Complaint Review: Discover Card - Select State/Province

Honorable Congressman Jeb Hernsling                    Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection

House Committee on Financial Services                   1700 G Street NW

2228 Rayburn HOB                                                        Washington, DC  20006

Washington, DC 20515

Subject:                Consumer Fraud; Discover Card propensity toward

Reference:          CFPB Case No: 130809-000400

                              Discover Card ending with XXXX

Honorable Congressman Hernsling and BCFP,

Attached is correspondence between Discover Card and myself and enclosed are several statements, which support a need for an investigation of Discover Card for consumer fraud.

Discover Card enticed me to join their Payment Protection and Wallet Protection plans.  With the Democrats then preparing to be in-charge of both Houses, it was evident that an insurance policy of-sort may be a good idea.

After enrolling in the Protection Plan, my fixed cash-advance interest rate went from 19.99% to 24.99%.  The variable purchase interest rate went from 11.24 to 14.99%.  The rate for balance transfers from other credit cards went from 0% to 1.09%

Effective July 1, 2009 I became unemployed and asked Discover Card to invoke the Protection Plan.  They agreed and began sending me monthly forms to have notarized at Michigan Works.  This continued through the 18-months that I was unemployed.

At the same time I contacted Visa Card.  Without hesitation Visa waived all interest and allowed me to make payments on the principal until my card was completely paid-off.

Of course, being unemployed, 1.09% interest originally agreed to on transfers also skyrocketed because the 24-month pay-off time elapsed as a result of no payments being made to Discover during my 18-months of unemployment.      

Discover Card received $1.23 billion through the Troubled Assets Relief Program; Visa received nothing.  The Protection Plan that I paid for waived the interest due during that time, so I not only paid to protect Discover from the lost interest through the 18-months, I also had to pay the high interest on the remaining balance after I went back to work, even though I was earning about half the wages that I earned before the stint of unemployment.

On numerous occasions I wrote to Discover Card associates to have my interest rate reduced at least a fraction; they refused.  I have never been delinquent and pay far more than the minimum due.

I finally found it necessary to contact the BCFP.  They in-turn referred my case back to Discover. 

In June 2013 my credit union rejected the EFT because my account number had an additional digit.  The credit union uses a 00 code after the account number for savings and a 03 code for checking.  I fixed all other accounts that I pay on-line, but evidently didn’t do so with Discover.  If-fact, for months after I had removed the “3” from other accounts, Discover continued to successfully receive my EFTs.

I received an email indicating I needed to make a payment, but when I went on-line it showed my payment and that no other payment was due until July 20, 2013.  The same due-date was indicated on the email.  

A Discover Card associate finally contacted me to advise the EFT had been rejected.  They wouldn’t take my debit card so I could complete the task immediately, so he had me review my EFT routing and account information.  He stated he could waive the $25 late fee if I paid the balance due; I paid more – nearly $200 more, which was equal to the original payment of $361.40 I attempted to pay in June.

Now I receive a letter from Discover Card’s Karen Turner that not only won’t I be considered for a lower interest rate, but she found justification to deny me consideration because of an EFT snafu. 

What’s going on with the company?

Respectfully submitted,

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