Consumer complaint received 2016-01-27
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Received bad information about my loan
Company: DISCOVER BANK

Complaint:
I am writing to obtain assistance with a delinquency Discover Student Loans reported on my credit report for my previous attendance at UnivXXXX I currently hold XXXX student loans with Discover. 

I am currently a full-time XXXX at the UnivXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX - XXXX. XXXX loan has been in repayment for around XXXX ( 1 ) year, for which I have made 100 % of my payments on time. The other loan was in deferment until on or about XXXX XXXX, XXXX. Because of my full-time XXXX during which I obtain 100 % of living expenses from student loans, I was unable to make the XXXX $ XXXX/mo payment in addition to the other loan payment of XXXX $ XXXX/mo and thus requested that the loan be placed in forbearance in XXXX XXXX. 

This initial forbearance request was denied by Discover citing an excess of income. To arrive at this decision, the agent required me to use an annual estimate of my student loans in support of annual income, despite my saying that I received no income while in school. The agent essentially said because I use student loans for living expenses, they must be considered as income, and were required as part of Discover 's forbearance calculations. These calculations demonstrated I had too much annual income ( as student loans ), and thus disqualified me from forbearance. 

Because of my financial situation, I was unable to make the XXXX XXXX payment. My school 's financial aid adviser called Discover on my behalf to verify whether student loans are considered income, and informed me that Discover responded that they indeed are not. I then called Discover again on or about XXXX XXXX, XXXX to begin the forbearance process anew, which was this time granted on the basis of my lack of income. The agent, " XXXX, '' informed me that the forbearance would be applied to my account retroactively, based on a disclosure agreement which was read to me. 

I have since discovered that this account was reported 30-60 days delinquent on my current credit report. I have attempted to call Discover twice to resolve this matter based on the previous facts, XXXX which times have been unsuccessful. I made my second call to Discover on or about XXXX XXXX, XXXX, where I spoke with a supervisor, " XXXX '' ( ID # XXXX ). When explaining my concerns, XXXX initially maintained that Discover was unable to make adjustments to my credit report because Discover 's definition of retroactive, based on their disclosure statement ( which she reviewed from the recorded XXXX conversation ), applies solely to the monetary payments, and not to credit reporting. When suggested that the nuances of the definition of " retroactive '' in this context were unclear, XXXX essentially responded that it was my responsibility to ask such questions of the telephone agent myself following the reading of the disclosure. Moreover, when I told her how I initially attempted to apply for forbearance in good faith in XXXX, XXXX informed me she was unable to review a recorded call from that time to verify this information. XXXX informed me that she would have to look into this matter further and call me back. 

My credit report is now damaged in a significant manner because of misinformation and deceptive business practices on the part of Discover. I was led to believe based on their disclosure that this retroactive application of the forbearance would resolve any outstanding delinquency issue. I also attempted - in good faith, in a timely manner - to obtain an initial forbearance, but was procedurally barred from doing so because I was pressured to reveal student loan data as income. Furthermore, Discover is using selective review of recorded calls to support their case, leading me to feel bullied and unconfident that there will be a fair and unbiased review of this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief