Discover Card Credit Cards Consumer Reviews

FESTUS, MISSOURI -- I have been struggling with my finances for years due to some personal situations and multiple surgeries. My credit was hit hard when I was out of work for a couple months after my last surgery and I ran out of savings to keep making payments. It took me forever to find a credit card that would accept me, but once I found one that would I had to put down a $400 deposit. I ended up building my credit up enough to apply for Discover a few months later. I went with the Discover Cash Back Rewards card, had to put down a $200 deposit, and I received my card a week later.

Now let's get to the part that made me want to go out of my way to write this review. I have had this card for roughly 6 months. I've made every payment on time and I kept my credit usage way below 30% (I'd say on average 15%). I checked my balance today only to notice that they increased my credit line from $200 to $2000 dollars!!! I was in shock to say the least.

I've been working so hard to build my credit, pay off my medical debt, and finally have a little more financial security. Seeing that made me feel like all that work was worth it. And to top it off, shortly after seeing the increase I received an e-mail from them congratulating me on my responsible account management and the credit line increase, along with stating that they are sending back my original $200 deposit.

This is the best customer service I have ever had from any financial institution, especially when it comes to credit cards. If you are looking to build your credit, I highly recommend this company. I'm unsure of what credit score is needed, you may have to first get a secured card with a high deposit like I did. But after you build up your score and show you're capable of making payments on time with low credit usage, then this is the primary card you want to go for. 10/10 for customer service and restoring credit.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- I was fortunate. Approximately 3 years ago when my ex-wife was divorcing me, Discover Card at that time put a freeze on my account with no interest or late fees. As soon as the divorce was over I contacted Discover Card and told them I would like to start making payments. This was a little over 2 years ago. I also asked them if I could one day start using my card in case of an emergency. I was told by them that as I continued to keep up the payments I stood a good chance of reinstating my account.

THEY LIED! I just got an email stating they were closing my account. I have been faithful in paying them between $160.00 to $167.00 a month. And this is how they reward my loyalty. The system of banks and credit cards comes to economic slavery! I realize it is a choice to apply, but greed ends up being the master.

PENNSYLVANIA -- Absolute crap. I was told after my application was approved that I needed a "deposit" sent it for 500$ - this was AFTER I had the card and credit line approved. When I said no because that was not what I had applied for agreed to they closed the card and demanded payment for all charges immediately. Luckily I had that available and paid them right away but the customer 'service' so called was completely inept and gave me the hand-off treatment every single time I called. Gross mismanagement of customer trust. Never will ever have anything to do with them again!

CALIFORNIA -- I recently received three items in the mail from Discovery. 1 was a letter informing me that they were cancelling my Identity Theft Protection monitoring with no reasons other than to call the 800-number. The other two items I received in the mail were CREDIT REPORT ACTIVITY ALERTS for my Discover account. Both of these indicated a balance due of $22.00.

I called, inquired & was informed that they had to cancel my protection plan because my account was delinquent. I did my best to explain that I never received a bill and did not know I was late with a payment. I was informed that my bill was returned by the US POSTAL SERVICE so they had no way of contacting me. I reminded them that they mailed me three documents that I was holding in my hand through the mail so why didn't they resend the bill? Which they replied they can't since they needed to verify my address first. So of course I informed them that they sent me the three documents to my address that I have resided in for almost 20 years.

I attempted to explain that they are ruining my stellar credit history because they CLAIM that a bill was returned to them that couldn't be delivered??? Discover is ruining my credit history for an unpaid balance of $22.00, again when asked why didn't they simply send me another bill they said they couldn't because the original bill was returned! I have been steadily raising my credit score for the past 5 years and on my last report I was over 810.

NORTH CAROLINA -- I feel cheated on how my payments are applied. I have 3 different loans and they applied all my payments to the balance that will be expired on 08/2017 (over 1 year to expired) leaving me to pay off the entire balance of $9700 before August 4, 2016 (one month to expired). This NOT what I was told when I requested the loans.

They make everything possible for customers to pay interest and that is BS. I talked Janet, a Discover supervisor on July 11, 2016 with ID ** but she didn't want to do anything to fix the problem. She rather close my accounts before she do anything for a customer like me who is being with Discover for YEARS. What Discover is doing is unethical and should be changed. They should applied the an equal payment to all different loans or to the oldest one. After I pay all my balances I will close my personal and business accounts and I NEVER want to receive anything in my mail box from Discover!

BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT -- Paid off my card a few months after my promotional zero % period ended about 8500 bucks. TWO DAYS LATER they slashed my credit line to 500 bucks with some lame story about my having too much credit extended on other cards which is untrue. Credit history shows same amount over the past ten years. No notice mind you... In the run up to the holidays which is why I paid it off. So much for customer appreciation. I will never use this card again. Moral of the story: If they don't get to ** you with interest you'll be ** by them and Discover just how happy the relationship actually is.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- If you (for some retarded reason, i.e. you are just a contrary person, or you work for one of these financial institutions) do not agree with what I say about the devious practices of Discover Card below. Go read what this organizations says, about what are seemingly illegal practices, done in broad daylight... My name is ** and I want to start out by saying no matter what your personal opinion, Discover Financial Services is essentially a white collar terrorist organization, and they are committing acts of financial terrorism against millions of decent, responsible, hardworking, respectful, reasonable American citizens everyday in broad daylight.

These are much more than acts of financial terrorism though as they force people to lose their homes, to go without food, to not provide for their children, to postpone basic and/or urgent medical care, because Discover Financial Services has devised a system (and it is not very complicated to do what they do, and see how they do it) whereby they saddle a consumer with a debt that they cannot pay off. Some people will read this and respond as a minority of people have responded to my many other post all over the internet and say stuff like: "You should be more responsible", "You shouldn't have gotten the card", "You borrowed the money, just pay your bill".

I do not know if these people are just being contrary, playing devils advocate or actually work for financial institutions and are out there representing the other side. To people who say I should be responsible, I have paid every other bill I have ever had, in life, in full and on time, with NO ISSUES - so why not Discover? I have always paid my rent, my car insurance, my car payment, my utilities, my phone bill, my Internet bill, and all other bills on time and in full. Why not Discover, curious isn't it?

The answer is that I actually have paid my Discover Card bill. I have a credit limit of approximately $5,000 dollars, granted, I have borrowed this money from Discover over the 10 years I have held the card, but I have also paid the amount back in full at least 6 times (yes, $30,000 FOR AN INITIAL $5,000 LOAN, and they're not done yet). But that is not good enough for Discover Card - you see with Discover you don't simply borrow money and pay it back at a reasonable rate, this companies gets its claws in you and will not let go, until you have paid at least $50,000 for a $5,000 loan.

They'll get you with late fees, they'll raise your interest rate, and they'll get you with late fees by Moving your payment due date around (without notification), and then adjusting your minimum payment due (without notification). To the people who say, "You shouldn't have got the card", that would be like telling the 99% of Americans in debt to financial institutions, "You shouldn't have got a college loan, it's your fault", or "You shouldn't have got sick and got that medical debt" or "You shouldn't have got upside down in your mortgage", but No One got into debt on their own, or by playing by reasonable rules.

The 99% of Americans who have been victimized by financial institutions have been just that, victimized, terrorized, lied to, cheated, robbed, swindled. A crime, many crimes have been committed, in broad day light but nothing is done because it is white collar crime, and many, if not all of these companies have bought political protection, like people used to buy protection from the mafia. No, I got a Discover Card with an initial contract at a low interest rate, and like many consumers, Discover Card found a way to more than double my interest rate once I charged money on the card.

I was one of the unfortunate, innocent, naive people who was solicited by Discover Card as a college student. This practice (of soliciting to college students) was recently banned, unfortunately I cannot be grandfathered into the ban.

I was a college student, it was over 10 years ago, and like many college students I needed a little help making ends meet. I did not (AS SOME COLDHEARTED PEOPLE OUT THERE LIKE TO SAY) splurge on frivolous items, like a big screen TV, or a game system, or a ping-pong table. I, like many Americans saddled with credit card debt, used my card to simply buy food, to eat. I do not buy frivolous things. I am a very responsible consumer.

Actual Complaints: Discover Financial Services - offers consumers one thing and then when they have you out there holding one of their cards and using it, they alter your contract. And this is something THAT HAS TO BE ILLEGAL, and I have only seen this with Discover Card. With any other contract I have ever been a part of I not only had to read and agree to terms, but I had to sign and initial the contract and if changes were made they had to be read and initialed.

With Discover Financial Services they have created their own laws, they have decided that if they bury contract changes in a letter, they supposedly mailed to you (where is the proof I actually received the letter?) and mind you they will bombard you with letters, and NO ONE reads those letters and all the small print. But this is the important point, whether you got the letter or not, YOU AGREE TO CHANGES IN YOUR CONTRACT - BY SIMPLY CONTINUING TO USE THE CARD. So you don't sign anything, you don't acknowledge anything, you agree by buying gas, or some groceries at the store.

Apparently the Credit Card companies have invented their own contract law rules. Who needs lawyers? When Discover Financial Services penalizes you, it is never a 1 penalty situation. Let's say I am late with my phone, insurance, or electric bill - I pay the bill and a late fee (1 reasonable penalty for one transgression). With Discover, not so simple, they are in the "Double Jeopardy" business. You will be assessed a late fee (Penalty 1).

This late fee will be added to your balance, which will cause your monthly minimum payment to increase (Penalty 2) and then they will, of course, double your interest rate (Penalty 3 - if your rate was 13%, now it will be 26%) and Discover Card makes a killing, literally and figuratively, white collar terrorism, greed, how much is too much.

In fact I wonder how many people Discover has directly led to suicide because they put them in a debt that was impossible to escape, and the people saw no way out, which is exactly how Discover Financial Services, constructs their contracts. It's part of their business strategy - get a hardworking, respectful, responsible middle or lower class American in debt and keep them there at any cost, even when it means their daily practice of breaking (and apparently creating) the law.

Most recently Discover Financial Services decided to change (without notice) all of their customers payment due dates. Again I have to think this is inherently against the law, as Verizon doesn't randomly change my payment due date, my electric bill is always due on a certain day as is my car payment, my rent, my car insurance, my internet bill, etcetera... but Discover decided to change my payment due date. This led to me (as I am sure millions of other Americans) being late on my payment. (Oh Wow! LOOK, instant revenue for Discover Financial Services.)

As soon as I, and I assume millions of other Americans, went late on our payments via Discover's latest scheme, they generated 100's of millions of dollars in late fees. They hit me with late fees, and but, here is the genius of it, I have always paid well above the minimum monthly payment due. Say my minimum monthly payment due is $70 I was consistently paying $100 - unfortunately (Guess who else knew this?! Discover - THIS IS HOW WE ARE ALL PLAYING A RIGGED GAME!!!).

So I went late on my payment, because Discover decided to change my payment due date, without notifying me of the change, then they hit me with late fees (keep paying attention this gets amusing). They folded the late fees into my balance, which increased my monthly minimum payment due - and here is the kicker - my monthly minimum payment didn't go up $10, it didn't go up $20, it didn't even go up $30 (to $100 from $70) it went up $43, because Discover has my payment history right in front of them. And if it only went up $30, they wouldn't be able to catch me with late fees again.

When I went in to pay my monthly minimum payment and like most responsible consumers paid over the minimum ($70 and I was paying a $100), but it wasn't $70, and CONVENIENTLY it was OVER $100, because they KNEW I would pay $100, and they knew they DO NOT, and DID NOT adequately inform me or any consumer of these changes in payment due dates, raises in interest rates, raises in monthly minimum payments, etcetera. So they got me again... late fee, after late fee, because I was not adequately notified, and they raised my monthly minimum payment to just over what they knew I had a history of paying.

Another cute problem here, I continued to make a monthly payment, on time to Discover Card, of $100, having not been informed of the change in minimum payment. But it is not enough to make a payment to Discover, if you do not make the minimum payment, you are once again penalized for - Not making a payment, Ah! But I did make a payment, and shouldn't it even be my choice, as a consumer, to make a smaller payment, as long as I am paying on my bill every month?!

Finally, I have informed Discover Card that I am launching an all out campaign against them, via the BBB (which I am starting to think has been bought off by big business), the FTC, The American Civil Liberties (because I think the financial institutions inherently violate civil liberties, and generally a person's pursuit of liberty, freedom and happiness), my States Attorney General's office (in Georgia where I live and was the initial crime took place), and also with The States Attorney General's Office in Utah and Delaware where this company runs its criminal Enterprise.

(I am also going to talk to an attorney about bringing charges against Discover Financial Services under the RICO statute, as this is a criminal, racketeering, organization operating across state lines.) I am also out here filing complaints all over the internet at the many internet complaint boards, via Facebook and Twitter. I informed Discover of these intentions and now they are harassing me.

Specifically, now they will not correctly receive a payment from me. I just paid my October payment, over the monthly minimum, of course, on time, of course. REMEMBER I AM OTHERWISE A 100% RESPONSIBLE CONSUMER (except, apparently in my interactions with this illegal, fraudulent company) but Discover promptly sent me an e-mail on Monday saying I missed my payment again. When I contacted them, they said the e-mail was incorrect, and that I had made my payment in time and in full.

So I asked them to send me an apology and an e-mail containing the correction (correct info) and was informed that they could not send that via e-mail, they would have to send that via conventional mail. THAT'S RIGHT they will send you incorrect info through e-mail, but the correct info, can't do it. One more interesting/amusing thing - Discover Financial Services informs me that they do not have a complaint department?! What decent sized business doesn't have a complaint department?

I assume the Discover Card complaint department was so overwhelmed the company gave up trying to operate one, and they certainly do not care about customer complaints and this is one glaring sign of their disregard for customer service.

My Desired Outcome: I have said this to Discover Card numerous times. I simply want Discover to recognize that they have an extremely dissatisfied, angry, disgruntled, activist customer out here, that is much more of a liability to them than I could ever be an asset. And I want them to forgive my remaining balance (approximately $3,500) and send me a letter officially ending my relationship with their company.

Problem: I am extremely dissatisfied with this company. Solution: We both go our separate ways. That simple. It is like how every now and then a restaurant has to comp a meal. Well Discover Financial Services are going to have to comp my bill. I must reiterate that I am not trying to weasel out of paying my bill. The fact I have already paid my bill 10 times over. While Discover Financial Services tried to ignore this situation I will be out here fighting via every avenue imaginable until I find satisfaction and justice.

In closing Discover Financial Services is a White Collar Terrorist organization operating with impunity in the United States. History will look back on them as the criminals they are, and see the acts they have committed for the depravity, greed, ruthlessness, lawlessness, and as the treason that they are.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- When I was living in US, Discover had been consistently sending me advertisement about their cards. Although I was already happy with my current credit cards, I thought I could give Discover a try in July 2010. The result? I was really offended by the disturbing experience Discover representatives threw at me. Their incompetence forced me to sacrifice valuable time and other goals in a pressed schedule (so pressed that I had to travel and slept in a car outside to meet schedule), only to make a successful payment to Discover.

So here was how it happened. After I used Discover card for a while, I needed to move to Canada, so I used IP relay service to call Discover (as a hard hearing person without landline at home, IP relay was the only communication method for me with Discover) and required an address change. Suddenly the relay operator told me the call was terminated for a fraud reason. Discover then locked my account. As a consequence, I could not make a payment online. After my account was locked, I immediately contacted Discover security department to verify my identity.

I informed the Discover representative, **, that I couldn't hear sound so I couldn't pick up their call. ** insisted that their record showed they had spoken to the cardholder so they would still go ahead and call back. Well how could they have the record of calling me when I couldn't communicate through phone and never met them in person? Therefore it is either this Discover representative was a liar, or the representative was unprofessional and didn't know what she was talking about. I was still willing to give Discover another chance.

Several days later I successfully verified my identity with next representative, and confirmed that the request for foreign address change was indeed from the cardholder. After one week, I contacted them to change my address. I also kindly reminded them that I made the same request for address change last time. Guess what, they locked my account again, despite my effort to verify my identity a week ago. On next day before I departed from US, I told a Discover representative, **, about my situation. They refused to unlock my account (address change neither) and they wanted to call me back later.

I had to explain to ** again about my disability and I couldn't pick up phone call. She just said she couldn't continue the call and hanged up disrespectfully. At the time I was completely done with Discover. So the pattern I see here is if the cardholder requires a change to a foreign address, Discover locks the account and turns head away.

When they don't like answers from cardholder or feel their ego is invaded, they treat the cardholder like a thief in rude manner. This is especially true when they hear explanation that the cardholder can't receive call from Discover. And does Discover realize that if the cardholder is ACTUALLY moving to another address, by refusing to change address, they are putting the cardholder at the risk of exposing information to next renter at the previous address?

They also gave me a difficult time to communicate to them and make payment to the card, and I suffered from their rude attitude when I had a lot, lot of work to do at that time, and when I was very sick and coughing painfully. How their fraud department handles fraud is absolutely ridiculous and laughable.

My VISA and AmEx card companies politely changed my address without any problem, hence I concluded Discover service is trash and I will not do further business with them. No wonder VISA, MasterCard and AmEx are still the mainstream while Discover is still a nobody-Care Credit card company, along with their uncivil and backward representatives. DON'T USE DISCOVER.

NATIONWIDE -- Discover Card engages in unconscionable behavior and exploits their cardholders through predatory lending practices. My interest rate on my Discover Platinum card was 12.74% as of the April 19, 2005 statement and is now 27.99% as of my March 19, 2006 statement. My account has seen a monthly "just noticeable difference" interest rate increase of .25% to .75% per month from April 2005 to December 2005. My interest rate jumped almost 10% from 16.49% to 25.99% in the month of December 2005 and is currently at 27.49% as of the March 19, 2006 billing.

Since December 2005, Discover keeps increasing my interest rate each month in small steps of .25%-.50%. I encountered a problem with Chase Bank not utilizing my overdraft line of credit and thus my bank account overdrafted and the balance went negative as non-sufficient fees compounded on the account. It took me almost 4 weeks to resolve this matter with Chase. Chase eventually took responsibility for their error and reversed almost $1,000 in NSF fees on the account.

Because of Chase's error, my November 2005 Discover Card payment was returned to Discover Card towards the beginning of December as NSF and Discover Card increased my interest rate from 16.74% to 25.99%. Chase Bank provided a letter to me and the letter stated and acknowledged their error. I forwarded the letter to Discover Card and they will not reduce my interest rate because their justification is I have been over my credit limit within the last 12 months. I would not had been over my credit limit had Chase initially paid the November 2005 payment as they should have done.

Discover Card also compounded the damage and caused my account to go over the limit by assessing me late fees, over limit fees and return item fees along with continually increasing my interest rate. They also continued to approve charges while the account was over the assigned credit limit and now they are trying to exploit me with unconscionable interest rate increases and do not want to work with me and restore the account to the point it would have been had Chase paid my November 2005 payment and not returned it.

I have tried to speak with Discover Card and they do not wish to help me and continue to revert to the cardholder agreement which clearly states they can change the terms at any time. I have proven beyond reasonable doubt to Discover Card that Chase made a mistake and that Chase has taken full responsibility for the error. Discover will not budge in my favor and they continue to exploit me with exorbitant interest rates and interest rate increases, higher payments and over the limit fees.

Discover Card keeps reverting to the cardholder agreement as their justification for my interest rate hikes yet Discover Card and Chase bank have gotten me where I am today with this account. Chase accepted responsibility for their mistake. Discover Card will not make amends to my account because Discover would rather profit from my misfortune with Chase Bank and Discover also told me the ultimate responsibility falls on me to ensure payments are made on time. Discover will not accept Chase's letter but instead want to use this as an opportunity to profit in the short term and lose a customer in the long term.

The cardholder agreement is a cohesion contract and I am the weaker party because I do not have any bargaining power. Discover is using this to their advantage to engage in predatory and unconscionable lending practices and exploit their cardholders and rake up millions of dollars in additional income.

