Visa Gift Card Exorbitant restoration rates make gift card valueless Ripoff Chicago Illinois

As a senior citizen things frequently get put aside and forgotten for a while. The following happenend to me.

I received a "gift card" as a "bonus" (rather than a "rebate) for a sizeable purchase. The card came with the product. The product was taken out of the box and used, and the box set aside.

I recently was discarding the box when I found the "gift card", and I took it ot a store to use it. I was informed the card had "expired".

I called the contact number on teh card and got a taped message to call another number. I called the other number and got a taped message to leave a call back number, which I did.

When the "agent" contacted me, I was told that I would have to pay a "reissue" fee, as well as a "monthly fee" from the date the card expired to the date of the reissue. This would have left me PAYING to have the card "restored" and without any benefit of the "gift", that is, paying more to get the card than the reissued card was worth.

As it is, the VISA company somehow manages to charge exhorbitant interest rates on their cards, and manages to get away with it.
What ever happened to the laws against usury????? Congress ought to make a real serious effort to look into the shenanigans of these crooks and thieves!

L.
Somewhere in
U.S.A.