Borders Gift Cards near useless

Do you have a Borders gift card? As of today, your card has just halved in value. Yesterday, Borders and Angus & Robertson fell into voluntary administration meaning that they are nearing or at bankruptcy. The administrators have announced that anyone wanting to use gift vouchers would have to pay twice the value of their gift card as well as redeeming their gift card. For example, if you have a $50 voucher, you will need to spend $150 and pay $100 in order to redeem the full value of your $50 voucher.

If you think that is not very fair, you can wait a few weeks and you might not even be able to redeem your gift card at all. So if you have a Borders gift card, this is a friendly reminder to get yourself to a Borders store soon. This is also a reminder of the dangers of gift cards. If the company goes belly up, you are exposed. So, anyone stuck with a Borders card? What alternative uses can you think of for the gift cards?

WARNING: EverydayMoney Credit Card changes Overseas Transaction Charge!

I wrote in a previous entry about how you have to watch out what rates your credit cards charge for overseas transactions. I have recently returned from overseas and was using the Everyday Money Credit Card because it has a lower overseas transaction charge rate than American Express. To my surprise today, I noticed that the OTC was higher than I expected. When I opened my mail to look at my Everyday Money statement, I saw on the bottom under "important information" that whilst I was overseas, they jacked up the OTC to 3% from 2% taking away their competitve edge against rival cards. I am infuriated with this as this change happened without my knowledge whilst I was overseas. I am now considering cancelling the card.

So this is a warning to everyday money credit card users. It is NO LONGER the card of choice when you are overseas. You might as well use your American Express cards in such instances.