US Bank will give credit

[Anonymous]

Talk to a phone rep yesterday and asked why in my lastest statement the rewards were off. Found out I forgot to activate my categories for this quarter. He said I will be credited the 5% going by my history of choices. I think it's a one time pass.

[K-in-Boston]

Glad that worked out for you.  I would agree it's likely a one-time courtesy and I wouldn't count on it happening again in the future.

[DaveInAZ]

Great. that was nice of them. On the other hand I got my Cash+ card in the mail in March and activated it, and set my 5% categories with Home Utilities and then paid my electric bill. Statement generates and I see I only got 1% rewards for my $166 electric bill, so I call. The rep generates a ticket and a week or two later I get a letter claiming the charge for my electric bill posted on  3/10 while my categories weren't setup until 3/11. No, I did it all the same day, but I notice that when I set my categories for the next quarter it takes at least 1 day for that to show up as being set. So there seems to be at least 1 day delay in setting your 5%/2% categories before they go into effect, so be aware & don't rush things.

[Remedios]

US Bank starts sending reminders to existing cardholders at around 45 days prior to quarter starting, and reminders persist well into the first month of the quarter in question. 

Short of doing it for customer, I dont know what else they could do about it. 

[coldfusion]

They could do what BoA does with choosing the Cash Rewards 3% category  - once you set your 5% and 2% categories, default to  automatically carry them into each subsequent new quarter over unless and until you go in and change them.

[Remedios]

---

@coldfusion wrote:

They could do what BoA does with choosing the Cash Rewards 3% category  - once you set your 5% and 2% categories, default to  automatically carry them into each subsequent new quarter over unless and until you go in and change them.

---

They could. Then they should hire additional CSRs to deal with "I was going to change it, why did you keep it same"

If activating categories is such a burden, one could easily make the case for plain flat rate cash back. 

Either a person decides that clicking a link four times per year is not too much to ask, or go with 2% card, which is 50% more than 1% on rewards when categories are not activated, so winning...right? 

[DaveInAZ]

---

@coldfusion wrote:

They could do what BoA does with choosing the Cash Rewards 3% category  - once you set your 5% and 2% categories, default to  automatically carry them into each subsequent new quarter over unless and until you go in and change them.

---

Well yes, but setting categories quarterly is pretty standard. I have to activate Discover's 5% pre-selected category quarterly, and have to set my BBVA Clear Points 3% & 2% categories, as well as USB Cash+ 5% & 2%. They're all the same: Jan. 1, April 1, July 1  & Oct. 1. So I have a reminder in my MS Outlook calendar to remind me every 3 months. BoA Cash Rewards is easy, I always leave it set to gas, even though not a big spend for me, because their other categories are even a less spend for me or I have better rewards on other cards.

[coldfusion]

---

@Remedios wrote:

---

---

They could. Then they should hire additional CSRs to deal with "I was going to change it, why did you keep it same"

---

That would be tied to the total number of cardholders and the percentage of them that change categories quarterly.    You're making the assumption that the overhead related to "I was going to change it, why did you keep it the same" is greater than "I forgot to enable it, can you enable it for me".    I don't think either of us knows the answer to that. 

My gut sense is that "I forgot to enable it" would be the greater of the two but I'm not the one with the data to mine. 

[Remedios]

---

@coldfusion wrote:

---

@Remedios wrote:

---

---

They could. Then they should hire additional CSRs to deal with "I was going to change it, why did you keep it same"

---

That would be tied to the total number of cardholders and the percentage of them that change categories quarterly.    You're making the assumption that the overhead related to "I was going to change it, why did you keep it the same" is greater than "I forgot to enable it, can you enable it for me".    I don't think either of us knows the answer to that. 

My gut sense is that "I forgot to enable it" would be the greater of the two but I'm not the one with the data to mine. 

---

Your assumption is wrong because that was a joke. 

It's a typical fall out from making assumptions, though. 

[coldfusion]

---

@Remedios wrote:

---

@coldfusion wrote:

---

@Remedios wrote:

---

---

They could. Then they should hire additional CSRs to deal with "I was going to change it, why did you keep it same"

---

That would be tied to the total number of cardholders and the percentage of them that change categories quarterly.    You're making the assumption that the overhead related to "I was going to change it, why did you keep it the same" is greater than "I forgot to enable it, can you enable it for me".    I don't think either of us knows the answer to that. 

My gut sense is that "I forgot to enable it" would be the greater of the two but I'm not the one with the data to mine. 

---

Your assumption is wrong because that was a joke. 

It's a typical fall out from making assumptions, though. 

---

😐

😒

🤐