Discover card ads appearing with this page are funny, but not mine.
DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES & IDENTITY THEFT
Summary of the Cliffs notes version of this page:
Discover Card doesn't make any real effort to verify ID before handing out cards, then hides from and lies to the identity theft victims that result, absolutely refusing to fix the mess. Beware the slimy sackbags.
And if you've also been a victim of Discover Financial Services, please send me your story so that I can add it to this page. I'd also like to start forming a collection of take-no-prisoners tactics people can use when they find themselves in situations like this. And if you've worked as a DFS "dispute investigator," I couldn't resist reading about that, either.
I wish the ex would take the whole bottle. I'd even get her a glass of water without her having to ask.
My former girlfriend lived with me from 1998 until 2003. In late 2000 she started to use my identity to steal from me. It was fairly easy for her to do so,
Don't even trust your dog with your personal information, especially if you let him use the computer. Computers are the devil's work -- as you know if you've been glued to the screen watching the endless string of "online predator" porn shows Dateline NBC shovels out. Kinda have to wonder what kind of people never miss one of those shows, doncha? The guys come to the house, lie. Come to the house, lie. I get it: They come to the house and lie. That's broadcast TV's "newsmagazines," these days. But I digress.
since a lot of it could be done via the Internet, since she always was the one to collect the mail, and since I was a bit too trusting.
I didn't find out about it until 2003, when she left the state one step ahead of the law for getting credit cards in the name of one of my relatives, who wasn't as trusting.
In the end she took all my money and more, leaving me in deep debt and deep depression. It's been a lot of work, but I've mostly got my credit straightened out.
Trust is another matter, but that's my problem and not yours, so let's blast forward.
The Discover Card which she opened in 2000 in my name is the main exception, and the company is acting despicably about it. I did what I was supposed to do: send a letter containing an explanation, a copy of the police report, an affidavit of fraud, and a copy of my driver's license, to the address on my credit report. In the letter I also asked for the account documents that are due me by law.
By law, creditors are supposed to send you related documents if you are the victim of identity theft and ask for them in writing. Good luck with that, because in the end Dr. Phil will just end up asking, "So how's that been working for you?"
No response. I sent another letter. No response again. After much more calling around than one would expect to have to do, I finally got two addresses to try, one of which, eventually, responded. (Discover Financial Services is clearly a company in hiding from identity theft victims.
The letters they send have no phone number at which they can be contacted, and either have no signature at all or just a last name and first initial, with other initials alongside.
Good luck trying to find your Discover Financial Services "dispute investigator" to have a talk. Better practice by finding Osama first.
No building address either, of course, and when I would locate the building by other means and call the associated number, the person picking up would just say "security"
and refuse to put the call through.) They said they had "investigated" the situation, found me responsible for the debt, and had sold the account to another company.
Their mantra is that it's not their problem and to bother the other company instead.
When Discover Financial Services people say they have "investigated" your account, or "verified" it, they mean it in the same way that companies mean "Your call is very important to us."
It is simply impossible for them to have done a credible investigation, because I had never in my life had any contact at all with them. None. I have demanded that they either provide some proof that I am responsible or send me a letter agreeing that the debt isn't mine and then clear up things with the credit reporting agencies (CRAs): Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. They refuse to do either, and they refuse to provide me with any
What is this supposed to be -- a dog in an iron lung, or in a rocket ship on wheels, or what?
of the documents I seek, such as the initial application or a list of the charges on the card. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives me the legal right to this.
They lie about it, as well: Dispute Investigator T. Fouch (I tricked the phone answerer into confirming that her full name is Tracey Fouch, working in P.O. Box 8003, Hilliard, OH 43026-8003) wrote "the account opened in 2000 and the application is no longer available." I call that the "Discover's dog ate it" excuse, because I am quite certain there never was an application, as the other accounts the thief opened were opened via computer, using basic information she knew about me.
If you believe the lies Discover Financial Services "dispute investigators" tell you, you probably believe Cheney was not TRYING to shoot that guy in the face.
Also, what company would just throw an application out -- not even keeping an electronic record in these days of super-cheap computer memory -- when the account is claimed to still be collectable and the application would be the only proof of who was responsible for it? That lie is simply insulting. Also insulting are the two teeny bits of "documentation" she did send: (1) A copy of the cardmember agreement, which of course has zero relevance to someone who never entered into the agreement. (2) Two copies of small checks sent to their bank early on.
"Sir, we suspect that you may have made a payment on your roommate's debt. Therefore the debt is now yours."
True, they came from my checking account. But they contained no signatures and were generated automatically from online, by someone with online access to the account, i.e., the ex-girlfriend. I never used the online features, even once, and didn't know they existed. Besides, even if I HAD written the checks, so what?? Couples -- especially couples living together -- frequently make payments for each other when asked, without an interrogation taking place. (She probably even had a Discover Card at the time -- I know she used to, because she used to talk about how they had no standards about whom they'd give credit to -- so it wouldn't have seemed strange had she asked me to make out a check for her.) It's ridiculous to claim that making a couple of payments for someone means the debt changes hands.
