Consumer complaint received 2020-03-03
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: CA
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 customer service

Complaint:
FORMAL COMPLAINTS AGAINST XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX AND ELAN FINANCIAL SERVICES OVER MISREPRESENATIONS IN THE TRANSFER OF XXXX XXXX CREDIT CARD OPERATIONS TO ELAN, AS WELL AS OTHER RELATED AND SEPARATE ABUSES BY XXXX XXXX OF MEMBER # XXXX, COMPLAINANT : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX ; Contact Info : phone XXXX ; email : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX TO : CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU RE : FORMAL COMPLAINTS AGAINST ELAN FINANCIAL SERVICES AND XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX FOR IMPROPER, CUSTOMER-or-MEMBER ABUSIVE POLICIES & PROCEDURES, MISREPRESENTATION & FRAUD { NOTE : SUPPORTING EXHIBITS ATTACHED TO COMPLAINT } Background : Complaint is herewith filed by this semi-retired professor of economics and business, including Money and Banking, who is a multi-year member of the XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) holding their VISA card. After servicing this card for decades, in Fall XXXX & without advance notice to or the agreement of its members, XXXX XXXX ( now based at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MA XXXX ) sold all its VISA credit card operations to Elan Financial Services, an independent firm based at either XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX MN XXXX and/or XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX MO XXXX ; and/or XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX ND XXXX ; all of these addresses are listed as home of Elan Financial Services : the ND address per letters Elan sent to complainant ( see Exhibit B ), while on-line data sources give different addresses. 
Chronology : Upon first discovering transfer of what then seemed only credit card servicing from XXXX XXXX to Elan, complainant herein began emailing his own institution, XXXX XXXX, objecting to several aspects of the unapproved transfer, per email samples in Exhibits ; Elans replacement of XXXX XXXX as his managing bank, combined with vague on-line references to your financial institution which was absolutely NOT any school I had ever attended ; the new requirement of several additional time-consuming steps to access my VISA card account only via Elan ; Elans continuous nagging for income data from the complainant, with no opt-out allowed ( the only choices were to provide income to Elan now or later ) ; the poor reputation of Elan Financial judging from a long stream of very bad internet reviews ( per sample, Exhibit 7 ) ; improper failure of XXXX XXXX to consult its membership and account holders about credit cards being transferred to Elan ; lack of any real XXXX XXXX explanation regarding Elan ; and, in general, violation of prudent man rules. { My attempt ( per Exhibit 6 ) to exclude XXXX XXXX from these complaints failed after complainant later found out, only from Elan ( per exhibit B ), that XXXX XXXX had totally misrepresented facts of the matter -- and in truth had actually sold all VISA card operations to Elan & not just transferred servicing. } FORMAL COMPLAINTS AGAINST XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX & ELAN FINANCIAL SERVICES ( 2 ) Promptly, upon receiving a replacement XXXX XXXX VISA card in the mail from Elan Financial Services in XXXX, XXXX, complainant suspected that a fraud was occurring, since he got no advance notice or information from XXXX XXXX that their VISA credit card operations were being changed in any way ; due to his serious security concerns, complainant called Activation Number on new card to find out if it was actually an XXXX XXXX VISA card, particularly as card # changed. Elan staff then assured complainant that their card was his new XXXX XXXX VISA, which they activated. XXXX Later, per Exhibit B, Elan tried to distort topic of this call. ) At that point & only after first ignoring his several member complaint emails, XXXX XXXX, interim CEO of XXXX XXXX, finally replied by email and proposed calling complainant on XX/XX/XXXX to supposedly listen to his issues and also reassure him as to Elans role. Her colleague was also on that phone call, which went reasonably well -- but to the best of complainants knowledge, he was never told that his own financial institution, XXXX XXXX, had sold all XXXX XXXX VISA card functions to Elan Financial Services a sale of which he had not been informed, and to which he has never, ever consented. 
Status and Needed Actions : After many more months, none of the specific recommendations from complainant, a former professor of money and banking et al., which the XXXX XXXX CEO stated would receive serious consideration, have been implemented. Further emails to XXXX XXXX CEO XXXX over the next four months have produced zero positive result in terms of XXXX XXXX taking any responsible, corrective actions in support of its own members. Nor have several communications to the XXXX XXXX Board received any response, let alone any action ( See Exhibit 9 ). Rather, Interim CEO XXXX has tacitly supported Elans incompetent & negligent misconduct by failing to properly notify XXXX XXXX members of the specifics of the transfer of VISA cards to Elan ; by failing to take any useful or constructive corrective actions with Elan as part of that sale/transfer ; or even providing, upon repeated requests of complainant, any direct email address for Elan Executives or for their Corporate Level itself. Further, complainant has zero evidence that his issues were seriously considered by the XXXX XXXX Board ; nor is any information on communicating with Board Members provided by XXXX XXXX. Elan Financial Services claims, per their letters of XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX ( Exhibits B, C ) that Elan is now the sole credit grantor and decider as to XXXX XXXX members credit status and worthiness & that XXXX XXXX makes no such decisions : an abdication of XXXX XXXX responsibilities to its own members, without our consent, as we were not consulted, and never agreed, to transfer of our own VISA card to Elan Financial Services ; nor has the XXXX XXXX Board provided any evidence ( per Exhibit 9 ) of its consultation or agreement. 

RECOMMENDATIONS, REQUIREMENTS, AND RESOLUTIONS : 1 ) FOR XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX : Immediately establish a RESPONSE UNIT to handle XXXX XXXX member concerns promptly, expeditiously, and substantively. Fill its long-open CEO position with an outside banking professional within 30 days. Provide its Board contact information clearly on its website and by mail. Implement a full independent audit and review of the transfer of its VISA credit card operation to Elan Financial Services ; and promptly implement any and all recommended steps to achieve credit cards representing XXXX XXXX, not Your Financial Institution, and meeting or exceeding all terms of prior XXXX XXXX cards ; otherwise, prompt reversal of the awful XXXX XXXXELAN FINANCIAL relationship as to VISA card issuance, for cause & in best interest of our XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. In addition, XXXX XXXX must cease allowing ELAN FINANCIAL SERV. TO SEND FALSE/MISLEADING EMAIL OFFERS TO XXXX XXXX MEMBERS BY PRETENDING TO BE THE XXXX XXXX ITSELF! 

2 ) FOR ELAN FINANCIAL SERVICES : Immediately cease and desist from all misleading and false representations as to ELAN credit cards actually being issued by another financial institution with which ELAN partners or is affiliated e.g. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. A full audit of all ELAN credit card operations is urgently needed to review their rules and procedures as applied to credit cards they issue for other firms, or for credit card operations ELAN has purchased from other banks. ELAN must immediately implement full email communications for their customers and/or cardholders. DUE TO PAST HISTORY OF ABUSES PER EMAIL REVIEW SITES SUCH AS XXXX, ALL ELAN OPERATIONS SHOULD BE INDEPENDENTLY REVIEWED AND AUDITED FOR FULL FEDERAL AND STATE COMPLIANCE & ELAN TO BE SPECIFICALLY REQUIRED TO FOLLOW BEST BANKING PRACTICES & MEET PRUDENT MAN STANDARDS.

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