Things You'll Need:
- Expired gift certificate
- Receipt of expired gift certificate purchase (optional, but helpful)
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Step 1
Determine if your state's expired gift certificate policy protects consumers from losing gift certificate money when trying to use an expired gift certificate after its expiration date.
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Step 2
Visit the website for the The Newspaper & Current Periodical Reading Room of the U.S. Library of Congress (link in the Resources section at the end of this article). The Library of Congress manages a web page that lists the state government websites for all 50 U.S. states.
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Step 3
Click the name of your state in the Library of Congress list to visit your state's official government website. Visit its consumer protection page (if applicable) to determine whether or not your state offers buyer protection that prevents gift certificates from expiring.
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Step 4
Check the Consumer Reports fact sheet on State Gift Card Consumer Protection Laws and using expired gift certificates (link in the Resources section). Some states, such as Arkansas, California and Hawaii, do not allow gift certificates to expire. In such states, you can continue to use expired gift certificates after the gift certificate has passed its labeled expiration date.
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Step 5
Contact the business, store or manufacturer that issued the expired gift certificate if you are unsure how to redeem the expired gift certificate and use the expired certificate after its expiration date. Typically, you can just redeem the expired gift certificate as you would a non-expired gift certificate. However, some businesses may issue you a new gift certificate when you try to use an expired gift certificate.
