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Discover Card Complaint - Rip-off artists of the elderly - charges with 0 balance
charges with 0 balance - Complaint
Discover card set up automatic debit payments for my 83-year-old mother. She recently suffered a stroke and became disabled, and in an attempt to keep up on her bills, we sent a check for $100, not knowing that Discover card would automatically debit her account for the entire balance. I called and asked for the check to be returned but was told they would hold onto it for 6 months. This was not acceptable, so I stopped payment on the check. The next month, they charged us $25 for this. In addition, I have been trying to stop the wallet protection debited from her checking each month. I have written, called, threatened, and done everything I can think of. We received a letter stating that she was no longer "allowed" to be in the automatic debit program. Imagine my surprise when today, a fee for $27.99 was automatically debited from her checking, and that with a 0 balance! This company preys on the elderly and steals money. I am certain she will never see this $27.99, but I'm wondering how much they will be taking next month. People: do NOT authorize automatic debits from your checking account. DISCOVER CARD PEOPLE ARE THIEVES WHO WILL GET THEIR MONEY IN ANY WAY THEY CAN, WHETHER OR NOT IT'S ETHICAL OR HONEST.
Comments:
Posted by Slimjim on 2011-02-18:
The payment they debited from the bank can be either stopped or reversed, depending on how quickly action is taken. I would get proxy from your Mom and do so with her bank. In addition, be sure to put Discover as an unauthorized debtor so they can not touch the account in the future.
Posted by MotleyCrueGuy on 2011-03-15:
Slimjim - banks usually can't block a single debitor from an account - they typically have to block the whole account.
Is Discover in the wrong? Yes, but it's more of a paperwork/logistics reason than outright intent to steal anyone's money - automated payments are VERY difficult to stop because of the way they are processed.
You're much better off "pushing" payments (as in authorizing it yourself) than giving them access to "pull" payments automatically/*-
Is Discover in the wrong? Yes, but it's more of a paperwork/logistics reason than outright intent to steal anyone's money - automated payments are VERY difficult to stop because of the way they are processed.
You're much better off "pushing" payments (as in authorizing it yourself) than giving them access to "pull" payments automatically/*-
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