Why does it cost $4 to activate a gift card? Encino resident Carol Powell, 67, posed that question to me after being told by a Target cashier about the cost for getting a $25 prepaid card up and ...

A couple days before Christmas, we ran an article listing reasons why store-specific gift cards are often a bad gift idea, and added: “if you must give a card in lieu of actual money, a prepaid debit ...