For most people, gift cards are a convenient thing to give friends and loved ones to celebrate a birthday or holiday. Unfortunately, gift cards are also easy to misplace and forget about. Many people have hundreds of dollars worth of unused cards, vouchers or store credit tucked away in wallets and junk drawers — and, according to a new Bankrate survey, that adds up to billions in lost money.
“We’re talking about real money here. It actually adds up to about $27 billion dollars nationwide,” said Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman.
“More than four in 10 U.S. adults — 43% — have at least one unused gift card. And among them, the average per person is $244.”
That per-person average is much higher than in 2023, when the average per person was $187 — which, Rossman says, surprises him.
“I would have thought, in this period of high inflation and worries about how much everything costs, one fix that could alleviate at least some of the problem is tap into these unused stores of value.”
But the data seems to show that, the better off you are, the more likely you are to leave money lying around. According to the survey, 55% of households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more have at least one unused gift card, more than any other income bracket. The average unused gift card balance for this income bracket is $348.
Rossman says a ⅓ of American adults have lost money because of a misstep. This includes the 20% who allowed a gift card to expire, the 17% who lost a gift card, and 12% who didn’t redeem a gift card before the store that issued it went out of business.
He says it worthwhile for people to look for unused gift cards among their odds and ends — and spend down anything that still has value before it expires.
“A backup plan though could be selling it,” Rossman said. If you don’t like the store or restaurant where a card is redeemable, you can try to put it on the market.
“There are retail sites like cardcash and raise. They let you sell gift cards for roughly 70% to 80% of what they’re worth.”