U.S. Bancorp Prepaid Card Complaint

U.S. Bancorp Prepaid card department,

General purpose card Georgia

I was given - ( - ) - gift cards ( $50.00 each ). The front of the packaging indicates that the cards were valid through -/-/2020. On the back of the card there is verbiage that U.S. Bank will deduct from your balance an inactivity fee of $2.00 per month after 12 consecutive months of inactivity ... '' What I did not realize and which I believe is intentionally unclear is that the cards were ticking '' from the time the person who gifted me bought them. I do not know how long my donor had them ; I tucked them away to use for some future special purchase, confident in the 2020 expiration date. Recently I was ready to make that special purchase '' and was surprised to find that the cards could not be used because their value had been whittled away to $8.00 each because of inactivity fees! I was able to get only $24.00 restored to each card by working with U.S. Bank ( their records supposedly only


time is of the essence ''. I truly thought that the $ - monthly deduction would begin after the first time I used the card at a retail register. I have other gift cards that I have received, and none of them have these harsh conditions ( you can be sure I looked closely at that after this event ). It is fine with me if MC and U.S. Bank want to run their business by eroding the value of a gift card ( for which they have received their money ), but I do think that they should have to make it clear ( and abundantly so ) that their gift cards are diminishing in value second by second, minute by minute. Use your card NOW or it could be worth very little or nothing in the near future '' should be emblazoned on the packaging.