Consumer complaint received 2017-06-20
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: WA
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:
This complaint is regarding my  US Bank Cash Plus Rewards  credit card.  <P/> Since being recommended to switch to paperless statements, reviewing the electronic statements became less used, since I am able to review transactions on the credit card website to verify the transactions to spot any possible fraudulent transactions. However, it appears that my cash rewards that I have been accruing for years is slowly being siphoned from my rewards balance due to them 'expiring '. Apparently, the only place that the rewards expiring is notified is in the paperless statements. I received no other notification, neither from the website  Message Center, nor from an email from US Bank, or even a regular mail.To me, this  is a somewhat sneaky tactic to slowly reduce my accrued cash rewards from my account. This was happening to me for  2 straig ht months - {$14.00} on   X/XX/17     and {$35.00} o n   XXXX   - for  a total of {$50.00}. If I had not 'stumbled ' upon my paperless statement in earl y  XX/XX/XXXX , t he rewards being deducted from my account would have continued, leaving me with less and less accrued rewards.  <P/> I called US Bank credit card customer service o n  X/XX/17  ( or  X/X/17  ) t o inquire about the rewards expiring, and the customer service representative informed me that he will open a case for US Ba nk rewards depart ment to review my case. I then went ahead and cash out some of the rewards accrued to avoid additional rewards from expiring.  <P/> I called US Bank credit card customer service again this evenin g,  X/XX/17    , inquiring on the status of the review request, and was informed that the case was recently closed, and that my rewards was lost forever - essentially resulting with me losing {$50.00}. I complained to the customer representative supervisor on the phone, and was informed that I 'should have known ' that the terms & conditions state that the credit card rewards expires 3 years after being accrued, and that I should have reviewed my statements ( which is the ONLY place where it notes reward dollars expiring ).  <P/> My issue / concern with this practice by US Bank are   : ( 1 ) No other notification ( message center, email, mail ) of reward dollars expiring.
( 2 ) No way to easily view the credit card terms and conditions on the website. I looked around the US Bank online account system, and could not find the credit card terms and conditions -- - with the terms and conditions not being easily accessible, how can it be fair for the consumer to expect to remember the terms and conditions which was read years ago when opening the account?    <P/> Bottom line, I think the way US Bank credit card rewards is set to expire, with limited visibility of it happening ( i.e. hidden only in the paperless statements ) is an unfair practice to the credit card consumers.  <P/> Note : I will not be surprised if other consumers are having their reward dollars expire on them without them realizing.

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 monetary relief