Consumer complaint received 2022-08-29
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: OH
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
Discover Credit Card Letter of Dispute - Elderly Complaint/Credit Report Fix This is my 4th attempt and 3rd written complaint to try and resolve a fraud involving my old business credit card. This > {$3000.00} fraud has had significant impact on my credit scores and mental health. As a XXXX client, I am being taken advantage of by Discover. This is proven by their continuous lack of response and action since my initial grievance on XX/XX/XXXX. 

In short, nothing has been done. The fraud charges are still present which has negatively impacted my credit scores. This whole back and forth dates to XX/XX/XXXX. 

Initially, I decided that I would not involve the CFPB. In each letter to Discover, I wrote that I was sending a copy to said regulatory agency, but I wanted to give Discover the chance to do the right thing for their XXXX  clients. 

However, I feel the need to engage the CFPB and others due to lack of action by Discover regarding my complaint and request. 

This issue dates back to XX/XX/XXXX when I notified Discover of their errors. Which they acknowledged at the time. However, each time I have tried to get an update, they have become more aggressive and angrier with me. I am the victim. I am just hopeful that this 4th attempt will get Discover to do the right thing. I know that it is not my letters that will get them to act now. They will only act when their regulators are notified. It is hard to imagine that I am the only victim of Discovers negligence. 

In late XX/XX/XXXX, I received notification from Discover that they closed my personal credit card. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX XXXX, I called Discover to try and figure out why you were cancelling my personal credit card. You informed me that it was because I had a delinquent balance on an old business credit card that I havent used in years because of retirement. 

During our phone call, it was determined by your team that someone changed my account info on my business credit card and made fraudulent charges ( mostly involving paying different cable/cell companies over the phone ). Since all the key account info on the business credit card was fraudulently changed to someone in Florida, I did not know of any charges. This then caused the business credit card to be delinquent. I have never lived in Florida. I have lived at my current address since XX/XX/XXXX. Prior to that, I lived in XXXX, OH for a few years. I have provided a copy of my bank statement from XXXX of XXXX to show proof of address. 

You, as in Discover, said you would credit those fraud charges back to my business credit card and close it. You would then be sending me a document to attest. A document that I never received because you sent it to the fraudsters address. In a follow-up call from me to you on XX/XX/XXXX, you notified me that the document was returned to Discover. I did not hear anything else from you until my recent complaint letter ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I had no idea that the document to attest was sent to the fraudulent/wrong address and returned back to you. I never received any documents in the mail ( to my actual address ) informing me of what occurred and how you resolved. 

Therefore, I never heard from Discover following my initial call on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I continue to experience negative impacts to my credit score, so I decided to write a complaint to your credit area in Utah ( XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, UT ). The letter was sent on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I received Discovers Credit Teams response via two letters, dated XX/XX/XXXX, saying everything was accurate and you were not going to fix anything. This was the first time I received something related to my business credit card from Discover to my actual address. 

You also sent me 6 months of statements. This is the first time I have seen any statement for my business account since I stopped using it years ago. Since the fraudster changed the contact info on the account, I never received anything. 

After receiving your complaint denial, I called again on XX/XX/XXXX and was passed from department to department. It felt like they wanted me to give up, hang up, and just pay. After an hour, I was finally connected to Discovers Fraud & Dispute area in XXXX XXXX, OH. This team said they would take over my case and make sure everything was fixed. 

Discover requested that I send this letter along with a signed Discover Dispute form and any material that would assist in their investigation via fax to their Fraud Department ( XXXX ). I sent this letter along with a separate Discover dispute letter they made me complete. These packages were faxed to their Fraud Department with multiple pieces of items they needed for their investigation ( copies of old bank statements showing where I lived during the time of fraud, copies of checksjust to name a few ). These items were sent via fax on XX/XX/XXXX. ( I have all of the evidence if needed. ) After supplying all of this info, I never heard from them so I called again on XX/XX/XXXX to check on the status. Their fraud team, in XXXX XXXX, OH, informed me that they received my items but their policies and procedures required them to send the complaint to the credit reporting team because my letter had credit scores mentioned in it. 

I am really shocked that this is still an issue. The fraud team should have taken care of it like they promised. The letter below will provide better insight into what transpired. 
The business account still reflects the fraud charges. 
Due to the fraud charges and late fees, the balance is close to {$4000.00}. 
I want to fraud charges removed, Account closed, I would like you to resolve your fraudulent reporting to the credit bureaus, and An apology Below is an excerpt of my complaint that I sent in XXXX of XXXX which provides more details : I am writing to complain about a recent poor client experience which had negative impacts to my credit score because of your negligence and lack of sufficient security controls/technology/policies/procedures to protect senior clients from fraud. 

I know your Firms regulatory agencies ( OCC, CFPB, FTC ) have been focused on how Firms, like Discover, protect senior citizens from being taken advantage of. I will be sharing this letter with these regulatory agencies because I am not satisfied with how this recent issue that I escalated to you was addressed. 

A few interesting red flags/ items stand out : How can someone update my name, address, phone, and email without me/you knowing? Especially when that info differs from another account with you ( personal credit card ). I would assume that any account changes would trigger mailings/notifications to the new and prior addresses to ensure fraud has not taken place. I received no such notifications. 

Even though I could not have known of these charges and delinquencies, somehow your retail line of business in charge of personal credit cards knew. Not only did they not identify the fraud involving the business credit card, but they decided to take it a step further and outright cancel my personal credit card. 

My personal credit card had my correct info ( name/address/phone/email ) while my business one had completely different key account info ( fraudster ). One account, personal credit card, was current on payments and aligned with original account owner info. The other account, business credit card, was delinquent on payments for abnormal purchases and did not have any of the information of original account owner. Wouldnt that be a red flag? A dormant account suddenly has all their info updated, followed by random/out of the norm spendingand none of the business credit card information matches the information on the personal credit card. 

In short, numerous red flags were missed on your side which is causing personal/financial issues and emotional stress. All of which could have been avoided if your systems/policies/procedures were designed in a manner to put the client first. Specifically, senior/retired clients.

Since this event impacted my credit score, other credit card providers are either cancelling my credit cards or decreasing my credit limit. It is embarrassing, frustrating, and scary. I have a strict budget in retirement and losing the ability to use a credit card is worrisome. 

Recently, my own bank, XXXX, whom I have banked with for years, decreased my credit limit for a credit card from around {$5000.00} to just a XXXX  XXXX dollars. I have been a long-standing client of theirs ( just like yours ) and have never missed a payment ; however, XXXX still decided to decrease my credit limit. ( **Update since complaint : XXXX realized their mistake and restored my credit limits to their original limits. ) This event demonstrated that Firms, like Discover, have no loyalty or security controls/technology/policies/procedures in place to protect senior clients from being a victim of fraud. 

You do have great internal systems in place to identify and mitigate potential risks to your business though client creditworthiness. I would say that is some type of conflict. I find it troubling that your systems protected you first before protecting me. 
Discover & XXXX receive a credit score -> that score triggers an automated review of the client -> systems decrease/close lines of credit -> mail out notices. All automated. Those internal systems seem to be working very well compared to your security controls/technology/policies/procedures designed to protect senior clients from fraud and hardship.

So far, it has been one of the worst and most impactful client experiences I have ever dealt with and at my age, that is saying something.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief