How to beat Discover Collections

Dena Standley | October 19, 2022

Legal Expert, Paralegal
Dena Standley, BA

Dena Standley is a seasoned paralegal with more than 20 years of experience in legal research and writing, having received a certification as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal from Southern Technical College.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: Are you being sued by Discover collections for a debt you owe? SoloSuit can help you take a stand and win in court.

Is Discover Collections giving you a headache with constant calls, voice messages, and never-ending emails? Did you know Discover has no legal authority to harass you? Regardless of the debt you owe and the time that has elapsed, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) protect you from harassment and unfair treatment by debt collectors.

Discover is a Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited business with an A+ accreditation but a meager customer star rating of 1.19. Discover is also a multi-location business; consumers across states have complained to BBB, FTC, CFPB, and attorney general offices about issues with Discover, such as:

Refusal to correct overcharged debt
Subtly adjusting payment due dates to ensure they collect late fees
Unfair increase in interest rates without actively informing the consumer
Making contract charges after the customer signs and uses the card

Knowing this information will build your confidence when communicating with Discover Collections and help you strategize to beat them. To help you further, we will discuss how debt collectors should not treat you and what you can do after Discover Collections contacts you.

How to stop Discover Collections harassment

Whether you recognize the debt Discover Collections claim you owe or not, the law requires them to follow FTC's guidelines. If Discover violates the law, you can report them on the FTC website, where consumers report scams, fraud, and bad business practices. When communicating with Discover Collections, they should not commit any of the following illegal practices.

Harassment

Debt collectors should not threaten to hurt you, call the police, or take legal action if they have not followed the correct procedure. They should not use obscene or profane language to intimidate or belittle you. It is also against the law for them to call you repeatedly or after the allowed calling period, which is 8 am–9 pm.

Falsehood

Discover should not exaggerate the amount you owe or force you to pay a debt that is not yours. You can address this concern by sending SoloSuit's Debt Validation Letter. This document will force Discover Collections to confirm if you are the correct account holder. Further, they have to prove the amount they claim you owe.

Unfairness

Debt collectors should not collect interest or fees on top of what you owe. For example, Cecil J Green on the complaints board writes that she borrowed money from a local bank to pay Discover credit card balance quoted on their statement. Discover later told her that she still had a balance for additional charges not included in the statement they sent.

When you receive unexplained extra charges, send a complaint to FTC or CFPB and request for a Debt Validation Letter so that you can have evidence to dispute the additional debt amount.

Sometimes debt collectors deposit a post-dated check early and cause you more financial troubles. This action goes against the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which hinders them from depositing a check that is more than five days post-dated.

Action to take after Discover Collections contacts you

Debt collectors can go after their money directly or through a third party. Once you confirm that you owe Discover Collections, you need to do the following to ensure you beat them by getting fair treatment and receiving a reasonable deal.

Ask for more information

When you receive a call from Discover Collections, ask the caller to give you their full names, address, company's professional licensing number, and active phone number. Discover headquarters contact information is:

Phone Numbers: (1-800-347-2683 (within US), 1-224-888-7777 (outside US)

Website: Homepage

Email: executiveoffices@discover.com

Address: PO Box 17019,

Wilmington, DE 19850-7019.

If a third party is involved, they should give you more information about when they were handed over your debt. You should also ask for more account details to verify their credibility.

Request a debt validation

You should not accept any information you are unsure of without confirming its validity. You should also avoid sharing any information about your debt when talking to debt collectors on the phone or via email. They should give you all the information regarding your debt account.

You can request proof that you owe the debt by sending a Debt Validation Letter. This letter asks the creditor to provide more information about the debt in question. This information includes the exact debt figures, creditor's information, and statement of notice showing you can dispute within 30 days.

If Discover cannot validate the debt, they are required to stop all collections efforts by law.

SoloSuit can help you draft a Debt Validation Letter in minutes.

Ask them to stop contacting you

FTC guidelines permit you to mail a letter to a debt collector requesting them to stop contacting you. Ensure you keep a copy of the letter. Also, use certified mail and pay for the return receipt. Once Discover Collections gets the letter, they can only contact you to tell what action they will take (i.e., filing a debt lawsuit). You can also direct them to communicate with your attorney instead of you.

Dispute the debt with the credit bureaus

You can send a dispute letter if you believe you do not owe the entire debt or the amount quoted is inaccurate. Request a credit report from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Ask them for detailed information about your credit history and your credit score.

Once you receive the report, thoroughly check and identify errors, complete a credit bureau dispute form highlighting the mistakes, print it, and mail it to them to perform their investigation.

They are required to give you feedback within 30–45 days. You can inform Discover Collections about these steps you have taken. They should refrain from collecting the debt until the investigation is over and the credit agency confirms or corrects the debt details.

What if Discover Collections is suing me?

Discover usually sue consumers if they ignore their attempts to collect, to intimidate them into paying, and if they believe they have a strong case. Either way, you have 14-30 days to respond to the lawsuit, depending on the state you live in. If you fail to respond, the courts will declare the debt valid, and Discover can garnish your wages.

Finding an attorney can be challenging and cost even more than the debt you owe. You can save time and money by representing yourself with the help of SoloSuit.

You can draft an Answer to your lawsuit in minutes with SoloSuit, for free! You can even have SoloSuit file the Answer for you and have an attorney review it before filing for a small fee.

Check out this flowchart that outlines all the different routes a debt lawsuit can take:

Debt Collection Lawsuit Flowchart

SoloSuit can help you file an Answer in all 50 states.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.

How it works: SoloSuit is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your answer. Upon completion, you can either print the completed forms and mail in the hard copies to the courts or you can pay SoloSuit to file it for you and to have an attorney review the document.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

Get Started

We have answers.
Join our community of over 40,000 people.

You can ask your questions on the SoloSuit forum and the community will help you out. Whether you need help now or are just looking for support, we're here for you.

Ask a Question

>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate

>>Read the NPR story on SoloSuit: A Student Solution To Give Utah Debtors A Fighting Chance