Gift cards sold in the United States cannot expire sooner than five years under federal law, and roughly ten states ban expiration dates on gift cards altogether. So the short answer to whether gift cards expire is: usually yes, but not for a long time, and in some states not at all. What actually matters is the type of card you hold, where you live, and whether fees are quietly eating the balance while the card sits in a drawer.
The Federal Five-Year Minimum
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (the CARD Act) makes it illegal to sell a gift card that expires less than five years after the date of purchase or the date funds were last loaded, whichever is later. That covers three common types: store gift cards good at a single retailer or chain, gift certificates, and general-use prepaid cards branded by Visa, Mastercard, or a similar network and usable at many merchants.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1693l-1 – General-Use Prepaid Cards, Gift Certificates, and Store Gift Cards
The “last loaded” language matters if the card is reloadable. Every time money is added, the five-year clock resets from that date. A card bought in 2022 and reloaded in 2025 cannot expire before 2030.
Digital and e-gift cards get the same protection. The statute defines the covered products to include electronic promises and payment codes, so a code emailed to you is treated the same as a plastic card.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1693l-1 – General-Use Prepaid Cards, Gift Certificates, and Store Gift Cards
If a card does carry an expiration date, it has to be printed clearly on the card itself. Burying it in packaging that gets thrown away doesn’t satisfy the law. You should be able to pull a card out two years later and see, right there, whether it’s still good.
Cards the Rule Doesn’t Cover
Not everything that looks like a gift card qualifies. The CARD Act carves out several categories, and these are where consumers most often get burned.
- Promotional and loyalty cards. A “$10 off” reward from a mailing list signup, a birthday freebie from a restaurant chain, or a bonus card handed out during a holiday promotion can expire on any schedule the issuer sets. The line is whether you paid for it; if no money changed hands, the protections don’t apply.
- Prepaid calling cards used only for phone service.
- Reloadable prepaid debit cards that aren’t marketed or labeled as gift cards.
- Certificates issued only in paper form, including paper event tickets.
The promotional exception is the trap. A free reward card can legally expire in 30 days. Always check the fine print on any card you didn’t buy.
Fees That Can Drain a Card Before It Expires
A card that hasn’t reached its expiration date can still lose value to inactivity, dormancy, and monthly service fees. Federal law limits these but does not ban them.
An issuer cannot charge any inactivity or dormancy fee unless the card has gone unused for at least twelve consecutive months. Even after that, only one such fee is allowed per month. And the issuer has to disclose, on or with the card itself, the amount of each potential fee, how often it can be charged, and the conditions that trigger it.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1693l-1 – General-Use Prepaid Cards, Gift Certificates, and Store Gift Cards
General-use prepaid cards from bank issuers are the ones most likely to carry these fees. Store cards tied to a single retailer usually don’t, both because retailers want you engaged with their brand and because many state laws prohibit the fees outright.
When Your State Gives You More
Federal law is a floor. States can offer stronger protections, and where they do, the state rule wins.
Roughly ten states prohibit expiration dates on gift cards entirely, meaning the funds must remain valid indefinitely no matter what’s printed on the card. Others extend the minimum period beyond five years, and several ban inactivity fees rather than merely restricting them.
About a dozen states also require retailers to redeem a gift card for cash once the remaining balance drops below a set threshold, generally somewhere between $1 and $10. If you’re left with $3.47 on a store card and you live in one of these states, you can ask for cash instead of hunting for something cheap enough to buy. Retailers elsewhere have no obligation to convert small balances, but many do it as a courtesy, so it’s worth asking.
If you’re unsure what applies where you live, your state attorney general’s consumer protection office is the right place to check.
When the Card Expires but Money Is Still on It
The expiration date printed on a card and the funds loaded onto it are not the same thing. The date typically reflects when the physical card or digital code stops working at checkout, while the underlying balance may still exist in the issuer’s system. The CFPB’s rule attaches the law’s protections to those funds, and it defines “activity” as any action that raises or lowers the balance.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.20 – Requirements for Gift Cards and Gift Certificates
If your card’s date has passed but you believe there’s a balance, call the issuer. Many will transfer the remaining money to a new card at no charge. Whether they must depends on your state, but asking costs nothing.
If the Retailer Goes Bankrupt
The five-year rule won’t save you if the company that issued the card no longer exists. Gift card holders in a retailer bankruptcy are treated as unsecured creditors, which puts them behind secured lenders, employees owed wages, and the administrative costs of the case. You may recover all of the balance, some of it, or none.
If the retailer files for bankruptcy, you generally have about 90 days from the filing date to submit a claim with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court handling the case. Some bankrupt retailers keep honoring cards during the process, sometimes with restrictions.
The practical takeaway: use gift cards reasonably soon after you get them. Holding a $100 card for three years because it “doesn’t expire” is technically correct, but it ignores the risk that the issuer won’t be around that long. Mass store closures, unusually deep discounts, or news of debt trouble are worth paying attention to.
Old Balances and Unclaimed Property
Every state has unclaimed property laws, sometimes called escheatment laws, that eventually require businesses to turn over dormant financial assets to the state. Gift card balances can fall into this category, though the rules vary widely.
In at least nineteen states, retailers work with state unclaimed property programs to return money from unspent gift cards to consumers after a dormancy period, commonly three to five years of inactivity. Once that money is turned over, it waits in the state fund for you to claim it. Other states exempt gift cards from escheatment entirely, letting the retailer keep the balance. A few use a middle ground where only a percentage of the face value is treated as abandoned.
If you think you may have old balances out there, search your state’s unclaimed property program at no cost. MissingMoney.com lets you search participating states in one query. Try any names you’ve used, including former or maiden names, because the property may be filed under the name on the original purchase.
Filing a Complaint
If an issuer charges fees that violate federal rules or refuses to honor a card that hasn’t reached its five-year expiration, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB accepts complaints on prepaid cards covering unexpected fees, unauthorized transactions, and problems managing or closing an account.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Begins Accepting Consumer Complaints on Prepaid Cards and Additional Nonbank Products
Submit online at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call 1-855-411-CFPB (2372). For violations of state gift card laws, contact your state attorney general’s consumer protection division, which can investigate and take enforcement action against issuers operating in your state.