Consumer complaint received 2015-08-20
Product: Credit card — 
Issue: Balance transfer — 
Company: U.S. BANCORP (WA)

In XXXX of XXXX, I applied for a U.S. Bank Platinum VISA Card because it offered a 0.00 % APR on all balance transfers and purchases made before XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 

After I opened the account, I received numerous pieces of mail, email, and telephone calls from U.S. Bank offering additional balance transfers, cash advances, and purchases at a 0.00 % APR. I took advantage of XXXX of those offers, but U.S. Bank took advantage of me. 

I made XXXX transactions on the VISA card during the 0.00 % APR period. I made XXXX balance transfers and was charged a 3 % fee for each XXXX. In between the XXXX balance transfers, I made XXXX purchase. The XXXX balance transfer had a 0.00 % APR that did n't expire until XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 

I set up an automatic payment above the minimum payment due so that the first balance would be paid in full before the XXXX/XXXX/XXXX expiration date, but when I received my XXXX statement, it reflected a finance charge. I called U.S. Bank. I was told that I had incurred the charge because I did not pay the entire balance before XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 

I asked the representative to explain why there was an unpaid balance on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. He told me that it is U.S. Bank 's policy to apply any payment in excess of the minimum amount to the NEWEST balance. Only {$30.00} of my {$120.00} had been applied to the original balance. The remaining {$95.00} was being applied to the XXXX balance transfer that had a 0.00 % APR that did not expire until the following year. 

I paid more than the minimum amount due because I wanted to pay the original balance in full before XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, but U.S. Bank intentionally prevented this from occurring. I told the representative that I would have never taken advantage of the XXXX balance transfer offer if I had known that the excess payment was going to be applied to it. I refuse to do business with a bank that engages in such unfair and deceptive practices. I asked the representative to close my account and informed him I would be paying the entire balance in full. 

I thought I had a credit card with a 0.00 % APR until XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, but I did n't. My APR was 9.99 % APR because U.S. Bank made sure I had an outstanding balance on the APR expiration date. 

I was supposed to get a 0.00 % APR on the amount of the second balance transfer, but I did n't. U.S. Bank negated the offer by applying my excess payments to the balance. The balance is no longer the amount that was supposed to have a 0.00 % APR until XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. 

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of XXXX ( " CARD Act '' or " the Act '' ) was supposed to prohibit banks from applying payments in excess of the minimum in a manner that maximizes interest charges. The law has failed to accomplish this. If the balances have the same interest rate, banks are still able to apply the payments to their benefit. 

I 'm not just filing a complaint to warn others of the unfair and deceptive practices I was subjected to by U.S. Bank. I 'm filing this complaint in the hope that lawmakers will revise the CARD Act to include any payment allocation that maximizes interest charges, not just the ones involving a higher APR. Banks should also be prohibited from applying payments in excess of the minimum amount in a manner that generates interest charges.