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Discover

Discover • Balance transfers • Cancellation problems • Delinquent accounts

Discover's always been sort of the third card out, trailing Visa, MasterCard and Amex by a wide margin. But that doesn't mean it lacks the ability to annoy, offend and aggravate its customers.

John of Somewhere, IL July 26, 2009

Discover card credit card services are taking unfair advantage of its cardholders. Discover card has recently switched from a monthly billing cycle to a 25 day billing cycle. On top of this change, Discover card is charging everyone who misses their new billing date 19.00. This happen to me. I was unaware of my newly imposed billing date and when I went to pay on my normal time, I discovered I was late and had been billed 19.00. I pay my bill online every month which requires logging in to Discover cards website, Discover card could have easily forced me to realize my due date was going to be different so I could have avoided the late charge by making me acknowledge a pop-up box of information explaining this before allowing me to proceed with last months payment. I believe Discover card purposely didn't take adequate measures to inform its cardholders so that it could collect millions of dollars in late fees.

Discover card claims that they adequately notified all of its cardholders, however, when I talked to the help desk, the discover card rep stated that 75% of the call-ins she was receiving was to complain about this deceptive practice. The Discover card rep used the term inundated to describe the number of calls Discover card was getting. In addition to the late payment, Discover Card has redefined the number of billing cycles in one year from 12 to 14.6, which amounts to 2.6 more opportunities a year to penalize people for not paying on time. Basically, they are taking advantage of people.

Katherine of Boulder, CO July 20, 2009

I just received a letter from Discover stating that they have decided to close my account due to "past and or present delinquent credit obligations". This was news to me so I double checked my credit report immediately and my credit is in good standing with no negative items. I then called Discover and was told that my card had been closed due to inactivity on my account. (I rarely use this card - it was my first credit card and since I've had it since 1998, I keep it open) I'm still not sure of the real reason my account was closed. I am sure, however, that Discover is not being open and honest with its customers.

Patty of Virginia Beach, VA July 17, 2009

HERE IS A COPY OF MY LETTER TO THEM: I just realized on this statement that you have increased my APR to 26+%! This is totally unacceptable! You did not notify me or anything!

The statement says I am over my credit limit and charged a fee for that as well! Of course I am, my interest is much higher than 1.9% on my balance transfer and the nominal % on other purchases. I’m sure your excuse is because I was 4 days late last month and I believe one day late the month before. However, if you look at the length of time and that fact that I have never been late before not to mention that my credit score was and should be still in the low to mid 700’s, it should account for something.

The sad thing is money is not the issue! I am running 3 businesses and just dropped the ball on getting it in on time due to the heckticness of the previous 2 months. I refuse to do business with Companies who take such advantage of their customers. IF money was an issue and I was struggling to pay my bills, this type of behavior certainly wouldn’t help me to keep my head above water; nor encourage me to pay you; especially when my minimum payment just went up 50!!!! That is grocery money to some people right now! You should be ashamed of yourself!

Discover will NEVER be in my wallet again!!

Gwyn of Indianapolis, IN July 16, 2009

I make my payments online every month. When I went to make this months payment I found my payment had increased by 30 due to a rate increase of just under 11%. I was dumbfounded. I immediately called Discover and was told the increase was due to a late payment last month. Having made my payment on the same day for years, I was a little confused.

Turns out Discover had moved my due date up by a week last month. I wondered why I hadn't been notified but there was no explaination for that other than Discover has done that to a number of customers. As for why the date was changed, the representative could not give me any explanation for that either. To add insult to injury I was charged a late fee. In light of the amount of interest they collect every month, their late fees seem a little excessive. The representative removed last months late charge but I will probably be charged on for this month and will most likely have to pay it. They also agreed to change the due date and adjust the interest rate, effective next month, however I am livid over the rate. It could not be changed back to what it was (& that was already a penalty rate for a payment that was one day late in a prior year).

It is outragous to me that they can and will do this to consumers. I think a lot of responsibility for the current economic crisis falls on their shoulders and they continue to add to it.

Alisa of Montaue , CA July 15, 2009

In February 2009, my husband and I called Discover Card to close our account. They begged us not to close and offered us 3.99% for the life of the card. We agreed to keep the card because of the good rate. Recently I received my bill and "discovered" the rate increased to 12.99%. We have never been late and actually just received a credit increase. I called Discover and was told," Due to the current economy they've had to make some changes, etc." I was floored and cannot believe they can do this. I feel they lied to us... they feel it was in the fine print. Unfortunately for them, they have lost a good customer. We paid off our balance and closed our account. They could have made 3.99% off of us- now they will make nothing.

Jim of Ballston Spa, NY July 15, 2009

I've had a Discover card for about 5 years with an APR of 7.99%. I signed up for paperless statements and email due date reminders a couple years ago. My due date has been the 15th of the month and my e-mail notifications have always come in about a week before hand. In May my due date was approaching and it donned on me I hadn't received an e-mail notifying me of such. So I went to the Discover web site and loe and behold my due date had been moved up a week.

I called customer service and asked what was going on and was told I had been notified back in Feb that my due date would be changing in May and I would be charged a 19 late fee. As underhanded as that is in itself I asked why I hadn't received my regularly scheduled e-mail reminder and was given no explanation. I've never been late with a payment and argued that Discover created this situation and I shouldn't have to pay a late fee. They did credit my account the late fee.

Fast forward to June's payment. Again no email due date reminder although I have received other e-mail from Discover. I was on to them this time though and checked early. I also happened to check my APR and it jumped from 7.99% to 24.99%. I got on the phone again and was told it was due to "my" late payment. In hind sight I feel sorry for the poor customer rep who received my litany of profanity because I totally lost it. When I pointed out I was only late because of a situation Discover themselves had created she agreed to lower my rate to 12.99% I said that was not acceptable and she said that's what everyone's rate was going to due to market conditions. UGH!

Milton of Brooklyn, NY July 13, 2009

I have a balance transfer with a 3.99%. I was solicited over the phone to purchase a Payment Protection Plan with interest rate 3.99%. I cancelled the plan on 04/09/09. The rate became 10.24%. I was told by Corey, Spvr that he is sorry that I rec'd wrong info.

Maggie of Manahawkin, NJ July 10, 2009

Be aware if split charges! The interest rate on my Discover card is 10.99%. I originally signed up for this card as a balance transfer for a very low APR. After the transfer rate expired my rate went to 10.99%. I have not used this card for purchases since. On my June 2009 bill I noticed that there was a charge for 163.98 ads a purchase at a 15.24%.I had not make a purchase. The itemized bill also did not reflect the purchase. After much discussion & the initial accusation that I must of made a purchase it was finally discovered that "someone" in billing "accidentally" split my balance between the 10.99 & 15.24%.

Apparently this was unusual and no one, including the supervisor, could explain how this happened. 45 minutes later I was assured that the mistake was theirs and that my account would go to the correction team immediately & the money that was split would be credited back, including the interest. I received my July 2009 bill & the correction has not been made, which means that I have been continuing to accrue 15.24% for the last 60 days. I called July 13, 2009 & the "account manager" informed me that the request for correction was sent to the wrong department. She emailed the correct department, while I was on the phone. I requested the return of interest to be added to the changes. Her comment... "What makes you think we wouldn't do it" My response..."because I can't count on Discover fixing since it was not handle correctly the first time. Her pleasant demeanor vanished.

I wonder how many people Discover Card has done this to. If your not vigilant in reading your bill perhaps this type of tactic would go undiscovered for months. I'm thinking that perhaps this is some type of internal scam. I'll wait to see what happens on the August bill.

Susan of Allen, TX July 8, 2009

I have been a Discover card holder for thirteen years and recently was shocked by their fraudulent offer to decrease my APR. In January of 2009 I receive a call asking why I had not been using my card. When I explained that the APR was too high the representative offered to lower the APR to 11%. She also signed me up for a “Credit Tracker” program for 7.99 a month. I gladly began using my card and was shocked when I noticed the APR at 22.24%! I called and was told that my account APR had only been lowered to 19% (not the 11% as promised). It was also explained to me that my APR rose from the 19% to the 22.24% as a result of company policy.

Firstly, I am POSITIVE that the APR offered in January was 11%. I am truly amazed that a Discover representative would lie about my APR in order to get me to use my card!!! When I complained to customer service they were unwilling to even investigate the situation. Secondly, I don’t understand the justification in increasing my APR when I paid on time for years. Customer service said they the APR increase was not a reflection of my payment history or credit rating - they merely increased EVERYONES RATES due to a "company policy." I closed the “Credit Tracker” program, closed my Discover account, and made a formal complaint with the FTC.

Diane of Memphis, TN July 7, 2009

About mid June I went online @ Discover.com and signed up for paperless billing. I received an email back saying my billing due date had been change. I called and told them, no, I did not want my billing date changed. They told me on the phone, ok, and told me it was corrected. My last payment made was on 5/24/09 so I went online on 6/24/09 and again on 6/27/09 and the amount due was zero. Then a few days later I got an email notice that I had gone over my limit and a 39.00 charge was added. The total amount due ws 176.00. Since they refused to remove the 39.00 charge, I made a 20.00 payment online and will do so until it is resolved.

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