Borders Gift Cards... Worth NOTHING.

If you are holding on to a Borders gift card...you can safely deposit it in the trash, as the paper is worth more than the balance on the card. Sad but true, a bankruptcy judge ruled that Borders does NOT owe a cent to the gift card holders who didn't redeem their cards before last year's deadline, when the mass retailer closed for good. 

Those who still have gift-cards from the retailer -- opposed the ruling, arguing that Borders "did nothing" to reach out to their gift-card holders before they shut down last September.

Judge Martin Glenn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court said “Gift cards, as their name illustrates, are not intended to be used by the purchaser but are instead intended as gifts, so even if the debtors were able to identify the purchasers of the gift cards, they would have no way of tracing the ultimate recipients,” he wrote in his opinion. “And, in fact, the gift card holders, by their own admission, received their gift cards as gifts. Therefore, the debtors had no way of tracing their identities.”

Clint Krislov of Krislov & Associates in Chicago, who is representing the gift-card holders, expressed disappointment with the judge’s ruling, which he expects to appeal.

“We will pursue this further,” he told Bankruptcy Beat Wednesday.

More on Borders Bankruptcy & Gift Cards....

Posted in bankruptcy beat , Borders Bankruptcy , borders gift cards , retail bankruptcy