Consumer complaint received 2017-12-26
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: IL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Trouble with how payments are being handled

Complaint:
I have set up auto debiting of payments to my Discover Student Loan account each month on the XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I noticed that no money had been drawn from my checking account. However Discover 's online interface said that a payment was scheduled to be debited on the XX/XX/XXXX. The XX/XX/XXXX was a Sunday. On XX/XX/XXXX ( Monday ) I looked at my checking account and found that as of the XX/XX/XXXX, no money had been debited from my checking account. Looking at the Discover online interface, I saw that Discover was listing my account as past due. The amount due each month is {$290.00}. 

I arranged for an electronic bill-pay payment from my checking account in the amount of {$300.00} to cover the full monthly payment. That electronic payment was send from my checking account on the XX/XX/XXXX. Both Discover and my bank confirm that this {$300.00} payment was received by Discover on the XX/XX/XXXX. 

However, when I checked my checking account on the XX/XX/XXXX, I found that Discover had auto debited {$290.00} effective on the XX/XX/XXXX In effect this meant that I had double paid for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. I called Discover and they stated that since I had paid the {$300.00} payment through bill pay, the best way to correct the double payment would be for my bank to cancel the ACH debit. I spent an hour on the phone with Discover to make sure that they would properly allocate and credit the {$300.00} payment and that the reversal of the ACH would not cause any problem. 

However, I received an abrasive phone call from Discover on Saturday XX/XX/XXXX demanding payment of {$470.00} dollars. They claimed that I was late in making my monthly payment. I asked to speak to a supervisor. They informed me that the {$300.00} payment had been misallocated and that they would fix it. The fix would take several business days. 

They assured me that there was no problem and that the reallocation would correct any problems with the account, and that I could disregard the late payment notice, and the invoice for {$470.00}. 

Nevertheless, the next day, XX/XX/XXXX, I got a notice from Discover stating that since my ACH had failed, they were cancelling the interest rate reduction benefit I had been receiving for 10 years by allowing auto debit. 

This is outrageous and directly contrary to what I had been assured would be a solution to the issue by Discover. 
This notice is unwarranted and makes false statements. First, it states that my ACH debit has failed a second time as of XX/XX/XXXX. This is untrue. The ACH did not fail. I was told to reverse it by Discover to correct their erroneous double billing. 

Second, it should be pointed out that Discover fraudulently double billed me in XX/XX/XXXX. 

At that time, I was told that the confusion was a result of the fact that Discover instituted a new billing system. 

I am disturbed that I am in receipt of a notice of revocation of my .25 % interest rate benefit because the Discover billing system implementation is fraught with problems and incompetence. I have had a flawless record of full and timely payments for a decade. It 's outrageous that after so much effort to correct errors caused by Discover that I was sent a notice revoking a .25 % interest rate reduction. 

I request : - a corrected statement for the current month indicating that the full amount has been paid and in a timely fashion ( this should supersede the erroneous statement claiming that I am delinquent and that I owe Discover {$70.00}. 
-written assurance that no negative information is being or will be reported to any third party -written statement assuring me that my .25 % interest rate reduction will remain in place and that the letter purporting to revoke it was sent in error by a flawed computer system -assurance that the billing issues that have caused me to be double charged twice in the space of four months will be addressed so that i no longer have to waste time money and energy on this issue. 

I should note that there has never been any issue with making payment to this lender until they decided to implement this new billing system. 

I appreciate any assistance in addressing this issue with Discover. I regret bringing this problem to this forum, but I feel that I have no other recourse having tried to address it directly with Discover but without success.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation