Consumer complaint received 2017-07-07
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: FL
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Struggling to repay your loan
Sub-issue: Can't get other flexible options for repaying your loan

Complaint:
I am currently struggling to make full payments on my private loans. I have been for a while. I 've been in and out of school in the past few years, and I 've been laid off from a job. I 've spent a year couch surfing, because I did n't have a place to live. I am trying to work a payment system with my loan companies which allows me to make a reasonable payment to them each month in an effort to show in good faith that I am attempting to avoid reneging on my agreement.
The loan has very rigid assistance programs, but they are also very limited. I have exhausted all of the payment options. The circumstances in my life have been more than I expected. I borrowed before the economic collapse, and I never anticipated the burden that my loan would later become. I returned to school full time for a while, and as I had already exhausted the grace period after I left school the first time, there was not another grace period available to me. I asked for an income based reduced payment plan. They offered me a plan that would be interest payments only for six months with the option to renew at the end of six months. They did tell me that this would only be offered twice, and then I would have to make regular payments for six months before I would be eligible for other plans.
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I 've been working to remedy things and get my finances in order so that I can make regular payments. I got laid off from my job during that time. I relocated to Florida in an attempt to find a new job somewhere where the job market was better. I had to reapply for the assistance program. They warned me that it would be the last time.
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As this plan was coming to an end, I was slightly behind on my XX/XX/XXXX 2017 payment. I chose to remedy this, as I was caught up in trying to figure out where I was going to live that month in XX/XX/XXXX. Basically, whose couch was I going to be sleeping on for the next few weeks until I am asked to move on again. I do realize by all rights that I had no more plans available to me at this point. However, I called expecting them to be reasonable and pulling out another trick they could have up their sleeve.
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I called them on XX/XX/XXXX to appeal for an additional reduced payment period. I talked to them for about two hours to resolve the problem. It ended in my being given a forbearance to make my account current, as well as what was described to me as an extension of the payment plan that would run from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. I agreed to automatic debits of my checking account in order to make the payments on time each month. That, and with my day to day living situation in disarray, I would n't have to actively remember to do it each month. I could just make sure that there was enough money set aside each month so that the payment would be there. I verbally agreed to payments of {$98.00} each month to be automatically debited on the XX/XX/XXXX of each month. They placed a forbearance, which I verbally agreed to as well, and payments were set to begin on XX/XX/XXXX. <P/> On XX/XX/XXXX, they sent a letter to me explaining how I was not eligible for the repayment plan. However, I had just moved again, and my mother thought that she would be helpful and wrote a forwarding address on the envelope. This was not forwarded to me by the post office, as they had requested return service on the envelope. <P/> On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email explaining that they had recently attempted to mail me some important information, but that they were notified by the postal service that the address is not current. The email told me to log in to my online account portal and update my address and review any important secured messages that I have. I did just that. I logged in, I updated my address, and I did n't have any unread messages or notifications. As this was the only action that was advised to me in the email, I never thought of it again. <P/> Payments of {$98.00} continued to come out of my account on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. Nothing happened to indicate that things were n't right, nor was there any real attempt to contact me. No voicemails were left on my phone. Emails would go to spam, or if they did come in, they were addressed from something innocuous, such as " Service '' and the Subject Line would be something inconsequential to the effect of, " Updated Information. '' None of these emails looked like anything that was important enough to open. Many of them I deleted without opening, because they looked like junk emails. The company 's name nor the subject of the email indicated who it was from or why I needed to take it as anything other than spam.
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In early XX/XX/XXXX, I got a notice from XXXX XXXX that my credit score had dropped from the low XXXXs to the low XXXXs. I could n't figure it out why, as I thought I had been making my payments on time. I was happy that despite my hardships, I was working on getting my life put back together, and still making some kind of payment to them each month to show a gesture of good faith that I do intend to fulfill my responsibilities. These payments were not easy to come by, but they were what I was able to do.
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I called Discover on XX/XX/XXXX to find out why my account was showing a past due balance when I have had automatic payments going out. All I was met with were questions to the effect of : Why did n't you call us back after the email that said that we had important information for you? Why did n't you open and read your statements every month and see that your payments were n't covering the cost of your amount due? Why are you only working 40 hours per week when it is not enough to cover your balance? Why ca n't you get a better job? Why should it be our responsibility to contact you when you have n't bothered to check on the status of your payments at all?
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The point of my setting up automatic payments is so that I can just have the security of knowing that the payments will be made when they are due to be made. I do n't want to think about money all the time. When I get paid each other week, I simply automatically deduct the amount of the bill coming up on whatever day it is scheduled to come out. That way, I can just know that I wo n't forget the payment. It will be taken care of automatically. I put my monthy statements in a box, and I review them if a problem arises. I do n't waste my time opening something every month when I have every reasonable expectation that I can presume that I wo n't read anything that I do n't already know. The conversation on XX/XX/XXXX ended with the agent telling me that she would look into what happened as to why I was offered something, and verbally agreed to by stating my name for the recording, that I was told later that I did n't qualify for. I asked that Discover could take accountability for making me believe I was set up for something I instead was not set up for. She said she would call me back within one week. She never did call me back. <P/> In the meantime, I was moving again. I found my own apartment, and I have taken on monthly rent payments. The rent is less than 1/3 of my income, so it is reasonably affordable for me. I never followed up on the call, because a ) she was going to call me back when they found out something, and b ) I got distracted by moving. I do n't feel as bad about part b, because she assured me that she would call me back personally, and I figured that the ball was in her court, and it might take a while, but I am willing to wait. <P/> My payment of {$98.00} again came out of my account on XX/XX/XXXX. <P/> I called again on XX/XX/XXXX, as I noticed that the payment was settled again. I asked what was the situation on my investigation. The agent who first took my call immediately started into the lines of how are we going to settle your past due amount today, etc. I cut them off and told them I was just waiting for a call back. At that point, I started being passed up the chain again and having to explain my case anew to everyone I talked to and all they would tell me is that the previous agent left notes, but they would n't necessarily tell me what were in the notes. After I was handed up a couple of times, with each new agent acting like this was the first they were hearing of my situation, I ended up getting disconnected by my phone dying, and I did n't have the patience to try again.
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My payment of {$98.00} came out of my account on XX/XX/XXXX. <P/> On XX/XX/XXXX, I got a voicemail message from Discover stating that they only had 72 hours to work with me and that I needed to call them ASAP. Then they gave me the business hours. I was unavailable during business hours until my day off of work which would have been two days later.
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On XX/XX/XXXX, I called back. I had explained everything all over again to the new agent who did a good job listening to me. However, after all was said and done, and I got to the part where I want to hold them to accountability for offering me something that they withdrew from, he said he would be happy to check on that, and he promised to call me back within the next 48 hours. He did convince me to make two payments in the amounts of {$24.00} and {$170.00} ( which I then had to recover from my mother so that I would be able to pay my rent in two days ) in order to prevent my account from being signed off to the insurance company so that they would be able to continue to work with me. They told me that if the insurance company signs the loan over, then the entire amount will be due, and they can seek legal means of collection from both my mother and me, but exactly how would be determined by the means that the insurance company decides is in their best interests to recover the debt, plus my mother and I would both receive an XXXX  report on our credit history. I never heard back from the guy who said he would follow up with me.
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XX/XX/XXXX, I was called by Discover. They told me that my loan was 149 days past due, and that there was a payment scheduled to come out tomorrow, on XX/XX/XXXX, but that it would not be enough to bring my account to current status. They basically said that if I do n't pay {$350.00} by XX/XX/XXXX, that the loan would be sent to the insurance company as a claim, and they will write it off on their end, etc. It was essentially the same conversation I had with them the week before. I asked if the guy I talked to the week before had any status on what he was looking into, and she seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. When I asked why they wo n't hold themselves accountable for their error that got me into this situation, she once again, like all of the other agents before her told me that she would follow up on it personally and get back to me about it. I did manage to get her personal extension, and I called her back before she left work to check on the status. The status was that she had n't heard from her supervisor yet, but that she would call me back tomorrow ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I am currently waiting on this to happen.
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Now that I am making very strong efforts to get back on my feet after being essentially unemployed and homeless for over a year, I need some assistance in making my payments. I need them to cut me an agreement. I simply do not make enough money to give them {$350.00} per month as they are asking. The situation I am in now is that I want to continue on a reduced payment plan. I can not afford those loan payments and try to purchase any of the things I need. It leaves me with very little money for groceries or for doing any kind of recreational activities, regardless of how inexpensive they may be.
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I am also a person with a XXXX. I suffer from XXXX XXXX and XXXX. While this does not drastically affect my daily life, as I am well managed, maintaining a good work and life balance while maintaining proper sleep hygiene is critical for my ability to function and manage day to day responsibilities, and my ability to handle exceptional circumstances. I must have some fun. I must eat a balanced diet. These things are key to managing XXXX XXXX such as mine.
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My frustration is that if I had known any of this would have happened, I would have sought other options to maintain my payment schedule, and I would also have considered refinancing my loans so that I would be able to accept a more manageable monthly payment. However, I can not refinance my loan with them until the balance is brought completely current ( about {$2500.00} to do this ). This wo n't fix my credit score that tanked nearly 200 points during all of this. But, when they offered me this solution, I honestly went into my check back in 6 months mode, because I set it up to be fully automated.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation