Gift cards in Rhode Island will now be sold without expiration dates or maintenance fees.
“The General Assembly has passed a true consumer protection law that will benefit all consumers,” said state Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy, D-Hopkinton. The House and Senate both approved the law, which went into effect on July 8 without the governor’s signature.
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The new law closes a loophole in a 2004 statute. The old law eliminated expiration dates and fees from gift cards and gift certificates for store bought cards, but exempted third-party retailers like malls and businesses that offered “reloadable” gift cards. VISA, American Express gift cards and some reloadable phone cards.
The updates version of the law prohibits merchants from charging fees and creating artificial expiration dates from all gift certificates, cards and prepaid calling cards sold in Rhode Island. Gift cards and gift certificates can be redeemed until the value of the card has been totally utilized.
Any person or business who violates the law is subject to fines up to $200. Nineteen other states including Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine also ban maintenance fees and expiation dates on gift cards.
