Consumer complaint received 2021-01-26
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan

Complaint:
1. I received an offer for a personal loan from Discover via email on XX/XX/XXXX. It read " Congratulations XXX. Because you've successfully paid off a previous Discover personal loan, you're eligible for this special opportunity to apply for a new loan up to {$35000.00}. '' Personal Invitation ID # XXXX ... 

2. Same message as above on XX/XX/XXXX via an email. XXXX XXXX ID # XXXX .... Offer expiration listed at XX/XX/XXXX. 

3. I also received mail offers from Discover during these times.

4. Given the bombardment, my strong credit profile ( >815 ), high income and my desire for a purchase, I decided to check my rate.

5. I checked my rate on XX/XX/XXXX based on the Personal Invitation ID #. I was offered decent rates for {$35000.00}.

6. I received an email on XXXX PST on XX/XX/XXXX stating : " Thank you for your recent interest in a Discover Personal Loan - we're interested in you too! Now that you've seen the rate, you can continue the process by clicking here. ... ''. Application Reference ID : XXXX 7. Email from Discover Personal Loans at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating " Congratulations, XXXX! Lock in your $ XXXX personal loan by XX/XX/XXXX ''. 

8. Additional email from Discover at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, stating " We appreciate your business. XXXX, as a valued, previous Discover Personal Loans customer, we want to show our appreciation by extending an exclusive invitation to apply for a new loan. Get up to $ XXXX. '' Offer expiration XX/XX/XXXX. 

9. On XX/XX/XXXX I decided to move forward with a Hard Inquiry. Subsequently, I received an email from Discover Bank with subject " Discover Loan Application Receipt Confirmation '' at XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX stating : " Thank you for your recent application for a Discover Personal Loan. Your online submission was successful. We have good news for you! Based on the information you provided you may be approved for a loan pending a review ... ''. Application reference ID : XXXX 10. From that moment on, I received 4 additional emails from Discover Bank from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX with subject lines " Discover Personal Loan - Next steps ''. Dates were XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. The emails were stating ( and that's an important piece of information ) : " You're almost finished with the loan application process! We need to obtain the disbursement details of where you would like us to send the proceeds of your loan. We can send funds to you or directly to your creditors in as little as one business day after you accept the loan. For your convenience, you can visit our online portal to provide your disbursement details by clicking <here> ( link to portal ). '' 11. Please note the link pointed to a portal that required me to enter my bank information where I'd like the loan to be disbursed. The impression from both the emails and the portal was that I'd been approved and that entering this information would allow the bank to directly send the funds over. 

12. On XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to proceed and get my funds for an already approved loan with a Hard Inquiry on my credit profile. I provided my bank information in the portal. It asked me to provide a repayment option, which I thought as the final step towards disbursement. 

13. Surprising, the portal led me to another place that now required an additional step for " Additional Income Verification ''. I was shocked that it required such a step after the fact and after the bank had misled me to believe that I had been approved and had just to provide my bank details to loan disbursement. Instead, it stated " Upload requested documents '' with the message underneath " Provide additional documents to verify information in your application. '' The portal only requested a copy of my pay stub within the last 30 days. Even though I was unpleasantly surprised, I said " Ok, let 's provide this highly personal information as a last step '' and uploaded my pay stub document.

14. Then, the portal stated " Items remaining for Discover to complete '' and listed " Verifying documents We will verify your documents once received. You may either check on the status of your application by logging back into this page or contacting us for an update. ".

15. Underneath, it stated " Items remaining for you to complete '' and listed " Review and accept loan You will be able to accept the loan once documents have been verified. '' 16. Points 13. ), 14. ) and 15. ) from above provided the clear understanding that once the income verification information via the uploaded pay stub was finalized, the next step would be for me to review and accept the loan. Even though that was not the original expectation, I decided to accept it, proceed and then logged out of the portal.

17. I did not receive any email or information on XX/XX/XXXX. In the evening, I decided to log into the portal to check what was going on. When I logged in, I was shocked! Now there was another field that was not only requesting Bank Statements, but it was requested such from the last 3 months! In short, the bank wanted me to upload 3 bank statements from the last 3 months to continue with my loan " disbursement ''!

18. At this point, it looked like a bait and switch practice.

19. At this point, I felt frustrated and mislead.

20. At this point, I realized Discover Bank had been lying to me since XX/XX/XXXX when I received the first promotional pre-approval email for a personal loan. 

21. As a customer who has received multiple Personal Loans over the last 17 years, I've NEVER been required to provide bank statements. Let alone 3 bank statements! Let alone when my credit profile & income & paying history is exceptional by all standards! Let alone when I was a Personal Loan customer of Discover in the past 2-4 years AND bank statements were not required when I was approved for $ XXXX back then. 

22. I called customer service to speak with a Loan Specialist to inquiry about that. The agent was dismissive and patronizing and told me that I had just to provide 3 bank statements to proceed. Full stop. No flexibility, no explanation as to why. When confronted with the fact that information was not given to me a ) ever, b ) in emails and c ) the previous day when I uploaded my pay stub document, he wasn't able to answer. I requested a supervisor.

23. The supervisor was patronizing and condescending, was not answering the concrete questions, had zero customer satisfaction demeanor, made multiple claims by repeating the same phrases about policies over and over again and didn't provide any assistance and explanation as to why they misled me at least 3 times and why they all of the sudden required bank statements. 

24. I asked why the requirement for bank statements was not provided the day before when I provided my pay stub. She was not able to answer that question and tried to repeat the same phrases that it's their policy to request new information. I told her that had I known that I'd keep to be providing more and more unnecessary documentation, I'd have not proceeded with the loan and specifically revealed personal financial information such as my pay stub. I asked her to tell me if they were to require new documentation the next day so I could be prepared. She didn't answer. In short, they changed the rules of the game during the game, misled me and employed after-the-fact rules.

25. I requested to speak with their manager. She refused to connect me. She told me I was manipulating her words when in fact Discover manipulated me to believe that I'd been approved for a personal loan and had provided everything required and had just to give my bank account to have the loan disbursed! Discover manipulated me to believe that my loan was " right there '' since I'd been approved ( with Hard Inquiry ), but instead they kept requesting new and new documentation after each day!

26. Then, she hung up on me.

I consider this an absolutely disgraceful practice falling within the bait and switch scheme, which is illegal.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation