If you got a $100 gift card you could probably find a bunch of ways to use it, right? But once you've got about 50 cents left on that gift card, it's a little hard to figure out what to do with it. Consumer Reports has some ways to get rid of it.
Unspent balances can add up. According to a Consumer Reports survey, nearly $130 billion worth of gift cards were bought in 2015. According to the most recent data from researchers, $1 billion of that was never spent.
If you have a general-purpose gift card with at least a dollar left, you can use it to buy an e-gift card from retailers like Amazon or Microsoft. If it's less than a dollar you can use them in a physical location or on the phone to use your balance toward a purchase.
If your gift card is for a specific store, try asking customer service for your balance in cash or change. If they refuse, you can use the card there or use it in a sister store. For example, an Old Navy gift card can be used at the Banana Republic.
Whatever you do, don't wait too long. In North Carolina, retailers can charge a fee to those gift cards after a year. The terms have to be visible on the card itself. If the gift card has an expiration date and is unused for three years after that date, it can take up to 60% of the balance.
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