Consumer complaint received 2021-05-05
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2021, I attempted to use my XXXX XXXX XXXX to purchase a gift card but the transaction did not go through initially. Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by the Fraud Department at Elan Financial. Not only did a supervisor from their Fraud Department not inform me that this was not permitted, but after I spoke to her to verify my identity, she remained on the line to ensure the transaction went through successfully. About a week later I used the card with no issues but a few days after that I attempted to use my card for gas and it was declined. Thinking it was the card reader at the pump, I stopped at another gas station and yet again, the card was declined. This prompted me to call them but because it was late in the evening, all I was told was that the card was closed and I was given a number to call for more information. When I got hold of an agent from what I believed to be their " Verifications Department '' I'm told that I'm not allowed to purchase gift cards with their card. How is it that I spoke to two representatives and a supervisor from the Fraud Department regarding the purchase of a gift card and not one single person says anything along the lines of " You can not purchase gift cards with your card? '' While I appreciate how nice they were trying to resolve the issue, the idea that Elan Financial expects customers to know ( borderline memorize XXXX their cardholder agreements when their own staff doesn't even know it is mind boggling. To add salt to injury when I got the letter they sent, it read as follows : " We have reviewed your account and have reason to believe that you have fallen victim to a credit card scam. We have made several attempts to contact you by phone regarding this account but have been unsuccessful. For your own protection and due to the recent activity on the account, the account has been closed to any further activity effective immediately ... '' I was livid. Not only did they not inform me that the account would be closed if I made the purchase, but they also stayed on the line with me to confirm the purchase went through. Not only did they lie about making " several attempts '' to contact me but they also lied about thinking I was a victim of credit card scam considering I had verified all my account information with reps and the supervisor who confirmed. Not to mention, if this was in fact a fraud case, wouldn't the proper action be to issue the cardholder a new account number? 

Despite requesting then reading through the cardholder agreement for information regarding closure of accounts due to gift card purchases, which was nowhere to be found, and even despite owning a XXXX and losing access to a card that rewarded me for the essential services/repairs I needed, I was willing to walk away. Even knowing that I would also be losing over {$200.00} in rewards points, I was willing to let it go and move on. 

However, I am not willing to watch my credit score negatively impacted, which I have been working so hard to rebuild. Before this incident my credit score was steadily increasing but now it has dipped significantly because of Elan Financials inability to be open and transparent on policies and their improper training of their employees on their own policies. If only one single person I spoke with advised me of this outcome, I could have used another card or cash, and I wouldnt be in this injurious predicament.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief