InComm Removes Visa® Gift Card and MasterCard® Gift Card Products from All Stores in New Jersey, Effective June 30

ATLANTA, April 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- InComm, a leading prepaid product and transaction services company, announced today it would remove all Vanilla Visa® Gift Card and Vanilla MasterCard® Gift Card products from retail locations in New Jersey, effective June 30. These retail locations include the nation's leading big box, pharmacy, discount, convenience and grocery chains.

As a result of modifications made to State of New Jersey's unclaimed property laws in 2010 designed to fill a budget shortfall, retailers selling gift cards will now have to capture a gift card purchaser's personal information (which may include name, address and/or zip code) at the point of sale. This information will then be kept by card issuers and is reportable to the state. After two years of inactivity, New Jersey will automatically take the unspent money, even if the card has not expired. 

Because of the technological hurdles created by the new law, InComm will not be able to ensure compliance and has elected to eliminate the Vanilla Visa Gift Card and Vanilla MasterCard Gift Card programs from over 1,500 retail locations in New Jersey. Vanilla is one of the most popular gift card programs in the United States, and the products affected include the entire Vanilla suite. 

"Customer service and ease of use for consumers have always been of the utmost importance to us at InComm, and we want to continue to serve our retailers, brand partners and consumers with the best prepaid and payment solutions in the market," said Brooks Smith, President and CEO of InComm. "Unfortunately, once the new unclaimed property law is enforced in New Jersey, we will be unable to ensure compliance on behalf of our retail partners, and therefore have no option other than to cease selling InComm products in the state."

Smith went on to say, "In addition to the compliance issues this law creates, we are very concerned that our New Jersey consumers will not have continued access to their gift card funds.  States should not have the right to remove funds from an unexpired Visa or MasterCard card that a consumer is carrying in their wallet."  Under federal law, gift cards cannot expire earlier than five years after purchase, and in fact most gift card funds never expire, including Vanilla gift card products.  In spite of such broad federal protection, consumers who purchase gift cards in New Jersey will be deprived of the value of those cards after two years of non-use.   

About InComm

InComm is a leading provider of cutting-edge prepaid products, services and transaction technologies to retailers, brands and consumers. InComm supports more than 250,000 retail locations in building prepaid card destinations, connects brands with new markets and gives consumers a simple, secure shopping experience. InComm stays ahead of emerging trends by analyzing market needs and leveraging its global, innovative commerce platform, go-to-market expertise and extensive partner relationships. With 113 global patents, InComm is headquartered in Atlanta and has offices in North and South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. For more information, visit www.incomm.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/incomm.

SOURCE InComm

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