Consumer complaint received 2024-11-09 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Company closed your account
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
I applied for Discover Credit Card in XXXX. After they tried to pull my credit and tax history from IRS and failed ( because I am new immigrant into the XXXX and doesn't have any XXXX tax filings and credit score yet ), they were able to manually override it. 

I remember submitting my IDs to a Discover portal. And right away I received an email saying my Card is coming soon on XX/XX/year>. That's great. On the same day, Discover emailed me asking to do a Notary for this credit card. Weird, why did they approve it in the first place if they haven't done their fair share of verification? Also note, I specifically opened up a Discover debit account prior to applying for Discover Credit Card just to be save. They said the verification is different because it's not the same department. Also weird, but fine, what do I know as a newcomer? I will just follow the rules. 

XXXX XXXX, I was able to do the Notary around XX/XX/XXXX at my local XXXX XXXX and uploaded the documents. Fear that there is a timeline to complete this, I called Discover customer service, and they said they do have a timeline, and the rep was so nice that he extended my deadline to XX/XX/XXXX. Yes, I can still vividly remember this date. 

After a XXXX  or XXXX, I did not hear back, so I called Discover, asking what was going on. They said they weren't able to verify the Notary, that they called twice and wasn't able to get hold of the XXXX XXXX. I knew they would call the UPS Store ( a prior rep told me ), I also asked the Officer her hours and it'd be great if she could put it on the Notary form so Discover knew when to call. She ( Officer ) said the shift hours changes and she wouldn't know too far down ( i.e. next week ). I said fine I guess the bank would have to try a few times. Expect they didn't. A rep later said said they are only able to call a certain amount of times. Turns out only XXXX, XXXX times doesn't seem like a fair amount effort for something this important isn't it? Especially they recommended XXXX store, and I bet it is a common thing that they can not reach the XXXX within XXXX calls. 

Accommodating as I am, I understand there is a cost concern that the bank doesn't want to spend too much time calling back, so fine, I will go to a bank branch and find a rep to do another Notary for me. I went to a XXXX XXXX in XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, and I can give you their number later if you need to verify this. 

After a XXXX or XXXX, nothing again. I called Discover to check, they said my account was closed! Wait, isn't the deadline completing XXXX supposed to be XX/XX/XXXX? They said there is another deadline to activate the credit card before a certain period, in this case, ending on XX/XX/XXXX. What? I asked what remedies I could do ; they said they could not reopen the closed account, and I would have to apply for a new one. XXXX, I am so glad I don't have a XXXX XXXX yet, or else it would greatly hurt my XXXX XXXX. 
Then, disappointed at Discover, I was able to transfer my XXXX XXXX XXXX and applied for an XXXX credit card so easy ( wish I knew earlier ). 

However, yesterday I saw on XXXX XXXX, XXXX received the credit account closure remark from Discover, and my credit score is downed by XXXX points! XXXX? 

This is the full story of why I complain. I did not want to do it before because I thought if I didn't have a credit score, I wouldn't get hurt. But if it did, then I ought to fight for it. Apparently, after some investigation on social media and online forums, I am not alone. This is a systemic issue that has affected so many newcomers ( international students, new immigrants, etc. ), and Discover would close it without asking after they did not do their fair share of job to verify our Notaries. 

Also, how come they can approve my credit card/line without having successfully done all the verifications? This doesn't seem right by common sense. They can either : not approve it because they did not verify, or approve it because they are able to verify. Approve and then verify, seriously? Are they just fishing to destroy our newcomer 's credit score? What is this?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation