Consumer complaint received 2019-03-13
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: NC
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem lowering your monthly payments

Complaint:
Dear Discover Student Loans Leadership Team, While I walked during my recent XXXX ceremony, I still needed 6 more credits to complete my XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX with a minor in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX with a focus in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX University. I do not list the whole position to gloat or brag but rather to show pride in what I studied and the complexities of my accomplishment. Discover Student Loans has played a big part in helping with my accomplishments via private student loans. That being said, when I walked I informed you all that I needed two more classes to finish up my degree. As soon as my grace period ended I was bombarded with phone calls. Now I have no issue with paying what I owe but I was still searching for a job while working and trying to enroll in the two classes I need to graduate. From there it became a nightmare. 

Since my grace period ended I have spoken with twenty-nine individuals and most assured me that my problem would be fixed and I would go back into student deferment. Each person who called would start by saying I had a balance of X that needed to be paid by Y as if the current caller never spoke with the previous individual or even looked up my history/information. I was taking four credits with a XXXX XXXX college and two with a third party organization, and have provided all the documentation as instructed by each individual caller. Still, today is the issue has not been corrected and each time I spoke with someone new they would assure me it was fixed, then I would receive another phone call from a different person and I would have to start over. Not only did you not put me back into deferment, but you made sure that the process worked against me every step of the way. Here is what I have been through since XX/XX/XXXX : 1. Received Call XXXX XXXXXXXX informing me my payment is due. 
2. XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX XXXX who after not really understanding referred me to someone else. 
3. XXXX XXXX Service department who did his best to inform me how to get my student deferment but wasnt much help in the long run. 
4. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( Repayment Department ) who guaranteed me that my problem would be fixed as long as I registered half-time by XX/XX/XXXX. He told me to call and they would put me into deferment or XXXX XXXX. Did not speak of needing to have a specific amount of credits. 
5. Called XXXX XXXX ( transfers me to repayment ), XX/XX/XXXX ( 6:45 pm ) who tells me to upload second class for proof of enrollment and there will be no further issues. 
6. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, approx. 9:15 am. I am in the process of uploading proof of enrollment. Says proof of enrollment not good enough. 
7. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX. Transfers me to the service department because she could not help. 
8. XXXX ( Service Department ) XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX. Tells me my original proof of enrollment was not accepted but the new one I provided would certainly work and apologizes for the previous callers but my problem should be fixed now. ( Never Was ). 
9. XXXX Tells me my second proof of enrollment will not work and all she could offer is forbearance and my days are running out. 
10. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX. Very nice and helpful and suggest going through my XXXX college and having them declare me as part-time with the third party organization. 
11. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX. After calling XXXX XXXX XXXX they let me know that they have declared me as half-time through XXXX and XXXX tells me to wait a week possibly Thursday to have it processed. 
12. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX - She lets me know that the last time my school contacted them was the XX/XX/XXXX and they have not heard back since. 
13. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX who sent me to a specialist ( XXXX ). 
14. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I take time out to explain my whole situation to XXXX and she apologizes of course but then says that I may go into forbearance if I can pay off the delinquency that should not even exist. She told me they will not hear back from XXXX XXXX for XXXX XXXX XXXX until the XXXX of XXXX. 
15. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, looks over my account and restates the same process that I have gone through with the other representatives. My information is already in the system and ultimately recommends forbearance 16. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Sends me to Specialist in Repayment 17. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, spend 30 minutes of discussion catching her up on my situation and then she tells me she can not help me and sends me to another specialist 18. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, after debating options, we decide on 3 months of forbearance while student deferment issue is worked on. 
19. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, talks about other payment plans that are relatively similar to the current monthly rate. ( Still awaiting student deferment ). 
20. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, checking in on Student Deferment status. 
21. XXXX Tells me to try and get a signed status report from Dean of XXXX. 
22. XXXX Calls about payment I tell him my status. 
23. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, talks about new paperwork that needs to be sent in ( student deferment request form. 
24. XXXX Talks about deferment through school database. 
25. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, calling about payments and paperwork sent in. 
26. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I call about my paperwork. XXXX states my information is still not showing in the database. 
27. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I call about my documentation still not being seen and stress about credit score issues. He states I can send in a letter from the Dean, Transcript, or some documentation showing half time for a retroactive student deferment. 
28. XX/XX/XXXX talked about going back to look at previous documentation. Pushes back office confirmation and then sends me to the forbearance team to give me what sounds like temporary forbearance until this situation is figured out. 
29. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( Manager in Accounting ) speak briefly and sends me over to senior accountant. 
30. XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, originally tells me I am not allowed to have retroactive student deferment because I am not in school. Then tells me I was given an administrative forbearance instead. He states that I only have 6 months of forbearance at a time and I have used all of mine this year ( even though it has only been three months ) he says my other three months were a grace period extension given last year. When I asked why a grace period is factored into forbearance he did not have an answer. He gives me multiple payment options all above {$1000.00} a month. The national average salary of new college graduates is {$33000.00}. A {$1200.00} a month payment would put a student at {$14000.00} annual payment making them owe 44 % of their annual salary. You are now slating college graduates with bachelors degrees to potentially make {$18000.00} ( who land on the median ) annually which is only {$2000.00} above the XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX for a family of two, Under the poverty line for a family of three. This all being said with having a higher education. 

Something is wrong with the system and I feel taken advantage of. I have been working tirelessly with your biased system to get you to acknowledge that I was still enrolled in two courses totaling 6 credits and she has gotten a deferment for that time period. However, you have been giving me the runaround for months in hopes of putting me, and my co-signers, in default. Your process is structured to the demise of the borrowers. As I stated earlier, I have spoken to 29 people, all who told me something different giving me the impressions I was all set. Then I would get another call and I would go through the same process and receive the same assurances. With each call and  derailment, the clock kept on ticking on the loan, although I was told that this was not the case. You set your borrowers up for failure by giving them erroneous information coupled with a customer-disabling process. You are trying my hands so that instead of deferment due to my continued classwork, I go into forbearance with drives higher interest rates and premiums. Your process is staged to give you an unfair financial advantage. You also offer loan consolidation but you also make that process impossible. I think my biggest issue is that I do want to pay back what I owe, that is just the nature of who I am. With time comes growth and with growth comes wealth but your rates are set up for those with established privilege. I want to start paying but your lack of income-based payments, or a consolidation loan that considers income growth potential, cripples your borrowers ability to live a quality life and cripples the economy in the process. Also, refusing to receive even fractional payments make your repayment plans impossible for most. 

You identify co-signers as co-signers during the application process and use the students ( borrowers ) credit score to increase the repayment amount. Co-signers credit scores are not considered during the application process, however, co-signers then become co-borrowers when its time to repay the loan. Discover representatives often started the conversation by referring to my co-signers and telling me to ask them to pay because they are equally liable. If they are equally liable, why wasnt their credit scores considered when assigning interest rates? I write to you today in hopes that maybe you are unaware of what this process is doing and can help pave the way for students to pay back what they owe in a way that will contribute to their livelihood and therefore the well-being of the economy and sustainability of the success of the country.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation