Consumer complaint received 2022-06-28
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: MI
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
Discover responded to complaint XXXX acknowledging that my account was closed after an individual they believed to be my mother made a payment in the amount of XXXX dollars on my account. Discover acknowledges that the payment was submitted with the account information taken and processed by their representative, who scheduled the ACH transaction. Discover acknowledges that their payment system presented this information to the appropriate financial services institution on or around XXXX XXXX XXXX and that it was returned to Discover " Unable to Locate '' by the financial services institution on or around XXXX XX/XX/2022 : " We note on XX/XX/2022, a payment was made by a third party who identified themselves as your mother in the amount of {$190.00}. This payment was returned as Unable to Locate on XX/XX/2022. On XX/XX/2022, a letter was sent to you advising your account was closed due to lack of payment. '' That left nine ( 9 ) days between when a payment was authorized and when my account was closed. By XXXX XX/XX/2022 Discover had already let me know that the payment had been processed and posted. Had Discover notified me there was an issue with the payment, a replacement payment could have been made in a similar method to NSF reversals. 

Discover should have an on-going billing error investigation that details HOW this happened. It is conceivable that the information disclosed by my mother did not match what was placed into the payments screen by the Discover agent. Even if there is a supposition that an account number and routing number is correct, a misspelling of a last name, a first name, etc, can cause a return with the error code " Unable to Locate. '' As payments have been made by my mother before, with the same account information, it would seem that the issues is with the Discover 's system is neither with me nor the information provided by my mother. 

Now, Discover claims they closed out the account due to the issue of processing this payment. Since my mother provided the correct account number and routing number, the account closure constitutes an unfair practice prohibited under 12 U.S. Code 5531 because the situation was not reasonably avoidable. Neither My mother nor I have control over Discover 's processes, nor do we have control over Discover 's systems and its interconnects with other financial services institutions. That is, we do not control how and with what XXXX Discover submits ACH requests to under financial services institutions and therefore Discover 's closure is an unfair practice prohibited by 12 U.S. Code 5531. Moreover, the actions taken by Discover constitute an unfair practice because Discover acknowledges reporting the adverse credit history to the CRAs with an intent to continue doing so while a billing error investigation continues that is an unfair practice that causes harm to me as a consumer and is prohibited under 12 U.S. Code 5531. Note, there has been no notification otherwise with respect to the billing error notice filed with Discover directly as acknowledged by XXXX within the " Executive Office of Consumer Advocacy. '' Yet, Discover responded to CFPB complaint XXXX " We are committed to reporting true and accurate information to the credit bureau reporting agencies, as such we are unable to honor your request to delete the account history from your credit bureau reports . '' That is a violation the CFPA, 12 CFR 1026.13. Finally, Discover has asked for documentation that is inchoate given the nature of the billing error. Specifically, Discover has asked for documentation showing that the error was due to the other financial services institution, or documentation showing funds were debited from the account. That is an unfair practice on 12 U.S. Code 5531 because Discover would be proceeding with a billing error investigation that that precludes itself or systems as a culprit. The requested documentation request itself shows this because it presupposes that the error was neither on the part of Discover 's systems, nor an error on the part of any employee taking payments over the phone. A billing error investigation that is anything other than impartial is on its face an unfair practice under 12 U.S. Code 5531, that is likely to cause harm to a consumer. injurious nature of discrimination. A billing error that subsequently closes an account, coupled with a biased billing error investigation, is progression an unfair process that can cause harm to a consumer, especially when derogatory information is furnished to one ( 1 ) or more CRAs as a result.

I have experienced struggles in recovering from two ( 2 ) bouts of long-COVID, preceded by two ( 2 ) separate infections by the XXXX virus. It would appear Discover is indifferent to that fact. The fact that they would mail documents but fail to make those same documents available online is telling. The fact that they did not provide timely notification when an issue arose with a payment is telling. It is not outside the realm of possibility that Discover took actions on my account to adversely affect the processing of a payment so that they could engineer an account closure. The result would be a reduction in their risk exposure and set-up for a potnetial charged-off so that they would no longer have to keep the account on their books. If I do not have timely access to information to help me keep my account open, then I am at a significant disadvantage in an ability to keep my account open. This is especially disastrous for any individual that may ability have a reduced ability to communicate due to XXXXXXXX, or any XXXX. 

The bottom line is that I asked my mother to make a payment towards my account because of my struggles with XXXXXXXX  That is something my mother has done with Discover in the months prior to XX/XX/2022. As such, it was a reasonable expectation that there would be no issue, and that Discover would notify me of any processing issues regarding the authorized payment prior-to closing the account. They did not. In fact, no notification was sent advising me of an issue with processing the payment. The only notification I received was a notice informing me the account had been closed on or around XXXX XX/XX/2022. That left an interim of one ( 1 ) week to rectify the issue. But, Discover did not provide that opportunity. This is odd considering they DO notify individuals about returned payments due to insufficient funds and inform cardholders to " disregard the message if a replacement payment has already been submitted. '' The botom line is that if Discover is unwilling to provide the fair resolution I have requested, and/or if Discover closes this complaint out as a duplicate, I will file this matter with the FTC, OCC, FDIC, DoJ, and the Office of the Attorney General for my state citing both credit discrimination and XXXX discrimination.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation