Consumer complaint received 2023-09-07
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: OH
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
Here is the conversation with the representative all details are included : Me : Hello, I want to make an additional payment to my principal balance an hour agoAgent profile picture Discover : Hi, I'm the Discover Virtual Assistant! If I can't answer your questions, I'll connect you to a live agent. 
We appreciate you reaching out about a payment. 

Click here to view or update your account regarding any of the below items : - Make a payment - View Payment History - View pending payments - Enroll/Update Automatic Payments - Change Payment Due Date For additional assistance regarding a payment, please select from one of the responses below. 
none of these answer my question an hour agoAgent profile picture Discover One of our 100 % US based customer service agents will be with you as soon as they can. Feel free to return anytime, your message history will be saved here.

Agent profile picture Discover : Hello, my name is XXXX and I'm located in Illinois. I'm happy to assist you today. Please allow me one moment to review your account, and Ill be right with you! 

Me : XXXX XXXX, thanks! 

Discover : You are not able to make a payment towards your principal balance. 

Me : And why is that? 

Discover : Discover doesn't allow the payment to go towards a specific balance Me : Can you point me to the terms as to where that is state? 
stated? 

Discover : It will be located in you terms and agreement that you received when you applied for the card Me : Its not, i have read through it several times and in accordance with the CARD act of 2009 you do have to provide me with the reasoning of now allowing a principal payment if requested. Which to be clear, I am requesting Discover : Unfortunately Discover does not allow payments towards the principal, In order to not be charged any interest your statement balance would have to be paid in full every month. We also have an option of see if you are edible to have a lower rate. 

Me : I understand, however you do have to provide me with the document stating this per the CARD act of 2009. If you are unable to provide such document you are in violation of said act. I am simply asking you to point me to the document in which is it stated that principal balance payments are not feasible Discover : To further assist you may you please call in at XXXX. 

Me : If you are refusing to provide the document I will be reporting this conversation and Discovers refusal to the FTC as you are then out of compliance of the federal law that was passed in 2009. 

Discover : There is no longer a letter to be sent for that. Just to clarify your minimum due every month is like you are pretty much paying you interest. If you like can pay more then your minimum payment due. 

Me : To clarify, you are saying that this rule does not exist in writing anywhere? 

Discover : If there was an option to just pay towards your principal balance it would be noted in your terms. 

Me : Which, again you are confirming is not noted in the terms, yes? 

Discover : Our customer service agents are available 24/7 and can be reached by calling XXXX. 

Me : By not confirming you are admitting guilt So, you are in direct violation of section 102 of the CARD act, under Section 5 it outlines that customers have the right to request disclosures so by denying this you are under direct violation and thus violate the federal act and due to your inability to answer a simple question I am able to file a complaint with the FTC Summary : I requested in writing that it is Discover 's policy to not allow principal payments and they refused to provide said documents. In fact, they refused to provide me with anything in writing that principal payments were not allowed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation