Consumer complaint received 2016-03-31
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: MD
Product: Credit card
Issue: APR or interest rate

Complaint:
Hello, I am asking that you investigate this promptly, as the recorded conversation ( s ) related to the issue are key and I do n't know how long they are kept beforebeing destroyed. This is in regard to my U.S. Bank XXXX ( ending in XXXX ). On XXXX/XXXX/16, I called customer service, explaining that I needed to pay XXXX of my credit card bills late and I wanted to be strategic and choose the XXXX that would be least consequential. The representative, XXXX ( employee ID XXXX XXXX did everything he could to put my mind at ease. He told me that any late fee would be reversed that I would n't even have to call to request it, it would happen automatically ( and it did ). If you listen to the recording, please note not just the content, but his tone - he really wanted to make me feel comfortable with choosing this as the bill to pay late. What XXXX did not inform me of was that my account was going to be frozen so that I could n't use it ( at only five days past due?! ), but more importantly, that my APR was going to jump XXXX points from 12.24 % to a whopping 19.24 %!! Does this sound like the bill I would have chosen to pay late had I any idea such a thing could happen?! I was never even made aware of this excessive APR increase until after I made approximately $ XXXX worth of purchases at that rate!! In my attempts to resolve this, I was put in touch with a XXXX XXXX, an accounts manager. I asked why I was not made aware of the APR increase in advance as I should have been, so I could have chosen not to make any further purchases at such a high rate of interest. She said a letter was sent to me to that effect. I told her I never received it and asked what date the letter was generated. She could not give me a date and seemed very vague, only able to give me a range as to when it was sent. In any case, the vague date range she gave me came AFTER the raised APR was put into effect, so how could I have been given the choice to opt out if it already happened?! I also asked if she could send me a copy of the letter that was allegedly sent and she said she has no way of duplicating it, that it was no longer in the system. In other wrods, she had no evidence of any type that such a letter was sent out or even existed. 
I realize you only have my word that I was never given the heads up about the APR increase, but given the blatant negligence displayed in their record keeping ( PLEASE listen the recordings ) - no date, no copy to show me - I should be given the benefit of the doubt that I never received the letter. The only way I found out about the shocking increase was when my bill came and I saw that a portion of the interest had been calculated at 19.24 %. Why in my right mind would I make {$1500.00} worth of transactions at a 19.24 % APR when I could have used my XXXX with a 13 % APR instead?! ( and if it was my XXXX that I chose to pay late instead of this XXXX, I would n't be in this situation now! ). 

I would like to mention a different issue I had with this samebank last summer. I was told by XXXX of the reps that I could use the reward points I accumulated to satisfy my minimum payment due that month and was told that I could. So what happened as a result? The payment I made via the use of those rewards did not satisfy the minimum payment due and I was charged a late fee. After much hassle, they conceded that I was misinformed and they made things right ( thank XXXX for those recorded conversations! ). Although that was resolved without the type of outside help I am now seeking from you, I bring it up only to illustrate a pattern this bank has of misleading their customers, in ways that can have dire consequences. 

I insist that my APR be reverted back to the 12.24 % it has always been at, or at the least, that it be retroactively applied to the purchases made since the increase, since I was never made aware of it. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX

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