What is really funny (or rather would be if it weren't happening to me) is that lying craphound Dispute Investigator A. Scott, who works inside P.O. Box 3025 New Albany, OH 43054-3025 (you know, it
"You're looking for A. Scott? There may or may not be an A. Scott, who may or may not work under my coat all day, but I've never seen him/her."
seems strange to me that database research shows that the Discover Financial Services company inside that box employs only 1-4 people [which I'm guessing means just A. Scott, working at home in his underwear], and that the number 614-777-7000 -- the same number as for Tracey Fouch's PO Box, located on the opposite side of Columbus -- has been recently disconnected, and that the larger New Albany office tells me that out of 2500 or so people there are 8 or 9 "A. Scotts," none of them working in New Albany), refers to those two bits of nonsense "documentation" this way: "Detail was sent to you under separate cover to substantiate the validity of the account and balance." To write that takes a lot of ... well, let's just say that I'm going to be looking out for some clip art of elephant balls to insert here. [Note to self: insert elephant_balls.gif here].
So that's where things stand.
They refuse to do a serious investigation (e.g., talk to the police who took the report, try to talk to the thieving ex (who, by the way, has a criminal record, while my record is as clean as bleached bleach,
without as much as a parking ticket in my life), check out some of the charges -- surely
This could be a good test of racial attitudes: "If you see this gang walking toward you in a rundown dark alley at night, do you (a) run the other way, or (b) suddenly feel seriously underdressed?"
somewhere in the $14k they say I owe is a charge that has an associated signature). And they refuse to give me the information I have the right to, such as a statement of charges on an account they claim I'm responsible for, charges that I've never once seen,
so that I can do a proper investigation on my own. I've even offered to take a polygraph test if they pay for it.
You gotta wonder why Microsoft decided to include clip art of a guy getting electrocuted on a power line. I guess a lot of customers must have been asking for that.
They simply don't want to do the right thing. I don't know why. For one thing, it's, well,
the right thing to do.
I know, I know, corporations don't usually think in terms of the right thing. But I think I've made it crystal clear that I won't be giving anyone a penny over this no matter what, and I'm going after them legally (one-on-one, not through attorney's general and such, like I'm doing now) if I figure out how. Credigy, the collection agency that ended up with the account, eventually blinked after I escalated far enough, so no one's currently trying to collect the debt. (BTW, I think it's interesting that, if you google them, Credigy seems to be among the scummiest out there -- that makes two knuckle-suckers who've worked on one account. Coincidence? I think not. BTW, my thanks to the guy with the web page that had all the info and tips about how they operate. I hope to do the same with Discover.) And there's only one (possibly two) CRA's reporting the item now. So it's almost killed, but won't quite die, like the monster at the end of a summer drive-in movie. Is it a tax thing? Would they have to give money to the collection agency if they admit the debt's not valid? They don't want a rep for showing weakness by admitting they screwed up, thereby somehow inviting attacks by Eastern European credit card thieves? Surely it's not plain orneriness?!?! Whatever. It's either going to be them or me, and I'm not backing down. Hear that, David Nelms CEO, David Nelms Chief Executive Officer Discover Financial Services, Dave Nelms?
Discover Financial Service's reputation, after I'm through with them. Hm, that sounds a little too cocky, doesn't it? There's this movie, Free Enterprise, in which William Shatner, playing himself, admits all the reasons why a play he wants to produce simply cannot possibly work, then says, "But I think I can do it!" Well, I think I can do it!
Although I may have to take this page to a host with a really bulletproof skin if Discover Financial Services puts pressure on Tripod, whichever way it falls in the end I'm going to report it here. Even if they cave like the naked mole rats they are and offer to pay me a lot of money to shut up. Well, maybe in that case... no, no, got to be strong.
In the last letter they wrote: "Unless you provide new documentation to substantiate your claim, the account and balance will remain valid."
"You never made any agreement with us, therefore you owe us money. What, your puny brain STILL cannot comprehend the concept? Perhaps this frog in a spacesuit can dumb it down enough for you."
Now, I'm no legal scholar, but doesn't the law work the other way - don't they, not I, have to provide documentation of their claim, or else INvalidate the account and balance? Surely I can't legally go up to someone on the street, claim they owe me money, and demand that they either prove they don't or pay up.
You know, a whole lot of identity theft could be prevented if people simply had to go to a bank, show photo ID, and sign their name before getting a credit card. That'll happen the day they start growing clocks on wind farms.
Finally, if anyone knows the home or cell number of David Nelms, Discover Financial service's CEO based in Deerfield, IL, please pass it on to me. I'd love to have a chat with the gentleman.
I guess what they're trying to say with the clock plants is that you can make extra time for yourself if you nurture your inner... oh, crap, I give up.
(If you wouldn't mind linking to this page, I'd be eternally grateful.)