The Pros and Cons of Giving Visa Gift Cards This Christmas

Every Christmas my family scrambles to find Christmas gifts for their grandkids, whom live hundreds of miles away. Last year I recommended they just send the kids Visa gift cards, and the results were mixed. Here are some ideas and recommendations when it comes to giving Visa gift cards this Christmas season. Visa gift cards are an easy and flexible way to give people spending money for Christmas without handing over the cash. There are some pluses and minuses to be considered before going this route.

1. (Plus) Easy to send. Visa cards can be ordered online or purchased at your local bank. If you order online you can have them sent directly to your recipient and save a trip to the post office.

2. (Minus) They expire. Depending on where you get them, the expiration date can be sooner or later. Regardless of expiration date, which is usually a year from the date of purchase, most Visa gift cards start losing value after 6 months. It is common for them to have a $2.50 fee each month after the 6th month, until eventually the value is depleted.

3. (Plus) Flexibility. Even if you have no idea what someone likes, they can buy what they want with this card. No more sending a toy store gift card only to find out later that the grandkids "are totally too old for toys"!

4. (Minus) Not real money. What do I mean, of course they are "real" money!? Well, they are, but they don't have the emotional impact of real cash. This means the kids are more likely to lose them than they would a stack of twenties.

So where can you get a Visa gift card? They are easy to find these days. If you want to shop online and keep it simple, try the website of your personal bank. Or stop into the lobby and there's a good chance they can get you out the door with one in a matter of minutes. Check out the Visa gift card locater for a Visa partner.

You can also find Visa gift cards at your local drug or grocery store. Major chains that supply Visa gift cards include Safeway, Walgreens, CVS, Winn Dixie, Price Chopper, Food Lion, Albertsons, Wal-Mart, among many others.

If you want to personalize your Visa gift card, check out giftcards.com or giftcardlab.com. You can choose from many images to personalize the card, or even upload your own photos.

Remember, wherever you purchase your Visa gift card, take a close look at the fees and expiration dates and make sure the recipient knows those dates. Also, they may not be accepted at gas pumps due to the authorization process so if you want to help someone out with gas you might go a different route. Recommend they sign on to the Visa gift card website and check their balance when they get the card, and register it if that's an option. A registered card that is lost may be replaceable depending on where you got it.