Thread: Discover didn't post my EFT payment then cuts my credit line due to their mistake

Never had a problem with any card and have 5. Have a solid credit bureau and score. Good history. Peridically revolve. Never delinquent/ no issues of any sort. Moderate usage. Discover card 4 plus years old. Pay using EFT from DDA. Somehow Discover mis-posts a payment. Then shows account delinquent. As a result of delinquency cuts credit limit. Corrects payment misposting, removes delinquency. Won't restore credit line ( which is very modest) without a credit review. They cause problem. They fix part of problem. I get penalized with lower line due to their operations error? Hmmm. Sound squirrelly? Does to me.They want to talk. Not much to discuss in my view. I just want them to fix their mistake and restore things as was before. Happy to talk to them after they've fixed their error and restored account to how it was. In the meantime, I'll just put Discover to the side in #5 position behind the others. Their motto "do whats right"...words only, certainly not deeds, in this case. Filing FTC complaint. Unfair businesss practice.

You should check your credit report in a month or two to make sure this isn't on it. I would try talking to Discover about your credit line. FTC likely can't help with credit line as the bank can raise/lower at will. It's interest and other terms on which they're restricted.

Thanks. Great advice. Customer service correctly applied the payment once it was brought to their attention. Credit group acknowledges that account was never delinquent and the bureau is solid, in a call. They still won't restore the line since the initial and incorrect delinq flag triggered credit review and want additional info. Happy to provide info after they fix what they broke. Very silly and disconnected internal process where they are making a problem they created, mine. The issue in my mind is primarily completely fixing a problem they caused, an issue of principle and logic and how to treat consumers. They failed in this case in my opinion and are being driven by a dogmatic process rather than anyone turning their brain on or moving the issue to someone who can change or override the rigidity. The competitive marketplace solution is to switch card usage to brands that are today superior to Discover. Bank of America , Chase, American Express and Citi all seem to fit that bill and are already in the wallet.
You are right on FTC. However, if enough of this occurs, the weight of issues brought forward will provide pressure for change. I would suspect that most card issuers would prefer not to have many items raised where the complainant is reasonable and seemingly correct. A legislator or regulator may take notice then. The issue is extremely small dollars in my case so its predominantly a process issue that they probably won't address.
Likely outcome is that Discover will not fix problem, which should concern customers considering them vs other brands, six months will pass and a computer program will select an account in good standing with no delinq and good scores for a line increase :-). Card will still be in back of wallet and many stories told to friends, neighbors and colleagues about Discover internal foolishness.

DDA = demand deposit account aka checking account, or so says my banker.

Who have I spoken to? Well I'm playing the game as Discover wants to script it ( up to a point at least) to correct the problem they created and reestablish the account merely to the state it was before they posted my timely payment incorrectly. Called customer service, got transferred to a billing issue rep. Payment issue was immediately fixed and was posted correctly. Then called credit, called another credit number, sent an e-mail, spoke to a supposed credit supervisor.The delinq flag had been triggered, even if done so incorrectly. Don't think that anyone I spoke to had any authority over the, or to change the "process" though. Credit types appear to kept on very short leashes and show little initiative to fairly and completely fix their mistake.
After 5 contacts it became time to move Discover Card to the bottom of the preference list. My Discover still works with the lowered line but its time to shift all preferences of usage to Bank of America and Chase cards with Citi and American Express there if needed.
Wonder what it costs Discover to acquire an account, build usage, build profitability and build good will, per account in good standing, and then strangle it all with a poor back room in credit ? I imagine it must be pretty expensive to them as a company when they do stuff like this.
If shopping for cards today, others products would rank higher.
Word of mouth problems travel faster and wider than anything else they can do competitively too. Too bad too, because as I shared with a group at dinner, I had "bought" their message up to this point.

Thanks for the suggestion.

The solutions are many fold. First though is whether or not Discover believes this is a problem and/or cares. On an individual level my strong sense was that credit staff thought this was a problem but were powerless to fix it. Too bad.

Issues come up all the time and changes need to be made. In this case Discover falls down badly. The result in this case is that the card gets lower usage, the brand message gets diluted, and word of mouth works against them.

If management does not have a feedback system of looking at complaints, monitoring its processes, or monitoring social network "buzz", then by definition they are not responsive and competitive. Thats the conclusion I'm drawing.

Does or should fixing what by any standard is a quite simple issue require a letter to someone like a chief credit officer, an outside director on the board or federal regulators ? Apparently so. That is a huge statement about the risks a consumer takes in depending upon the Discover Card.

With a spare moment, I did pull the bureau report, just to confirm that the Discover approach was silly. It is truly laughable. Even funnier as a comparison was the credit line increase just given my another card in the wallet as the Discover false delinquency flag was planted and then removed ( only internal on Discover Card records).

I'll probably send one more letter. A very reasonable and factual one to someone a bit higher in the foodchain than how Discover has managed its process. But its pretty clear that Discover's actions are much louder and different than their advertising words make them seem to be.

Discover is a card that clearly belongs in the back of wallet; an open account yes, but not the preferred card; or even close. As the saying goes "they are who they are". Right now thats #5 in the wallet.

Holiday shopping and routine usage goes on Bank of America, Chase and Citi.

Thank again for your comments.

Originally Posted by Iroquois

Thanks for the suggestion.

The solutions are many fold. First though is whether or not Discover believes this is a problem and/or cares. On an individual level my strong sense was that credit staff thought this was a problem but were powerless to fix it. Too bad.

Issues come up all the time and changes need to be made. In this case Discover falls down badly. The result in this case is that the card gets lower usage, the brand message gets diluted, and word of mouth works against them.

If management does not have a feedback system of looking at complaints, monitoring its processes, or monitoring social network "buzz", then by definition they are not responsive and competitive. Thats the conclusion I'm drawing.

Does or should fixing what by any standard is a quite simple issue require a letter to someone like a chief credit officer, an outside director on the board or federal regulators ? Apparently so. That is a huge statement about the risks a consumer takes in depending upon the Discover Card.

With a spare moment, I did pull the bureau report, just to confirm that the Discover approach was silly. It is truly laughable. Even funnier as a comparison was the credit line increase just given my another card in the wallet as the Discover false delinquency flag was planted and then removed ( only internal on Discover Card records).

I'll probably send one more letter. A very reasonable and factual one to someone a bit higher in the foodchain than how Discover has managed its process. But its pretty clear that Discover's actions are much louder and different than their advertising words make them seem to be.

Discover is a card that clearly belongs in the back of wallet; an open account yes, but not the preferred card; or even close. As the saying goes "they are who they are". Right now thats #5 in the wallet.

Holiday shopping and routine usage goes on Bank of America, Chase and Citi.

Thank again for your comments.

I am pretty sure given the vast differences between every human being, it is 100% impossible for a company to have 100% satisfaction no matter how hard they try. Unless, that is, it is in China, Russia or Sweden.

But that said, if you want to talk to the higher-up execs, I did a quick search on the SEC website and found a business address that they are required to file with the SEC:

Search Results


If you dig around some more, they supposedly also have the names and numbers of senior officers that run Discover.

Good luck and if your letter is reasonable enough, just maybe it'll work. There were times I felt like going that far with customer service, but whenever I face a situation where I have to take more than 30 minutes out of my life, unless an actual financial loss is at stake, I just move on.

Thanks.
I agree the names are easy enough to come by; its takes less than 2 minutes to gather that from their own website.
It may be an interesting commentary about any organization , particularly one flaunting its customer services, IF communication on simple and routine interventions require that level of attention.
The threshold of addressing what when and how is as different as what flavor of ice cream people select. If customer satisfaction is really a priority to them, Discover needs improvement in both its process and its actions.

An entry on a message board to share anyone's experiences just takes moments, and may help someone consider something important to their own needs, not to mention could even be read by the company. FWIW I've benefited from reading others views on a wide range of topics and matters / other may have too.

As to resolution, the Discover Card is safely tucked away as mentioned at #5 in the wallet behind other cards. The story is kind of an interesting one to tell; huge disconnect between what they say and what they do.

Well, I crafted a simple and factual letter to Discover. It was sent at the end of October. Here we are almost two weeks later and no response yet.

Discover got the facts wrong, Discover got the solution wrong and Discover's responsiveness is wrong. From a company that sings about it customer service this is very sad to see, particularly on such a simple item that is so easily handled. One would think that they have standards of some sort.

There appears to be a major disconnect between the image they portray and their real identity, at least as seen from this misposting incident.