Consumer complaint received 2018-02-12
Product: Credit card or prepaid card 
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: NH
Tags: Older American, Servicemember

Complaint:
Subject : This is a XX/XX/XXXX ( 60 day ) Response to the CFPB target Companys Answer dated XX/XX/XXXX to this Complainant filed on XX/XX/XXXX Against Discover Claiming Breach of Contract to Significantly Reduce the Interest Rate on the this Complainants Credit Card from 24 % to 12 %, as agreed by the Discover Rep during the phone call with this Complainant on XX/XX/XXXX, at which time the balance on the card was about {$10000.00}, an amount both parties have agreed upon from that date ( in XX/XX/XXXX ) up to the present. The parties also agree that this debt was entirely owed by this Complainants employer, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

1. Specifically, both parties agree that this card was used, billed and paid monthly from XX/XX/XXXX until XX/XX/XXXX, and that the most recent ending balance on the Discover statement dated ( on or about ) XX/XX/XXXX, was {$6400.00}, and that the interest rate on that month-end card billing was 23 % ( i.e., shortly before this complaint was filed ) 2. Both parties also agree that the balance owed Discover on XX/XX/XXXX was {$10000.00}, and that the interest rate on the card was entirely for cash advances and further, that both parties also agree the XX/XX/XXXX statements generally had reflected a billed annual percentage of 30 % - including the statement that was sent on that date to the debtor of that balance the employer of this Complainant, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX ( See the General Ledger 1-page XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX debtor monthly transaction postings listing based on the monthly Discover Statements postings regularly verified by the companies CPAs for inclusion in the companys financials published to the world in the SEC reports - including the credit card ending in # XXXX amounts in those reports, covering the period from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX and reflecting a lower average annual interest rate of 24 % for the two months ending on that date, and continuing until the present. Also, the mailing address for the monthly Discover statements was switched back to the This Complainant home address later in the summer of XX/XX/XXXX. ) 3. The only material disagreement between this Complainant and Discover is what was offered and accepted by the two parties between each other forming a contract - in the phone call both parties agree was made on ( or about ) XX/XX/XXXX, and who initiated the call, and why that person made that call. I claim Discover initiated the 1st call - to collect a missed payment. Discover claims I called Discover to tell them I sent a double payment. 

4. This Complainant during the 1st six months of XX/XX/XXXX was in the process of resolving over {$300000.00} owed to over 66 creditors of the company ( that had ceased all operations ) and where I had terminated all the employees ( including myself ). With less than {$100000.00} in personal assets readily available at that time to satisfy all the unpaid company creditors, it was very difficult to stay on schedule with the very small number of creditors ( like Discover ) who I would continue to pay timely out of my own pocket - for the following nine years.

5. On XX/XX/XXXX I was called by Discover and told that the payment of about {$290.00} that was due about 20 days earlier ( i.e., it was due on XX/XX/XXXX ) had not been sent, and that there was concern that the next payment ( for another {$290.00} ) would not be sent and received at Discover by XX/XX/XXXX. The rep then told me that if I would send a double payment ( of about {$580.00} ) via  priority mail ( costing about {$4.00} and delivering the check to Discover within 3 days ) that Discover would reduce the current interest rate on the card ( of over 23 % ) to only 12 %. 

6. My answer to the rep was that I would send the {$580.00} immediately - and the next day I did  exactly what I agreed to do. ( See the attached PDF copy of the check I wrote to the local post office for {$4.00} and dated XX/XX/XXXX. Also see the enclosed XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX, XXXX, Ledger Postings Report item dated XX/XX/XXXX referred to in paragraph # 2 above - where the company check # XXXX was issued for {$580.00} so that I could mail it the next day. ) 7. The XX/XX/XXXX letter from XXXX at Discover reports a story that XXXX was not able to document, and that is contradicted by the facts that are confirmed in the documents attached to this response. XXXX response indicates that I called Discover to report that I had sent a check for {$580.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Discover called me for a missed payment. It is unreasonable to suggest that I would send a double payment and spend ten times as much as a 1st class mail stamp - for a three-day delivery - without calling Discover first and asking if that would reduce my interest rate by over 50 % over the coming  5 to 10 years. I did not know we had completely missed sending the payment due on XX/XX/XXXX until I got the call from Discover on XX/XX/XXXX. Why would I write a check on XX/XX/XXXX for a payment that I didnt even know we had totally missed sending about four weeks earlier? 

8. XXXX also indicated that in the XX/XX/XXXX, call I was told that the two APR interest rates for purchases and cash advances were both being reduced by 4.25 % - but I received no such information on how the two-transaction types would be driving my interest rates - from the rep I talked to in XX/XX/XXXX. In fact, I was unaware that my rates had gone up by over 4 % in the first half of XXXX until I received XXXX letter dated XX/XX/XXXX nearly eight years later. ( Also see the 2 columns added at this time - to the far right side of the 1-page ledger PDF file - of the XXXX XXXX XXXX Report transactions listing also referred to in paragraph 2 above. ) 9. Finally, XXXX letter also indicates that I called Discover in XX/XX/XXXX, but my recollection was that I called in XX/XX/XXXX, because the XX/XX/XXXX statement did not reflect the interest rate reduction to the 12 % I was promised in the XX/XX/XXXX call from Discover. 
10. I also clearly remember being told ( in XX/XX/XXXX ) that there was no record that any promise of a rate reduction to 12 % on my total balance had ever been made to me by Discover the previous month ( and that there was no discussion of the rates for neither purchases nor cash advances ). 

In summary, my recollections of who called who, and what was said, and why, are reasonable - and are also confirmed by my documentation - which I believe contradicts the unreasonable claims made by the Discover Executive in his XX/XX/XXXX letter to me on this subject. 

It is requested that the CFPB order Discover to refund the excess interest charged me between XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX, a total in cash of {$11000.00}, since I paid the {$6400.00} balance on XX/XX/XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation