What to do with that gift card you will never use

This past holiday season, consumers bought $27.8 billion in gift cards. But, the real news is the $41 billion in gift cards that consumers haven’t used since 2005.

That is a lot of unused money hiding in your wallet.

And while there are new gift card rules in place to help protect consumers, it doesn’t seem to affect the way consumers use them.

Card Hub has put together alternatives to redeeming your gift cards. They include selling, re-gifting and swapping them.

Here are three:

Sell them for cash: An online gift card exchange enables consumers to sell gift cards for cash and get up to 95 cents on the dollar.  

Re-gift: People give gift cards not only during the holiday season, but for birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions throughout the year as well, which means you will have ample opportunity to give an unwanted gift card to someone else who may like it more than you. 

Swap them: Card Hub incorporates Facebook in their swap. It allows consumers to simply swap gift cards with friends, neighbors or colleagues if they so choose. 

Card Hub has more alternatives to redeeming your gift cards including advice on how to do it. Check out their tips at CardHub.com . 

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What to do with that gift card you will never use