The cardholder agreement, because of the binder arbitration agreement which gives Discover Card free rein to exploit their cardholders and not be held accountable because the cardholder has no recourse and cannot revert to the court system to hold Discover Card accountable for their abuses, is a non-negotiable cohesion contract where the cardholder has no power or recourse and Discover Card has the power to amend it at anytime in their favor and as often as they want too. The cardholder is exploited and has to either accept the amendment or close the account if they do not wish to accept the new term(s).

Discover Card skims more money from the cardholders, in small amounts from the mass population, as a result of changing the cardholder agreement and sneaking in small monthly interest rate increases in hopes the cardholder does not notice them. I advise everyone to watch their interest rate monthly on their account and don't become victim to their practices. It is ironic how David Nelms, Chief Executive Officer, came to Discover Card in 2005 and all these predatory lending practices seem to be increasing and occurring since his assignment to Chief Executive Officer.

David's prior employment was with MBNA. MBNA had several class action lawsuits brought against them for predatory lending and fraud during David's tenure and now Discover Card is engaging in these practices. Coincidence here? It sure seems to me that the top leadership has brought his MBNA business tactics to Discover Card and implemented them to exploit their cardholders and generate millions in income. There was a case in California, as follows, that illustrates Discover Card's attempted use of the Arbitration Agreement, and the court upheld the agreement as unconscionable.

If you are a Discover Card account holder and have experienced more than one interest rate increase within the last year even though your credit has not changed and Discover Card has used predatory tactics with you and you would like to be a member and/or participate in a class action lawsuit, contact me via email. A class action lawsuit is also being considered to challenge the credit card industry's "BMA- Binding Mandatory Arbitration" clauses. Discover Card implemented the BMA back in 2001 and several other big credit card companies followed suit.

The Arbitration clause disallows class action lawsuits and court action by cardholders and further encourages Discover Card to use their power to commit fraud and engage in predatory lending and not be held accountable by the courts for their actions. My recommendations are: Get rid of your Discover Card account and do not do business with any credit card company which uses "BMA". The companies that utilize arbitration are the ones who set out to exploit the consumer and don't want to be held accountable by the courts for their unconscionable and predatory actions.

The following credit card companies have and use binding mandatory arbitration - Bank of America, Discover Card, JPMorgan Chase, Washington Mutual, Chevy Chase, MBNA, Wells Fargo, Household Financial, Beneficial, Orchard Bank and Providian so steer away from them because they will exploit you and take your money. Only do business with credit card companies who do not dictate terms and make you use arbitration or have binding mandatory arbitration. Credit Unions are your best defense against the credit card industry and arbitration clauses as most credit unions don't use arbitration because they are not out to steal people's money.

The best thing we all can do to the "credit card loan sharks" is take our credit business to a credit union and get one of their Visas. I checked out the credit unions in my area and the rates are 8%-15%, no late fees until 10 days after the payment due date, 9.9% fixed APR on balance transfers until they are paid off and no over limit fees. Most of the credit union websites I checked out had fixed rate credit cards so you know what your rate will be and don't have to worry about them pulling the "interest rate increase tricks" and escalating your interest rate because you are now "a greater risk" or just changing the rate at their leisure to generate more income.

IF you do fall prey to Discover Card or any other credit card company and they change your terms and/or exploit you, notify the following and file a complaint or share your story: ABC Television Network, NBC Television Network, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - FDIC (Regulatory and enforcement arm of the banking industry), Office of Comptroller of the Currency, CBS Television Network, Fox News, your State's Attorney General Office, your state senator(s), MSNBC Television, Cable News Network - CNN, Wall Street Journal, and Securities and Exchange Commission.

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- This year, Discover must have hired a non-English speaking contractor to program what they call a "voice enabled phone system". It has set back the ability to pay bills via phone at least 10 years. The recognition logic is as bad as any I've encountered anywhere, whether in banking, airlines, telecommunications, etc. Not only is it incredibly unable to recognize verbal input, but it is agonizingly patronizing and SLOW. It's unfortunate that what used to be a leading-edge credit card company has taken such a dramatic step back.