Consumer complaint received 2017-01-24
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: NY
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
I have been consistently misled and kept in the dark about the process of my repayment and deferment. I called XXXX on around XXXX XXXX XXXX, and was told that I would be out of deferment and able to begin repaying my loans, waving my rights for the grace period. Because of usurious interest rates of XXXX and other student lenders, I accepted. The period in which I was to wait to enter repayment lapsed, and I was not notified and remained unable to begin repayment, which I needed to refinance my loans. I called XXXX to be told I was not going to be taken out of deferment, but instead would need to send a letter to request to forego the grace period and deferment in order to begin repayment. In the meantime, I accrued interest at usurious rates. 

The same story happened at Discover. I called on XXXX XXXX XXXX, and was told I needed to send a letter to Discover Student Lending services to remain out of deferment because " the system fluctuates and takes people out of deferment. '' No changes on my account occurred, and I called back roughly 10 days later ( accruing well over {$100.00} in interest over that period, over {$100.00} in seven days, to be specific ). When I called to inquire about this, I was told they were waiting to take me out ( two business days after the 5 business day period I was told ) of deferment. I was told in that phone call contradictory information, i.e., that I did not need to send a letter. I called on the following Monday, and was told I did need to send a letter, and that I had n't been given false information. I was under the impression that this would be a personal letter, as the first representative stated. The representative did n't state otherwise and offered no specifics. I later called back to get specifics, only to be told to " hold '' while the representative " researched '' the policy. She returned to the phone to tell me that I needed a letter from my university requesting to forego my grace period and deferment and enter repayment. This seemed odd, given the substance of the first and second representatives ' information. I requested to speak with a supervisor, who then told me I did need to send a letter -- he later informed me of the upload feature, but only after I mentioned a lawyer. No other representative offered knowledge of an immediate upload feature. US mail would have taken additional time, and additional interest. Anyway, this supervisor told me I needed to send a personal letter -- not a letter from my university -- in order to forego grace period and deferment. I asked, " This is the fifth person I 've spoken to, and the fifth type and level of asymmetry of information I 've received. '' He said, " It 's on the website. '' I said, " Show me. '' He could n't, and after a brief hold, returned to tell me " it 's not on the website. '' I said, " Interesting. '' I then asked about the interest I 'd accrued during this week and a half run around. He misrepresented that amount, and said, " It would be 'dollars. ' '' I said, " How many 'dollars? ' '' His rejoinder : " over {$100.00}. '' I accrued over {$100.00} additional dollars in interest in " seven days, '' while they misled me and fed me false information. They did the same for four years, leading us to believe -- without any notifications -- that we would n't be accruing significant interest, burying the transparent amount over the course of years ( again, without even a courtesy call to let me know the amount I 'd accrued ). I had accrued {$30000.00} in 4 years while working toward a XXXX. 

Example of the lack of transparency in this period of interest accrual? I called in XXXX of XXXX, and in XXXX XXXX. In those six months, they raised my interest rates three times without so much as an email notification. These banks are not making it easier for students to pay them back, they 're making it harder to make more money. Otherwise, they 'd offer better counsel and more communication.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation