Martin Lewis explains why you should never buy gift cards as Christmas presents

Apologies if you’re not ready to give up on summer just yet, but you’ve officially now got less than 100 days left to prepare for Christmas.

In the latest edition of his newsletter, Martin Lewis urged readers to start getting ready now, as there’s only a few paydays to go before festivities commence.

But there’s one thing the Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder warns against, and that’s buying gift cards and vouchers.

On Martin’s list of 15 ‘ho, ho… oh no!’ savings tips, he advised people to ‘beware’ of this ever-popular present, which 43% of Brits put under their loved ones’ trees each Christmas.

‘Many find giving a gift card more socially acceptable than cash — I get it, cash gifts just aren’t very British!,’ said the consumer finance guru. ‘Yet unfortunately, vouchers have risks.’

First off, if the store you got them from goes bust, your vouchers ‘usually become worthless’, effectively meaning you’ve thrown your cash down the drain.

This doesn’t just happen with small businesses either. Over the last year, major retailers including L K Bennett, Quiz, and Russell & Bromley all closed for good, following on from the likes of Homebase and MatchesFashion in 2024.

According to Which?, administrators ‘can decide to stop honouring gift vouchers at any point’ after they’re brought in to manage a company’s insolvency.

You can try to make a claim in writing to get the money back, and in some cases, gift cards may be honoured for a limited period of time (for example, as a gesture of goodwill or if the firm is saved by a buyout) but there’s ‘no right to a refund’.

Next up, Martin highlights the thorny issue of expiry dates ‘which often aren’t made clear enough.’

In an Ipsos study, more than one in 10 UK adults admitted they’d let vouchers expire unused in the past 12 months, with the total amount wasted averaging at £75.30 per person.

As such, Martin advises: ‘Think carefully about the likely financial strength of the retailer, and how quickly they’ll be used.

‘If in doubt, cash (or money in the bank) is the ultimate gift voucher — it’s totally flexible and usable anywhere.’