Consumer complaint received 2016-05-05
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: FL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: (CD) Certificate of deposit
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
On XXXX XXXX, 2016, I applied on line for a 7 year IRA CD with Discover Bank. The rate was 2.23 percent ( 2.25 APY ). The CD would be funded by direct transfer from my XXXX brokerage account. I was told that I would receive the required forms to sign and return within XXXX to XXXX business days. As of XXXX XXXX, I still had not received the paperwork. I was out of town the following week, and received the paperwork Monday XXXX XXXX. That same day I returned the required paperwork via standard mail to Discover. The next couple of weeks I periodically called Discover to find out the status of the transfer of cash from XXXX. I received various answers from them, but was all but assured that the rate had not changed since the first of 2016 and most likely would not change before the XXXX was funded. I finally found a Discover agent on the phone who told me that the transfer had to be initiated by XXXX. The same day, I downloaded, signed and sent the transfer request directly to the XXXX Transfer of Assets ( TOA ) office. XXXX expeditiously sent the form to Discover. Discover claimed they received the form on XXXX XXXX. I received a letter from XXXX that the funds were transferred on XXXX XXXX. 
From XXXX XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my Discover account on line to see if the funds had been received. My account showed XXXX balance BUT still showed the interest rate of 2.23 percent ( XXXX APY ). On Monday, XXXX XXXX, I again called Discover Bank. I was told that the funds posted on XXXX XXXX ( Sunday ). On XXXX XXXX the funds still did not show up in my account, BUT the rate still showed XXXX percent ( XXXX APY ). On XXXX XXXX, I checked the account on line only to find out that the funds had posted, BUT the rate had now changed to XXXX percent ( XXXX APY ). 
I immediately called Discover Bank and eventually talked to their supervisor, XXXX. She stated that the rates went down on XXXX XXXX and that to undo the 7 year IRA XXXX would cost me XXXX moths worth of interest. At first she told me that Discover had received the transfer on XXXX XXXX, BUT then back tracked and said the money was received on XXXX. At no time was I notified of the rate reduction prior to the funding of the account. Even on XX/XX/XXXX, when I checked the account on line, it still showed 2.23 percent. XXXX 's response was " you get the current rate when the account is funded '' The current rate shown on my account when it was funded was 2.23 percent. If I had known of the rate decrease, I could have stopped the funding and cancelled the transfer. After having the CD for one day, Discover now wants to charge me 2 years interest for undoing the transaction. They allow NO grace period to see if the agreed upon rate has changed and they do not inform you of any proposed change. 
I would like to reiterate that 1. the entire transaction took from XXXX XXXX to XXXX XXXX to complete ; 2. there was no indication or notification that the rate would change substantially downward ( including the rate shown on my account through XXXX XXXX when accessing on line ) ; 3. once Discover received the transfer, there was no grace period to allow me to accept or reject the substantially lower rate ; and 4. even though Discover has held my funds for one day, they want two years of interest to undo the transaction. 
As a side note, when I returned the required signature forms, I received a letter a week later stating that the forms were incomplete. I called up Discover and they said the forms were complete, that it was their mistake. I talked to Discover 's agent a few days later, wondering why the funds had not transferred. They said they would send me the appropriate forms. When I received those forms, they were forms for transferring funds from Discover, not to Discover. Again, I called Discover and was told that the transfer had to be initiated by XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief