US Bank slashes debit card reward

Kathy Chu reports on US Bank’s move to pare back its offline Visa debit card reward program.

Pat Wesner, an executive vice president at U.S. Bank, the nation’s fifth-largest Visa debit issuer, said the reason for the move is twofold. The shift in the “underlying revenue opportunity” to the bank as a result of the recent settlement between credit-card companies and merchants is partly driving this, she said. Increased costs related to “tracking and monitoring” customers who switch among the bank’s four debit-rewards programs are also a factor, she said.