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Chances are that during the recent holiday season you either gave or were the recipient of one of these convenient and very common gift cards. I have some important news relating to the expiry dates for these cards.

Prior to November 2008 many gift cards purchased in BC were allowed to have an expiry dates. Fortunately this rule changed and with a few exceptions gift cards are not allowed to have an expiry date.

Here is a list of those exceptions. Gift cards purchased from a shopping mall that can be used in the stores in a specific mall are allowed to have an expiry date, If you purchase a gift card that is good for a specific purpose such as car detailing or carpet cleaning they can have an expiry date and if you buy a prepaid telephone card they too are allowed to have an expiry date.

Gift cards purchased from your typical big box stores like The Bay, Canadian Tire and Home Depot are not allowed to have expiry dates and they are also not allowed to charge a fee so if you buy a $50 gift card the recipient should receive $50 of purchasing power and it should only cost you the face value of the card.

Until next time, I'm John Charbonneau here at TMG The Mortgage Group, reminding you that we are never to busy to let you or any of your friends know what your mortgage options are.