Consumer groups sent a petition to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week asking federal authorities to do more to keep consumers from losing money on gift cards from retailers that went bankrupt.
The petition was initiated by the California office of Consumers Union, the Consumers Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center and the U.S. PIRG.
Consumers Lose When Companies Go Bankruptcy
They said they don’t think consumers should have to suffer and lose money because a company was unable to keep its head above water.
"We made the filing to try to upgrade consumer protections on cards that are poorly protected," said U.S. PIRG consumer program director Ed Mierzwinski.
He added that the ultimate goal is to bring all card products up to the standards in the Truth in Lending Act, "People think all plastic is the same—it isn't," Mierzwinski said.
Among other requests, the petition asked the FTC to:
- Ask that the court require the bankrupt company to accept its own gift cards at full value while the retailer is still open
- Create and keep a new FTC registry on bankrupt retailers' gift card practices
- Force bankrupt companies to stop selling gift cards no later than the bankruptcy filing date
- Require third-party vendors to stop selling the bankrupt cards
Tags: bankrupt, bankruptcy, consumer groups
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