I believe that there is no time limit on the gift cards that are activated.
If a gift card was paid for it was activated. I worked retail over 15 years. The registers won't let you collect payment without activation of the card. If you have cards not activated they may have not been paid for at the checkout.
Once the card was paid for whit a $$ amount its up to you when you want to use the card base on my last experience using a gift card in the pass
Not sure try asking customer service
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