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NJ lawmakers may scrap troubled gift card law

A legislative panel is expected on Thursday to consider legislation reversing a 2010 law that allowed the state to claim the value of dormant gift cards as revenue.

The Senate Budget Committee will vote on whether to remove gift cards from the state’s unclaimed property law. The bill also would prohibit retailers from charging dormancy fees on idle cards or imposing expiration dates on their use, two consumer protection features the industry supports, according to Retail Merchants Association spokesman John Holub.

Under budget legislation signed into law two years ago, the state can lay claim to gift cards that go unused for two years. The law requires gift card sellers to obtain ZIP codes from buyers so the state can claim the value of the cards. Without such information, the value of unused cards reverts to the company or to the state in which the company is incorporated.

New Jersey projected $65 million in revenue from unused cards, travelers checks and money orders the first year the law was expanded, but retailers sued and the law has stalled. The bill being considered Thursday would ensure it isn’t implemented.

Graduation Gifts: Best Tech and Gadget Gifts For Grads

By JOANNA STERN (@joannastern) May 15, 2012 School’s out for the summer. Or at least, it will be soon. And that means graduation time and lots of high school and college students moving on to their next place in life. But it doesn’t matter what kind of grad you have in your life; they’re going [...]

Chipotle to offer graduation gift cards to college seniors

From now through June 30, 2012, Chipotle is offering a college graduate gift card promotion at locations in the U.S. and Canada. If a customer purchases a $30 gift card for a graduate, they will receive a free burrito, order of tacos, salad or bowl at any Chipotle location. “While Chipotle makes all of its food [...]

Mother’s Day Goes Digital with Personalized eGift Cards

Retailers Offer Promotions for eGifts Powered by CashStar: Helping Families Give Moms What They Really Want PORTLAND, Maine, May 10, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Mother’s Day is now only second to Christmas as the largest eGift holiday, reports CashStar, the digital gifting and incentives company. Responding to consumer demand, a number of retailers are currently [...]

Featured Merchant – Outback Steakhouse

Everything you need to know about Outback Steakhouse gift cards… Special Promotion: Your Outback Steakhouse has the perfect gift for moms, dads, grads and YOU. Now through June 17th purchase $50 in gift cards and receive a FREE $10 bonus card to use on your next visit. Visit www.Outback.com Design your own gift card, find [...]

Move Over Jewelry, 12 Million Moms Most Want A Personalized eGift or Gift Card for Mother’s Day

Move Over Jewelry, 12 Million Moms Most Want A Personalized eGift or Gift Card for Mother’s Day Survey Conducted by Harris Interactive Finds Millennials Best Know the Way to Moms’ Hearts PORTLAND, Maine, May 09, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — CashStar, the preferred digital gifting and incentives partner for retailers, today announced the results of its [...]

New Jersey Law Causes Companies To Pull Gift Cards

American Express and two other companies say they’re pulling gift cards off store shelves in New Jersey because of a law requiring merchants to collect zip codes from card buyers. Retailers have sued to block the law, which allows the state to take control of unused balances after two years.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

At some point, you likely received a present from a prepaid gift card from the person who wasn’t exactly sure what you’d want. Residents of New Jersey may not be able to buy them for much longer. American Express has pulled its gift cards from the state, and other big industry players are threatening to do the same. They oppose a new law that would allow New Jersey to claim unused gift card balances after two years. NPR’s Joel Rose reports.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Think about the Home Depot card floating around in your junk drawer, and that iTunes card in your wallet. Maybe you’ve got a few unspent dollars here, five dollars there. Add it up, and you’re looking at real money. And the state of New Jersey would be happy to be hold onto it for you.

ANDY PRATT: If you never use that card, the value of that card is lost. The retailer doesn’t go back, find you, say, look. You know, it’s been five years since you’ve bought this card. Would you like your money back?

ROSE: Andy Pratt is a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Treasury. He says a state law passed in 2010 will protect consumers by forcing gift card companies to hand over those unspent balances if the card has been inactive for two years.

Blame Christie for gift-card scam

12:57 PM, Apr. 5, 2012 The Daily Record is entirely correct in calling the state’s claiming of unused gift card and gift certificates for balancing the budget a “ridiculous money grab,” but your version of how this misguided law came to be shows your memory to be foggy (“Gift-card law little more than Trenton [...]

End gift-card grab for N.J. budget

New Jersey’s attempt at a gift-card grab from consumers has created a fresh casualty. American Express has decided that New Jersey is not everywhere it wants to be, to cite a slogan from rival Visa. AmEx decided this week to pull its co-branded gift cards from retailers’ shelves in the Garden State, rather than comply [...]

Diegnan, Moriarty & Johnson: AmEx Pulling Gift Cards from Businesses in NJ Show Need to Reverse Christie’s Anti-Retailer Law

American Express has begun pulling its gift cards due to changes made to the laws governing the state’s treatment of unclaimed property by Gov. Christie (TRENTON) – Assembly members Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., Paul D. Moriarty and Gordon M. Johnson today stressed the importance of restoring New Jersey’s unclaimed property law, following news that American [...]