The old way to give a gift card: Pluck a piece of plastic from a rack at the supermarket and stick it under the tree. The new way: Surprise the recipient with a gift via text message, Facebook or a festive e-card

Gift cards' small size and the fact that you can tuck them away to use later also make them easy to misplace. If your gift card gets lost or stolen, do you have any recourse?

Prepaid cards have gotten a bad rap, mostly because of the high (and often obscure) fees many of them charge. Yet there are some times when they can be a useful financial tool

The Federal Reserve recently proposed a 12-cent cap on the fees banks charge merchants for debit card transactions. If implemented, the new limit could shave more than 80 percent off the revenue banks collect through debit card interchange fees. The move is raising questions about whether credit card swipe fees might be next.