Beware of The Store Gift Card For Christmas

Nothing ticks me off more than a gift card that deducts charges from the face value of the card

1. If you use it


2. If you don't

Either way, the store is cheating you and the person that bought you the gift card out of it's full value. This year we have something new to worry about.

For the first time in my life you have to be careful about buying a gift card (in the old days "gift certificates") for a particular store for Christmas gifts, because they may not be in business after Christmas. I first heard about this at a point where it actually registered in my brain, on the CBS news a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't really thought about it much except when I ran across the Mervyn's gift card in my purse that I have from 2 years ago. (They're going completely out of business after Christmas, in case you haven't heard).

Then as I was doing a little research found out you actually become a "creditor" of the store when they file bankruptcy because a gift card is a "loan". So you could file with the bankruptcy court to get your money back, but more often then not, those cases don't get paid because gift card holders are at the very bottom of what's usually a long list.

So if you were thinking about buying someone a gift card for Christmas, you may want to check and see how strong they are. Retailers are dropping like flies and if they don't make good Christmas numbers, you may see a lot more go under after Christmas.

Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11) Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug , Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January Cache will close all stores Talbots closing down specialty stores J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) GAP closing 85 stores Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January Wicks Furniture closing down Levitz closing down remaining stores Bombay closing remaining stores Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January Whitehall closing all stores Piercing Pagoda closing all stores Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January Home Depot closing 15 stores, Macys to close 9 stores after January Linens and Things closing all stores Movie Galley Closing all stores Pep Boys Closing 33 stores Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores JC Penney closing a number of stores after January Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores. Wilson Leather closing down all stores Sharper Image closing down remaining stores K B Toys closing 356 stores Lowe's to close down some stores Dillard's to close some stores Steve & Barry’s Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern

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