Consumer complaint received 2019-08-28
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: VA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
I signed up for the Navy Federal Flagship credit card, which has an introductory offer which states that customers shall earn XXXX bonus points after spending at least {$4000.00} within the first 90 days from opening the account. The terms and conditions are stated here : https : //www.navyfederal.org/loans-cards/credit-cards/offers/flagship-visa-signature.php Offer valid for cardholders issued new Visa Signature Flagship Rewards Credit Card accounts. To be eligible for the XXXX points offer, you must make {$4000.00} or more in net purchases within 90 days of account opening. Rewards are earned on eligible net purchases. " Net purchases '' means the sum of your eligible purchase transactions minus returns and refunds. Eligible purchase transactions do not include, and rewards are not earned for, the following transactions : cash advances, convenience checks, balance transfers, or fees of any kind, including finance charges, late fees, returned check fees, ATM cash advance fees, and annual fees, if any. Cash equivalent transactions, such as the purchase, loading, or reloading of gift and prepaid cards ( e.g., money orders, Visa XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX and other cash equivalent gift cards ), may not be eligible purchase transactions and may not earn rewards. Please allow up to eight weeks after the 90-day period for the XXXX points to post to your rewards balance. Account must be open and not in default at the time the XXXX points are posted to your rewards balance. Limit of one promotional offer at account opening. Valid for offers applied for from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX. Navy Federal reserves the right to end or modify this offer at any time. 

I opened my account on XX/XX/XXXX and spent {$5800.00} within the first 90 days. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX I still had not received the introductory bonus points promised in the terms and conditions, so I sent them this message through their online banking system : > Your Message XX/XX/XXXX : Hello, I previously contacted Navy Federal to check if I had qualified for the Flagship credit card introductory points offer, and received this response. 

> Navy Federal Response XX/XX/XXXX : > " Thank you for your message. We confirm, you took advantage of our Flagship promotion to spend {$4000.00} in net purchases within the first 90 days of your account open date, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, and get XXXX bonus points. Also, the Annual Fee is waived the first year. Per the terms of the promotion the bonus rewards will post 8 weeks after the 90 day-period, if qualified. As of XXXX XXXX, you have had {$4000.00} in net purchases post to your account. '' > I called Navy Federal 's customer support number and was informed that the points would post within 8 weeks following the 90-day period from account opening. 

> I checked my account transaction history, and it states that I made {$5800.00} in net purchases within the first 90 days from opening the account. However, I still have not received my introductory bonus points. Could you please add these to my rewards account balance? 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the following response : > Navy Federal Response 08/27/2019 : > After reviewing your account, we have found that the charge for  {$1900.00} to XXXX*XXXX  Bill Payment that posted to your Visa Signature Flagship account on XXXX XXXX. This transaction was sent as Quasi Cash which does not qualify for reward points. Therefore, this transaction does not qualify for this promotion and will need to be removed from the original amount provided to you. Since you did not spend the required amount for the spend promotion, you do not qualify for the bonus rewards. 

Their explanation states that they consider one of my transactions during the introductory period to be " quasi cash '' and therefore ineligible for the bonus points offer. However, this is inconsistent with the terms and conditions printed on their website and in the credit card application, under which this transaction ( a bill payment I made using the credit card ) counts as a net purchase. 

Essentially they offered a bonus worth {$500.00} for spending {$4000.00} using the card, then after I had spent {$5800.00}, they changed their spending criteria, subtracted {$1900.00} from my qualifying purchases, then used this to retroactively refuse to pay the bonus points offered in the application. This is equivalent to stealing {$500.00} from credit card customers.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation