How much Americans spend and lose on gift cards per year

Chances are, you either bought or received a gift card this holiday season.

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They’re easy to purchase for just about anyone, but they’re only worth it if they’re used.

News Center 7′s Samantha Manning is in Washington D.C. with more on what happens to those gift cards that are never spent.

Many gift cards are used within a few months, but billions of dollars worth of gift cards end up unused.

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans were expected to spend nearly $30 billion on gift cards this holiday season.

Restaurant cards are the most popular, they make up about 1/3 of those sales.

Earlier this year, consumer finance company Bankrate found that nearly half of U.S. adults had at least one unspent gift card or voucher.

The average value was $187 per person, which is a total of $23 billion.

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There are some protections in place to keep those gift cards from expiring.

Under federal law that took effect in 2010, a gift card can’t expire for five years from the time it was purchased or from the last time someone added money to it.

Some state laws require an even longer period.

If you receive a gift card you don’t think you’ll ever use, some websites will buy them from you. However, you’ll get a smaller amount of cashback.

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