Discover Bank faces lawsuit over alleged consumer deception
By Credit.com Staff
Minnesota attorney general Lori Swanson filed a suit against Discover and its affiliated payment processing company for aggressively marketing payment protection services that customers did not fully understand.
"The irony is that the credit card company markets these products as a way for consumers to protect themselves from fraudulent or unauthorized credit card charges and financial instability in the bad economy,” Swanson said.
In particular, the suit alleges Discover made sales calls appear to be courtesy calls, and in some cases did not even tell the recipient that their card would be charged for the services in which they were being enrolled, Swanson's office said.
Three other major lenders, Visa, MasterCard and American Express, were recently sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for the transaction fees they charged vendors.
