Consumer complaint received 2022-03-12
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: DE
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
Hello, On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an alert from my XXXX monitoring service that my Discover account was delinquent and the company had flagged my account 30 days past due. I was shocked because ( 1 ) I am NEVER late in paying ANY of my bills, and ( 2 ) I had not received any bills from Discover. I immediately called Discover and was told that no payment was received for XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. I explained that I had not received any bills for those months but to rectify the matter, I instantly paid them the full balance of {$160.00} over the phone. They agreed to waive the late fees and interest. Please note that I hadnt seen any Discover bills and didnt even know what I was being charged for. I simply paid what they said I owed. 

I pay ALL of my bills via XXXX XXXX  Online Bill Pay service and have been doing so for longer than I can remember. When I contacted XXXX  Bill Pay department about the Discover issue, I was informed that my Discover account was shown as inactive! XXXX was unable to explain this. As it turned out, several of my bill pay accounts likewise showed inactive status. XXXX agreed to look into the matter. 

The following day, XX/XX/XXXX, I received another XXXX alert stating that my credit score had dropped 85 points! I was extremely upset to learn this because my credit score consistently lingers between 840/845 and 850. ( That alone likely gives you an indication of how I handle my financial obligations. ) The Discover and XXXX matters were back-burnered for nearly 3 weeks because life kept getting in the way. : - ) ..Going backwards four months, In XX/XX/XXXX, I inadvertently left my wallet in my shopping cart. As soon as I got home, I notified all of my billers and canceled all of my cards. When the new cards arrived, I called the number on the sticker to activate them, removed the sticker, and signed the back. Done and done and good to go, so I thought.. 

OK, back to where we started On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Discover again and spoke with XXXX in Illinois who believed she had figured out what had happened. She explained that when my new Discover card was issued, it was non-functioning because I had not signed on to discover.com. This made no sense because I never sign on to discover.com, nor do I have any reason to. Apparently, Discover somehow believed I paying them through their website via electronic billing. Nope! Never happened! I filed a dispute through XXXX that night. ( XXXX was closed ). 

The next day, XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX at XXXX helped me file a dispute with Discover Card. XXXX also advised me to contact Discover again and ask them to remove the late payment history since the error occurred on their end. I made that request to Discover rep XXXX. She checked with her supervisor who refused the request because, according to him, they have proof that email reminders were sent. However, per XXXX, the emails were flagged as undeliverable, so clearly, I never received them. XXXX also verified that I have been with Discover for 17 years and have an excellent history. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX from XXXX filed a second dispute which included the above information from XXXX and XXXX. The result of that dispute is that Discover changed the month of delinquency from XXXX to XXXX. XXXX? Not only is that utterly ridiculous but it also makes absolutely no sense, especially since I paid the delinquent amount on XX/XX/XXXX. There was no more XXXX could do, but XXXX did suggest that I file a complaint with CFPB. 

I continued to reach out to Discover in an effort to speak with someone higher in the food chain. I spoke with XXXX supervisors, XXXX and XXXX, both of whom verified that the emails sent to me were flagged as undeliverable. They also both explained that it is not possible to reach any XXXX higher than supervisor. XXXX further explained there was nothing more he could do but he would flag my account with the credit bureaus to reflect that I dispute Discovers claims. I asked XXXX to provide copies of the flagged emails ; she explained that that could not be done. Why? 

My credit report shows that Discover flagged my account as 30 days past due. While that is a true statement, hopefully I have proven to you that the non-payment error is on Discovers end and I was, in fact, completely in the dark until I received an alert from XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. After 17 years as a Discover client, wouldnt you think they would call or send a letter regarding the very unusual behavior in my account, especially since their emails were returned undeliverable? Instead, it seemed like they were chomping at the bit to flag my account. 

My long-term previous and accurate credit score ( XXXX  ) and my payment history for all accounts proves that I take my financial responsibilities seriously and, frankly, I am livid about the 85 point drop that occurred through no fault of my own. As I understand it, this stays as part of my credit report for XXXX years! Discover needs to acknowledge their error and remove the late payment history that they created through their own incompetence. 

I know this is lengthy and I do appreciate your time and attention to this matter. Kindly contact me should you need any additional information. 

P.S.>>> I do hope Discover gets a copy of the above as I believe it will help them understand what transpired. 

Very sincerely, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( H )

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation