Complaint Review: Discover Card - Nationwide
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- Author Confirmed
- Discover Card discovercard.com Nationwide U.S.A.
- Phone: 800-347-2683
- Web:
- Category: Credit Card Processing (ACH) Companies
Discover Card low interest loan ripoff Internet
*UPDATE EX-employee responds: Hopefully this will help
*Consumer Suggestion: Be glad it wasn't a cash advance.
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I have been a Discover Card holder for several months. A couple of months ago they sent me an offer with checks where I could get write myself a check at 1.9% interest for 6 months. I did this and they quickly "hit me" with excessive fees, penalties, and a 10 fold interest rate increase. I want to accuse them of deceptive advertising.
This appears to be a cash advance or loan at 1.9%. The 1.9% is in the largest type on the page. The fine print is where the deception lies. If this was an "honest" offer, why do they put the negative penalties in fine print??? First, in fine print, it says that this will be treated as a balance transfer, not a cash advance. The fact that they send you checks to fill out implies that this is not a balance transfer. I didn't want a
balance transfer, but wanted a low interest loan, which is what they made this appear to be. Now they can charge a balance transfer fee... and they did... $50. Their brochure doesn't imply this would happen by its appearance,; it is in the fine print. Why do we need a fee for this? Why should it not be a cash advance at 1.9%? Because they want to rip me off with the
transfer fee, that's why.
Secondly, I paid a minimum of $65 a week late, so they raised the interest rate from 1.9% to 18.74%: nearly a 10X increase. It is implied to me that this is for the life of the "loan", even though I have paid hundreds off on the balance since then. This is also a "fine print" ripoff: if you are a little late with any payment, another unnecessary ripoff is applied (to their benefit).
I now feel that they are called Discover because you will soon discover that they are extremely eager to apply exorbinate and unnecessary fees and penalties to your account by trickery: deceptive advertising and misleading offers purposely designed with "traps" for you to fall into. If they are honest, why all the fine print? Why not have the fees and penalties printed as large as the 1.9% interest rate? Why not call it in large print a balance transfer? I think you can guess the answer.
James
Warwick, Rhode Island
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 11/28/2005 10:33 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/discover-card/nationwide/discover-card-low-interest-loan-ripoff-internet-166047. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#2 UPDATE EX-employee responds
Hopefully this will help
AUTHOR: Brett - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, January 15, 2006
There is a lot to reply to what you have said, so I will try my best to answer everything.
1. The other person with a rebuttal or whatnot was correct: be glad it wasn't in fact a cash advance. Unfortunately many folks cannot tell the difference between cash advance and balance transfer checks, whether from Discover or another credit card company. If you cannot tell call them and they can tell you. Make sure to get the name, location and extension of the person you spoke with. Call back the next day or later on and get a confirmation from a supervisor. Also get their information. When I say location, they can tell you which state they are in (OH, DE, AZ or UT).
2. Most banks will charge you a transaction fee for using checks. This is simply a reality of life. It is stated in the fine print... you should never accept money without reading the fine print. I know if I ever get checks like those I scour for info on transfer fees.
3. Your rate was not increased. You simply lost your promotional rate of 1.9%. The 18.74% was your regular purchase rate. Anytime your account goes pastdue once or over the limit twice you automatically lose the special rates and everything goes to the regular rate. Go late or overlimit again and it will go to the default rate, in your case probably 24.99% or higher.
Let me know if these explanations help with this circumstance, or at the very least help other consumers or yourself in the future.
#1 Consumer Suggestion
Be glad it wasn't a cash advance.
AUTHOR: Mike - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Monday, November 28, 2005
Read the fine print first, it is more important than the big print. Every credit card company does the same thing. There is typically a fee for cash advances too, and it is always higher than the balance transfer fee. Writing a balance transfer check to yourself is functionally the same as a cash advance.
Every credit card company will also cancel a promotional APR if you pay late. Some give more grace time than others but that is always a standard feature of any promotion. Some companies will take it right to 30% APR for being one day late.
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