Consumer complaint received 2020-10-01
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: TX
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Private student loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
Complaint regarding treatment and harassment by Discover card. 

XX/XX/2020 The following is a letter I emailed to discover in the first of XX/XX/2020, which explains my financial difficulty during the Covid 19 pandemic, following this letter is my story on the horrendous treatment by Discover and their employees.

Hello, as you know the Covid 19 pandemic rages on. My financial loss is great and money I would have never spent if was not for this virus I would have used to pay my bills as you notice based on my record I have faithfully paid my bills, I am only having difficulty since XXXX when this pandemic was and is in full effect. I live in Texas, my wife and I moved here to be close to our grandchildren. The Covid 19 pandemic here in Texas is out of control. Our reason for being here is not possible with this pandemic, I live on a fixed income, my wife is XXXX, in XXXX I lost my XXXX year old XXXX, XXXX XXXX, the love of our lives. Now XX/XX/2020 we have the arrival of my XXXX year old stepson XXXX who was recently released from jail, I now have the added financial difficulty of housing, feeding, clothing, and supporting a XXXX year old man who has nothing. This is another financial difficulty as if the Covid 19 was not  enough. There is at this time no stimulus payment coming in sight. 

This pandemic still forces us to stock pile basic supplies including toilet paper, food, water to name a few, and now we are in Hurricane season, this is a strain on my finances. All I am asking is to freeze my account, without penalty to relieve the financial pressure until, or if this pandemic eases. I am trying to find work to supplement my income but I must work from home because I am my wifes caregiver, and I have to take care of her. 

Anything you can do to freeze my accounts and relieve my monthly payment, with no penalties would help me, even if it is on a month to month basis. For your information and assistance. 

Thank you XXXX XXXX Complaint on Discover I have been a diligent credit holder of Discover for some time, always paying my bills on time and never having my account go overdue, until XXXX when Covid 19 impacted me financially, however I still paid my bills.

I have made numerous calls and sent letters to Discover about my financial situation, they say their calls are recorded so there is computer documentation and recordings on the chain of events. 

In XXXX, Discover granted me Covid 19 financial assistance by freezing my loan for 3 months, after that expired, it was on a month to month basis, which required me to call on the XXXX of each month and ask for assistance which they granted. In XXXX the loan payment was due on Sunday, XX/XX/2020. Discover loans was closed, they are only open XXXX, for loan assistance. I called Discover on Friday, XX/XX/2020 to ask what to do since the loan payment is due on a Sunday. I was told by customer service to call on Monday, XX/XX/2020, even though the loan was due, so I did. On Monday XX/XX/2020 I called Discover loan and requested financial assistance, they received the copy of my email I sent them, explaining my circumstances. They granted me assistance and froze my loan payment. On XX/XX/2020 I received a letter from Discover indicating my next loan payment was due on XX/XX/2020, this matched my information on the Discover website when I signed in to check my loan status. It is still there currently, and has not changed since XX/XX/XXXX when I called Discover. 

On XX/XX/2020 I received a letter from Discover that my loan was overdue, along with a payment penalty that was due, how could this be since on XX/XX/XXXX I was on Covid 19 financial assistance. I called Discover and customer service stated there was a mistake and the payment for XXXX, was applied to XX/XX/XXXX, how could this be since it violates their own policy of calling on a monthly basis, how could they delay a payment for XXXX to XXXX and then XXXX which is what the records state. Customer service said they prepared a ticket to fix XXXX and my next payment would be XX/XX/2020 which it what it said all along. They also fixed the late fee and removed it off my account. 

On XX/XX/2020 at XXXX XXXX  till XXXX XXXX I received 3 phone calls from discover attempting to get me to pay a debt. This required me to call Discover numerous times and each time a customer service representative gave me a different explanation on what had happened. Finally my wife and I on XX/XX/2020 called and spoke to a manager named XXXX. She said she would fix the problem and my next payment, again would be XX/XX/2020. We also found out that the customer service agent on XX/XX/2020 made a mistake and never backdated the payment, an error by Discover, which caused all my problems. 

On XX/XX/2020 my Discover credit are was declined 3 times while shopping and when I got home I looked online and saw that Discover removed the remaining credit balance on my card, thus freezing my card. There were also numerous calls on my answering machine from Discover requesting payment. This is harassment calling me on the phone for their error, when the problem was in the process of being fixed. We called Discover and waited all day to speak to XXXX which she called, late in the day. She stated their was nothing she could do, and I would have to pay the loan amount to unfreeze my credit card. She also stated that the Covid 19 assistance ended in XXXX, something I was never told by Discover. The only option open to me was to pay the XXXX and release my account which would clear in about 1 week. This is robbery forcibly making me to make a payment to allow me to use my credit card which is vital during Covid19. This is money I do not have, but I have to struggle to make a payment, and not pay other bills, I do not even know if Discover notified the credit bureaus, all on a mistake they made. When I tried to make the payment on XX/XX/XXXX, online, Discover would not allow me to make a payment unless I paid XXXX payment as well, requiring XXXX to take a payment over the phone, I was on a 3 way call with XXXX, and an agent from Discover Card. 

Then the payment went through, but I was told the payment was after XXXX XXXX  by Discover Card and it would take a week before it was cleared up, but XXXX saw the payment cleared. Then I asked Discover Card if the credit that was on my card unfrozen and she said yes. However they never restored my remaining credit amount, so she put me on hold and restored the amount, after she said the card was ready for use, if I did not ask I would still have a problem with the credit card, this what Discover does, misinformation, at the clients expense. 

My card is restored, as of now but I have not used it. I was forced to make a payment I did not have, and now I owe a payment due XX/XX/XXXX which is a double payment, and this all because a mistake made by Discover. I was told to call in a week to see what can be done about XX/XX/XXXX payment since I do not have it. Today on XX/XX/XXXX I received an email that was dated yesterday saying they froze my credit card, this after they froze it, I received the letter. 

My financial burden is worse because of Discover, I can not pay bills to survive, money I had saved for bills went to Discover. And Discover advertise that Discover cares, and Discover Values and Discover We treat your like you treat you where did they treat me at all fairly, they are killing me. 

XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief