Consumer complaint received 2017-05-16
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: IL
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:
I recently signed up fo r US  Bank  Altitude Reserve  credit card. I was approved a received the card on  XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX  . I 'm interested in this card because of its reward structure for using it via mobile wallet payments ( Android Pay in my cas e ). When signing up for the Altitude Reserve card a nd reading through its terms & conditions, there was absolutely no mention of any rules that prohibit the purchase of gift cards. I started using the card on  XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX  . There was a promotion at the local grocery store for various store gift cards that I was interested in taking advantage of. This was because of  XXXX    XXXX   XXXX    as well as the upcoming graduation season. I planned on buying those store gift cards as gifts/presents for the my mom, brother, friends, and my wife 's friends. Because of the restriction on the store 's promotion, the discount is only applied to  one gift card per transaction. So I had to make repeated transactions for multiple gift cards to receive the discount on all gift cards. Understandably, there was a block placed on the Altitude Reserve card after a few successful transactions. I proactively called US Bank and notified them that those charges are legitimate charges made by me and requested them to unblock the card so I can continue using it. During this verification process, I was not questioned or notified of any rules that prohibits making purchase of gift cards using the Altitude Reserve card. I went back to the store to make more purchases the  next day  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX   ) and all the transactions completed successfully. My wife and I thought it was a good promotion and thought we should buy some more cards for our own use so I went back to the store again the day after that  (   XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX   ) to make some more purchases. But this time I could n't complete any purchases because all transactions were being declined. I went home and called  US Ban k thinking it was just another fraud block. After looking up my account info, the first representative told me to call  XXXX  at  XXXX  for more information. When I called  XXXX  said that because my purchases are repeating transactions mean they are gift cards, tha t US  Bank does n't allow the purchase of gift cards using their credit card, and my account is closed. I asked her to explain to me why is that not allowed, she mentioned that because gift cards can be converted to cash, it is not allowed. I pressed her for more details and point out to be where in the card agreement that it explicitly prohibits that. She just kept repeating that it is not allowed, my account is closed and it is final, can not be appealed. I asked to speak to he r manager and was forwarded to the manager ' s voice mail. I left a message with my contact info on  XXXX   XXXX ,   XXXX  . I just received the call back from the manager,  XXXX . And he pretty much said the same thing as  XXXX  without an explanation or could point out to where in the terms & conditions of the card that prohibit the buying of gift cards. He said I was abusing the rewards because all my transactions are for gift cards. Not only my Altitude Reserve card was closed but all the other related accounts were closed as well (  US Bank Cash Rewards Visa, US Bank checking account, and Fidelity Rewards Visa that is managed by US Bank  /Elan Services ).  This is uncalled for and an unfair practice when I have n't violated any stated card agreement whatsoever. This results in negative marks in my credit reports. I 've included the full card agreement fo r the US Bank Altitude Reserve ca rd.

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 explanation