Do Gift Cards Expire? The Rules in Every State (2026)

Americans planned to spend $29.1 billion on gift cards last holiday season, with 43% of shoppers planning to buy at least one, according to the National Retail Federation (opens in a new tab). If you got one last December, it’s still good, unless it was a free promotional card.

Gift cards do expire, but not quickly, and in some states not at all. The bigger risk to an old card is the store going out of business.

Do gift cards expire?

Yes, but the money on a gift card can’t expire sooner than five years after the card was bought or last reloaded. That’s the federal minimum, and it applies in every state. Twelve states go further and ban expiration on most store gift cards. Massachusetts, New York and North Dakota allow it, but only after 7, 9 and 6 years.

The five-year rule comes from the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s gift card rule (opens in a new tab), which has applied to cards sold since August 22, 2010. So a card bought more than five years ago can really have expired, if your state allows it and nobody has reloaded it since. Check the card for a date before you give up on it.

What does federal law say about gift cards?

Federal law covers three kinds of cards: a gift certificate, a store gift card for one store or chain, and a Visa, Mastercard or other prepaid card you can use anywhere. For all three, the money has to last at least five years, and fees are limited.

The money lasts at least five years

The clock starts the day the card was issued, or the last day money was loaded onto it, whichever is later. A card can show a shorter “valid thru” date on the plastic, but that date is for the plastic, not the money. If the card expires first, the company has to replace it for free, and the card has to tell you how.

When a fee is allowed

A store or bank can charge an inactivity, dormancy or service fee only if all three of these are true:

• Nobody has used the card for a full year. A purchase or a reload restarts the year.
• The fee is printed on the card, with how much it is and how often it’s charged.
• It’s charged no more than once a month.

Cards the federal rule doesn’t cover

The five-year rule doesn’t apply to a free promotional, loyalty or reward card, as long as its front says so and shows the expiration date. It also leaves out reloadable prepaid cards that aren’t sold as gifts, paper-only certificates, phone cards, and cards good only for admission to one event or venue.

Do gift cards expire in your state?

In most states, the federal five-year minimum is the whole answer, and the list below shows the exceptions. About half the states also ban the monthly fees.

• Never expires: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire (cards worth $250 or less), New Jersey (cards sold since December 2012), Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.
• Longer than five years: Massachusetts (7 years), New York (9) and North Dakota (6).
• Five years: every other state and Washington, DC.

Some states set their own minimum below five years (Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee). The federal rule overrides a shorter state minimum, so the table shows five. These rules are mostly for store gift cards. In most states a bank’s Visa or Mastercard gift card gets only the federal rules (see the next section).

“Federal rule” means a fee is allowed only after a year with no use, once a month at most, and only if the card says so. Rules checked against each state’s law as of October 2026. Where a state’s own site wouldn’t load, the link goes to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ compilation (opens in a new tab), which quotes the law.

Do Visa and Mastercard gift cards expire?

The money on them can’t expire for at least five years, the same as any gift card. But most state laws are written for store cards and leave out cards from a bank, so a Visa or Mastercard gift card usually gets only the federal rules. That means a monthly fee is allowed once the card has gone a year unused, if the card discloses it.

A few states are exceptions. Arizona, New York and Vermont cover bank gift cards too, and Virginia added them in 2025 (opens in a new tab), so none of the four allows the monthly fee on them.

These cards also carry a “valid thru” date on the plastic. When it passes, the money is still yours. Call the number on the back for a free replacement card with the balance on it.

If the gift might sit in a drawer for a while, a store’s own card is the safer pick in most states. A bank gift card is more flexible, but it’s the one that can lose money to a fee.

Can you get cash back for what’s left on a gift card?

In 14 states, yes, if the balance is small enough. Ask at the register and the store has to pay out the rest in cash. Everywhere else, a store can make you spend the last few dollars, unless its own policy says otherwise.

California raised its limit from under $10 to under $15 on April 1, 2026, the highest in the country. Most of these laws leave out bank Visa and Mastercard cards and promotional cards, and a few leave out cards that started with $5 or less.

What happens to a gift card when a store goes bankrupt?

Gift card laws don’t cover a business that fails. In bankruptcy, a gift card holder is an unsecured creditor. That puts you in the same line as the store’s suppliers, paid from whatever is left, and a court can let the store stop taking cards on short notice.

That’s what happened at Joann. The fabric and craft chain filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, its second filing in less than a year, and its stores accepted gift cards only through February 28 (opens in a new tab). Customers complained about the short notice.

If you hold a card from a chain that’s in trouble:

• Spend it right away. Don’t save it for a sale.
• Watch the company’s restructuring website for the date it stops taking cards.
• Keep the card and the receipt. If the cards stop working, you can file a claim in the bankruptcy case, though gift card holders are paid only after the creditors ahead of them in line.

What if a store won’t honor your gift card?

Start with your state’s row in the table above, then ask a manager or write to the company’s customer service, naming the law and asking for the full balance. If that doesn’t work, a complaint costs nothing.

1. Check what kind of card it is. A promotional card or a bank Visa card follows different rules than a store’s own card.
2. Ask in writing. An email to customer service gives you a record and often gets a faster answer than a store clerk.
3. Complain to your state attorney general if a store card is the problem. The National Association of Attorneys General (opens in a new tab) lists every office. For a bank prepaid card, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (opens in a new tab) takes complaints.
4. Take it to small claims court as a last step, if the amount is worth it.

Spend the card, save the cash

A gift card used on something you’d buy anyway leaves your own money where it is. Spend a $50 grocery card on this week’s groceries, move the $50 you didn’t spend into savings, and the gift ends up as $50 saved instead of $50 of extras.

Lodavo is a free prize-linked savings app that rewards that kind of move. The more you save, the more free tickets you get for weekly cash prize draws, and your money never leaves your own bank account. It’s live in Canada and coming to the US, and the waitlist below is how to hear when it reaches your state.

If you’re in Canada, the rules are different, and our Canadian gift card guide covers each province.

This page is general information, not legal advice. If you’re in a dispute with a store, the law linked in your state’s row is the text to quote.