Consumer complaint received 2016-12-21
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: WI
Product: Credit card
Issue: Other fee

Complaint:
After receiving a declined charge on my card I looked into what the charge was and found that it was a payment for a payment protection program. I immediately called Discover 's Customer service and support and was told that I had been enrolled in the program since initially having opened the card account. I requested the audio recording of my verbal acceptance of the enrollment in the program and I was told that it was only noted on my account that I gave my verbal consent and that the audio was not available. This concerns me as I do not enroll in any programs that cost monthly charges due to the fact that they accrue significant charges over time and if I were to consent to such a program it would only be with the understanding that the program was not going to charge me anything. I was hoping to be able to hear the sales pitch and or the description of the program given to me at the time of program enrollment. As such, I am unable to hear the description of the service given to me at the time nor am I able to hear my verbal acceptance of said program. 

I was told that because the company sends out a newsletter detailing the programs and benefits I was enrolled in I should have known that I was enrolled in the program and also due to the fact it was being charged on my statement. The e-mail I received that alerted me to this charge was a notice of declined charge due to my current financial issues causing my balance to be near my current limit. This decline was listed as " PRTCTN/CRDTSFPLS '' and on the statements it was listed as " DISCOVERPAYMENTPROTECTION ''. This charge happens on the same date as interest and charges on cash advances and interest charges on purchases and would easily be mistaken for some kind of protection for an individual 's payment of standard billing charges. I have searched through the past few years of email notifications and have found the notifications of my enrollment in the program however none of them reference any fees associated with this benefit and it could easily be assumed that this was a regular feature of the card holders benefits. 

Although I understand that the company makes this " effort '' to inform the consumer regarding this service, I feel that I was misled into obtaining the service and charged over the course of nearly 5-7 years a total of as far, as I can tell, close to if not exceeding XXXX . With no audio recording of my acceptance, just a note on my account, as well as the fact that the information is proliferated solely through the " newsletter '' on my account information as an ambiguous payment protection charge that accompanies the interest charges on the same date. 

Beyond this, I have had any number of " qualifying events '' for which I could have, and would have, used this service had I desired this service in anyway. 

Discover has un-enrolled me from this program and offered me a 6-moth refund of charges, however, a small approximately {$250.00} refund I find to highly insufficient given that I have been enrolled without my knowledge since the opening of my account over 6 years ago with no proof of my consent beyond a note on my account. Given my total loss, I feel that should this not bring results further legal action may be completely justified as this seems like a rather deceptive practice and it have caused me significant financial loss. 

I have not included a total loss amount as I have been unable to retrieve statements beyond 5 years ago to see the totality of charges filed on my account. as or right now I estimate the loss at over {$2000.00}

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation