US Bank adverse action
May 7, 2017, 7:58 pm
#136
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Coconut Creek, FL
Programs: AA Lifetime Platinum-2 MM Starwood Plat,Delta DM
Posts: 975
Just found this thread. Here's my story:
Shutdown back in Sept 2016 when I applied for FP Biz. Reconed several times, tried to move credit around, and dealt with the lovely Keith in Cardmember Investigations (he performed the shutdown). At the time I had 3 USB accounts (FP, FP, Cash) and one account (my oldest) at Elan.
They initially said my 50k FP points were forfeited as other mentioned. I wrote several letters and they paid out at 1 ccp. I then proceeded to file complaints with CFPB, OCC, and AGs for CA, MN, ME; attempt to reopen my accounts with frontline CSRs; and dispute USB's responses to my complaints.
All the while I invoked the California Law stating you shall not close credit cards without 30 days notice. It fell on deaf ears. Eventually they claimed that it didn't apply due to the exception provision.
After saying I was insulted by their lowball settlement offer, they threw in another 1 ccp. They also refused to respond to additional letters. Unbelievable. I never cashed the checks or agreed to stipulated settlement. My counteroffer was very reasonable: an extra $50 and my oldest (non-USB, mind you) account back. No response.
Anyways, I plan on suing out of spite. After all, the customer has no duty to kiss your behind once you screw 'em. If everyone asserted their rights, the banks would think twice before pulling these shenanigans. It would be my personal honor to help others fight US Bank.
I've been in this game a while (4 years) but this was my first real shutdown. It certainly was an eye opener.
Btw the registered agent is listed under US Bancorp. In California that is currently C T CORPORATION SYSTEM 818 W 7TH ST STE 930 LOS ANGELES CA 90017. Find yours by doing a business search on the Secretary of State's website.
Shutdown back in Sept 2016 when I applied for FP Biz. Reconed several times, tried to move credit around, and dealt with the lovely Keith in Cardmember Investigations (he performed the shutdown). At the time I had 3 USB accounts (FP, FP, Cash) and one account (my oldest) at Elan.
They initially said my 50k FP points were forfeited as other mentioned. I wrote several letters and they paid out at 1 ccp. I then proceeded to file complaints with CFPB, OCC, and AGs for CA, MN, ME; attempt to reopen my accounts with frontline CSRs; and dispute USB's responses to my complaints.
All the while I invoked the California Law stating you shall not close credit cards without 30 days notice. It fell on deaf ears. Eventually they claimed that it didn't apply due to the exception provision.
After saying I was insulted by their lowball settlement offer, they threw in another 1 ccp. They also refused to respond to additional letters. Unbelievable. I never cashed the checks or agreed to stipulated settlement. My counteroffer was very reasonable: an extra $50 and my oldest (non-USB, mind you) account back. No response.
Anyways, I plan on suing out of spite. After all, the customer has no duty to kiss your behind once you screw 'em. If everyone asserted their rights, the banks would think twice before pulling these shenanigans. It would be my personal honor to help others fight US Bank.
I've been in this game a while (4 years) but this was my first real shutdown. It certainly was an eye opener.
Btw the registered agent is listed under US Bancorp. In California that is currently C T CORPORATION SYSTEM 818 W 7TH ST STE 930 LOS ANGELES CA 90017. Find yours by doing a business search on the Secretary of State's website.
May 8, 2017, 12:17 am
#137
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 267
Interesting.... I thought groceries stores were pretty safe, unlike websites that explicitly sell GC's. Your grocery store must have reported sufficient details and something must have triggered a review. I'm wondering if there were other factors at play and how more of an exception your case is. After all, I can think of many reasons why I "legitimately" would be buying GC's at a grocery store. It still strikes me odd that the bank would shut dwon your accounts for doing that, unless you simply were buying a ridiculous amount of GCs and turning them into MO's, depositing them in the same bank to pay off your CC.
May 8, 2017, 2:34 am
#138
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PWM
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 1,335
Frankly you should have taken the $1000.00. I seriously doubt you will do any better in court. You may do worse. Per your quoting CA law, these sort of of things are often disregarded and not recognized. You don't spite them since they have a ton of attorneys onboard. So they go to court. It doesn't matter to them. With any legal situation, court is the last resort. It means the parties could not settle out of court. Fighting cases on principal is a waste of time. Most lawyers love to fight on principles. They make sure the client will pay them for the wasted efforts.
Anyways, I've decided not to sue or cash the checks (will keep my options open pending this fruitful discussion). The statue of limitation is 4 years. I think we may see more activity here in light of their new CC.
May 8, 2017, 9:10 am
#139
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,207
Reasonable to you maybe, but no bank in their right mind is going to agree to letting you have the account back if they identified you as a risky customer, and thus shut down your accounts (and didn't make a mistake). That's a pipe dream.
May 9, 2017, 2:55 am
#140
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PWM
Programs: AA Plat
Posts: 1,335
That's mainly what fuels my animus. That was the first credit card I ever opened (1/28/08). At the tender age of 18, my mom took me to the main branch of Gardiner Savings Bank in Maine (since renamed and acquired) to open a secured Visa credit card (there was 1k in my savings I couldn't touch). To have US Bank steal that history from me is heartbreaking. And it certainly doesn't help my FICO. At the time of closure that card was a Camden National Visa serviced by Elan.
As noted in my post, I did ask for my US Bank accounts back but I didn't include them in my stipulated settlement offer.
May 9, 2017, 6:36 am
#141
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,207
Yes and no. There is at least 1 positive datapoint (will update if I find the source. It was a comment on a blog I think).
That's mainly what fuels my animus. That was the first credit card I ever opened (1/28/08). At the tender age of 18, my mom took me to the main branch of Gardiner Savings Bank in Maine (since renamed and acquired) to open a secured Visa credit card (there was 1k in my savings I couldn't touch). To have US Bank steal that history from me is heartbreaking. And it certainly doesn't help my FICO. At the time of closure that card was a Camden National Visa serviced by Elan.
As noted in my post, I did ask for my US Bank accounts back but I didn't include them in my stipulated settlement offer.
That's mainly what fuels my animus. That was the first credit card I ever opened (1/28/08). At the tender age of 18, my mom took me to the main branch of Gardiner Savings Bank in Maine (since renamed and acquired) to open a secured Visa credit card (there was 1k in my savings I couldn't touch). To have US Bank steal that history from me is heartbreaking. And it certainly doesn't help my FICO. At the time of closure that card was a Camden National Visa serviced by Elan.
As noted in my post, I did ask for my US Bank accounts back but I didn't include them in my stipulated settlement offer.
May 9, 2017, 7:57 pm
#142
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Meh - depends what the banksters are smoking in their pipe. Had seven DDAs shut by a bank that still loves, and has increased my cc biz. Was using the bank back in the day to deposit cash to transfer to my UFB DDAs to purchase GCs using my UFB AA debits (i. e. recycling funds on an industrial scale). That was in the good old days when you could daisy chain IRA rollovers and recycle the money over and over and over again. Some banksters are just less evil than others.
And speaking of evil, resident evil that is, have you heard of the trouble in Stansted today? "Outraged holidaymakers at Stansted Airport have compared the departures lounge to a "zombie apocalypse" as passengers "fainted" and missed their flights due to technical difficulties. The airport has been forced to apologize after a fault with security scanners caused long queues."
And speaking of evil, resident evil that is, have you heard of the trouble in Stansted today? "Outraged holidaymakers at Stansted Airport have compared the departures lounge to a "zombie apocalypse" as passengers "fainted" and missed their flights due to technical difficulties. The airport has been forced to apologize after a fault with security scanners caused long queues."
Jun 5, 2017, 2:47 pm
#143
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,256
Agree. The banks do not care one bit about you as an individual customer. If they see you as a risk, that's it, they're done with you. It's simply not worth their time and trouble to continue taking the risk, as there are no shortage of other customers out there. Risk Management rules in most businesses.
Jun 5, 2017, 5:47 pm
#144
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Let us not forget there was Risk Management ruling in every bank caught red handed laundering money. Blame autopilot analytics which detects MS folk yet fails to detect ML folk. 
Agree. The banks do not care one bit about you as an individual customer. If they see you as a risk, that's it, they're done with you. It's simply not worth their time and trouble to continue taking the risk, as there are no shortage of other customers out there. Risk Management rules in most businesses.
Jan 27, 2020, 9:35 am
#149
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Gringolandia y LatinoAmerica a veces EU y Asia
Programs: AV, AA, BA, CM, UA, Hertz, Marriott, Hilton
Posts: 153
When I was shutdown in the spring 2017 wave I received weeks notice to redeem accumulated FP of ~200k. Luckily I returned from a long trip funded by FP lol - just in time to read the shutdown letters and book everything immediately. I will not bother with USB again but it was good while it lasted. I ramped up and within a year ms'd 30k/mo across multiple FP cards and generated ~5 million FP over the time. Kept my UA 1K at least five years longer than otherwise lllol! But at this time I don't care if the ban is lifetime I don't want to deal again with USB cs was so bad, and there were many problems eg. claiming the $25 per ticket allowance for travel incidentals was a headache every time.
Jan 27, 2020, 8:09 pm
#150
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: Continental Onepass, Hilton, Marriott, USAir and now UA
Posts: 6,408
Why not simply try to apply for a new card.
What is the worst that they can do?? Say no?
OTOH, perhaps you might like to try a different approach and see if you can open a checking or savings account, and hold off on trying for a cc until or unless you can make headway in this manner.
What is the worst that they can do?? Say no?
OTOH, perhaps you might like to try a different approach and see if you can open a checking or savings account, and hold off on trying for a cc until or unless you can make headway in this manner.
