substantial gift (of store credit, of course) at the grocery store at 3:30 a.m. after a raucous night on the town. Like everything else, however, gift cards do hold their mysteries and likewise, things that consumers should be aware of. Namely, FEES!

The fact is that many of the credit card brand gift cards, (i.e. Visa, MasterCard, American Express) carry fees that are debited from the balance of your card the moment it is activated. Perhaps $3.95 is not a big deal on a gift card with a value load of $1,000 but if the card is only worth, say, $20.00, that’s a pretty hefty fee!

Fees aside, there are other reasons why the popularity of the gift card is waning in America. An article in USA Today explores these factors and the reasons why “Consumer Reports magazine says that more than half (58%) of the 1,000 consumers it surveyed said they haven’t cashed in their gift cards.”

Read the full article at USA Today.com.

Tags | american express, consumers, credit card, Gift Cards, hefty fee, holidays, mastercard, money, perfect gifts, substantial gift, visa