I received two Visa reward cards from AT&T Uverse as a promotion that are issued by U.S. Bank: one is for $150; another is for $100.
I tried to use one of the cards today that had $18.33 left on it. The purchase was for about $22, and when the merchant ran the card, it came back as declined. Moreover, the merchant stated they cannot do split transactions (cannot enter $18.33 and then allow the customer to pay the difference), although U.S. Bank set the Visa gift card up this way. This makes it fairly difficult to clear a balance out on one of their cards.
From what I understand, this way of processing credit card transactions is not legal. American Express was recently fined in a class action lawsuit for a similar problem in 2013: classactionrebates.com/settlements/amex-gift-card/. Therefore, I filed complaints with the BBB of Minnesota, the Attorney General of my own state, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If you have experienced a similar problem, I'd suggest that you file your own report. Here are the links:
bbb.org/minnesota/http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
Also, here is U.S. Bank's address:
U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp Center
800 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55402