British Expats - Credit Card Company Gift Cards

This is not an advert for them, but I thought it worth mentioning as a good idea for a last min ******mas gift if you run out of time.

Somebody sent us a C word card with an Amex Gift Card enclosed.
http://www.cardweb.com/graphic/ameri...tcard_comm.jpg

I like the idea of these because unlike store gift cards, you are not restricted. You can use them anywhere for anything.

BUT....

The card came with a ream of paper with loads of small print.
The missus had to call a number to activate and she also read this mini-novel and found out this:

Quote:

I've been reading the small print on that flier that came with it. It says we should use it as soon as possible, it says we can leave a balance on it but, on the 13th month after it's purchase, they'll charge us a 2 dollar service fee each month! or we can ask them to issue us a check for the balance but, they'll charge a $10 fee for the issuance. Ugh!!!!

So like everything there's a catch. But if you go out and blow it all straight away then there's no worries.

In the interest of fairness I should mention that Visa and Mastercard also do gift cards. I'm not going to link to them, I'm sure the Google Adsense will take care of that.