Consumer complaint received 2026-07-07 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with rewards from credit card
Company: U.S. BANCORP
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint to request that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX U.S. Bank 's substantial devaluation of the rewards program for the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card and whether the bank provided consumers with adequate and effective notice before reducing the value of rewards that had already been earned. I have been a loyal U.S. Bank XXXX XXXX cardholder for more than XXXX years. XXXX of the primary reasons I selected and continued using this card was its long-standing travel redemption benefit of XXXX cents per reward point. This benefit was consistently promoted as a core feature of the card and directly influenced my decision to use this card instead of competing products. Had I known that U.S. Bank intended to significantly reduce the redemption value of accumulated points, I would have redeemed my rewards before the change became effective or changed my spending behavior. Over more than XXXX years, I accumulated approximately XXXX reward points. Under the long-established redemption policy, these points had an expected travel redemption value of approximately {$1500.00}. After U.S. Bank implemented its new redemption policy, those same points became worth only approximately $ XXXX loss of roughly {$500.00}, representing a reduction of approximately one-third of the value that I had earned through years of spending. Most importantly, I did not receive effective notice of this significant change. When I contacted U.S. Bank after discovering the reduced redemption value, I was informed that notice had allegedly been sent by email. However, I was completely unaware that such a material change was taking place. I never knowingly received or recognized any communication informing me that the value of my accumulated rewards would be reduced. From my perspective as a consumer, I received no effective notice whatsoever. Reducing the value of rewards that consumers have already earned is fundamentally different from changing the benefits applicable to future spending. Consumers make financial decisions based on the benefits that are promised when they earn those rewards. I accumulated these points over many years in reliance on U.S. Bank 's established redemption structure. After those rewards had already been earned, U.S. Bank substantially reduced their purchasing power without ensuring that I was actually aware of the impending change. I believe that relying solely on a single email for such a significant financial change is inadequate and unreasonable. Consumers receive countless emails from financial institutions every month, many of which are promotional or informational. A change that immediately reduces the value of years of accumulated rewards by hundreds of dollars deserves much more prominent communication, such as repeated account notifications, statement inserts, in-app alerts, secure messages within online banking, or another method reasonably calculated to ensure that customers are actually informed. Simply asserting that an email was sent does not mean that consumers received meaningful notice of a material reduction in value. What makes this situation particularly unfair is that U.S. Bank did not merely change the earning rate for future purchases. Instead, it devalued rewards that had already been earned over many years under a different set of expectations. Consumers had already fulfilled their side of the bargain by using the card and generating interchange revenue for the bank. Once those rewards were earned, consumers reasonably expected that their value would not be substantially reduced without adequate notice and an opportunity to redeem them under the existing program. I respectfully request that the CFPB investigate whether U.S. Bank 's actions constitute an unfair, deceptive, or abusive act or practice, including whether the bank 's method of notification was sufficient for a material change that substantially diminished the value of consumers ' accumulated rewards. I also request that the CFPB determine whether consumers who earned rewards before the policy change should have been grandfathered or provided with a reasonable redemption period at the previously established value. As a remedy, I request that U.S. Bank restore the previous XXXX travel redemption value for reward points earned before the policy change or provide equivalent compensation for the value that consumers lost as a result of the devaluation. Consumers who accumulated rewards over many years should not suffer a substantial financial loss because they were unaware that the bank had decided to reduce the value of rewards that had already been earned. I appreciate the CFPB 's review of this complaint and respectfully request that it be forwarded to U.S. Bank for a formal response and that the agency determine whether additional regulatory action is warranted to protect consumers from similar retroactive devaluations in the future.

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