6 replies to this topic

[Jim Bailey]

Hi,

I need some advice from the experts on the board regarding a recent Balance Transfer on a Discover More application.
Saw a post about a Discover More 0% APR for 12 months No Transfer Fee offer on Fatwallet back in February. As I had
a balance on a Chase Slate Card I wanted to move, I applied for the card online and got accepted with a $5000 Credit
Limit. I moved a balance of $4000 over to this card. I did not print out a copy of the terms but I am positive they
were 0% APR for 12 months and No Transfer Fee since I followed a link out of the Fatwallet message.

I received the card from Discover and the first statement and was surprise to see a 3% Transfer Fee on the statement.
I sent a message to Discover via the account webpage indicating the mistake and got a reply back stating that they did
not make an error and in the future I should initiate Balance Transfers with a Customer Service Rep on the phone so there
is no confusion and any questions can be answered.

My question is what are my options? I could cancel the card (which I have not activated yet) but I prefer not to pay off
the balance immediately. I haven’t spoken yet to a CSR asI am afraid I will get hot and tell them to cancel everything.
I also have had another Discover Card since 1990 and it is one of my oldest credit references so I definitely don’t want to
cancel it as well. Again, I don’t have proof of the terms on the application but Discover More DID have an offer in February
and since my credit score is 800 so I can’t believe they wouldn’t approve me for it.

Any advice is appreciated.

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[hdporter]

Well, I start out by saying the obvious: It's a cardinal rule that when you respond to an offer online, you should always print out the offer as a guarantee that those terms are offered. But, hey, rules are made to be broken, right?

I did just that about 6 months ago, taking advantage of a 0% bt from BA, with proceeds deposited to checking. When billing showed an immediate interest charge, I flipped my lid and was caught short-handed because I hadn't printed out the terms of the offer I accepted.

Well, in my case, I was able to retrace my steps online and discovered (to my frustration) that I had inadvertently accepted the finance charge terms ... but on a basis that I felt justified in claiming had been presented in a misleading fashion. (Specifically, I initially looked at an offer for a 0% bt and there was a link on the side of the page asking "Want cash to your checking account?". I clicked on it and accepted an offer that I presumed was also similarly at 0%, but it turned out to have standard APR terms.)

In response to my complaint, BA refused to honor the 0% terms, but offered to refund all assessed charges (almost $1000), if I repaid the advance immediately. I was more than satisfied with that.

--------

Based on my experience, my suspicion is that if you can't demonstrate that you took advantage of a 0% bt that imposed no fees, that Discover will be unwilling to honor those terms. The best you might hope for is that they would agree to reverse the original balance transfer to your original issuer (or permit you to pay in full), and reverse the fee charged when the transaction is complete.

FWIW, it appears that sometime since the initial FW post, that Discover did discontinue the no fee offer (and clicking on the FW link takes you to a 3% fee offer). I won't argue that you didn't successfully reach the no fee offer ... just that without documentation, you don't have any ground to stand on.

[breeze]

Gotta agree with hd. Experience is an expensive school. I bet Discover is raking it in, and no one is reading what pops up in front of them, cause they are distracted by the offer.

[ICANHASMUNY?]

you could file a complaint with the CFPB - see if they could do anything.


they generally call the corporate offices, and don't deal with the CSR's

http://www.consumerf....gov/complaint/

[Jim Bailey]

you could file a complaint with the CFPB - see if they could do anything.


they generally call the corporate offices, and don't deal with the CSR's

http://www.consumerf....gov/complaint/

Thanks, this was GREAT Advice. I did file a complaint with CFPB and got a call from the Discover Executive Office of Customer Advocacy three days later. The Representative was very apologetic and refunded my Balance Transfer Fee immediately. I received a letter from them confirming this about five days later. Thanks again for saving me $128.00!

[hegemony]

cool! too bad subprime discover didn't do the right thing to start with but at least you were main somewhat whole.