Americans have billions in unused gift cards
Americans are sitting on an estimated $27 billion in unused gift cards, with the average person holding $244 in unspent balances.
That’s according to a new survey from Bankrate, which found that more than two in five adults have at least one unused gift card.
Bankrate said more than one in three U.S. adults have lost money for not keeping track of their gift cards, either losing them, letting them expire, or not using them before the business stopped operating.
Millennials have the highest outstanding balance average on unused gift cards at $322. Gen Xers have an average of $255, followed by Baby Boomers with $227, and Gen Zers with $142.
Bankrate said Walmart (WMT) and Starbucks (SBUX) each have more than an estimated $1 billion in unused gift cards on their books.
Gift cards were the second-most popular holiday gift last year after clothes, according to the National Retail Federation. Ted Rossman, Bankrate Senior Industry Analyst, suggested that if you have a gift card to a store you don’t like, consider selling it on a platform like CardCash or Raise.
“You can often get at least 70 or 80 percent of what it’s worth,” he said in a statement.
