Consumer complaint received 2020-06-15
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: NY
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Add-on products and services

Complaint:
I am writing to notify you and seek your assistance with a consumer concern regarding Discover Financial Services XXXX XXXX Credit Card XXXX. Beginning in XX/XX/XXXX XXXX as far as my account history can tell, this date XXXX in fact begin even sooner XXXX, my credit account with XXXX has been signed up for their XXXX Payment XXXX XXXX which carries a monthly fee that is based on the existing balance on the card. I was led to believe that this service and the associated fee were not optional and were linked to the account just as the monthly interest fees are attached. 

Since XX/XX/XXXX, this fee has added an additional {$5400.00} to my account, not counting the interest charged on this balance. Despite making payments greater than the minimum balance due, I have been unable to fully pay off this account because my payments were being directed to cover interest and the protection plan fee thereby allowing the account balance to continue to increase and accrue more interest and increase the cost of the protection plan each month. During this time, I experienced several of the qualifying events under which the protection plan may be used including : involuntary unemployment, federal or state disaster ( via the ongoing COVID pandemic ), marriage, new job, and job promotion. 

Despite these qualifying events, I was unable to utilize the XXXX XXXX because XXXX failed to clearly communicate the details of this service that I have been paying for over several years. After researching the unethical and potentially fraudulent methods used to add this plan to my account, I have found that several other XXXX customers experienced the same tactics. This is clearly representative of a widespread communication failure from XXXX to provide their customers with clear and concise information about their services. In addition, representatives of XXXX used unethical or fraudulent tactics to sign customers up for their XXXX XXXX by disguising it as a mandatory program or by inferring that it carried no additional cost. Instead the details of this program are hidden in the annual statement summaries which are deleted from the account holder 's inbox after 180 days. XXXX has not been able to produce documentation indicating when and how I became signed up for this program. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Discover Financial Services to request cancellation of the Payment Protection Plan and a refund of all monies paid beginning with the initial sign-up as this was conducted under false pretenses which indicated that this was a mandatory program. The representative cancelled all future participation in the protection plan and refunded 6 months worth of recent transactions totaling {$950.00}. In addition, on XX/XX/XXXX, a representative agreed to refund {$160.00} which was processed later in the day on XX/XX/XXXX after the cancellation of the plan. 

This reflects an agreement from Discover Financial Services that their tactics were at best unethical and at worst fraudulent. However, they claim to be unable to refund any additional payment plan fees dating prior to XX/XX/XXXX. This appears to be an arbitrary date and a reluctancy for XXXX to refund additional funds that were paid under false pretenses. The remaining unrefunded balance totals {$4300.00} which I am requesting resolution to have refunded.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation