Comments on: Discover Bank Online Savings Account Review

By: Bert

Bert — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:30:23 +0000

I transferred my remaining balance out on the 27th but did not ask Discover to close the account. Without informing me or giving me a choice, Discover closed the account and kept my accrued interest for this month. All of this is in the Discover policy. Lesson: Read their Policies before opening an account or making any changes. Any other bank I’ve ever done business with has paid accrued interest when the account is closed. Glad the account is closed and that I canceled a Discover Credit Card over 10 years ago. This bank isn’t consumer friendly.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:37:28 +0000

$100,000 limit per rolling 30 days on transfers in and similar separate $100,000 limit on transfers out.
Account Agreement says:
14) FUND TRANSFERS
(e) External Transfers :
You can transfer funds between any of your Discover Bank accounts and eligible accounts you own at other financial institutions. For security reasons there may be limits on the dollar amount and the number of external transfers from your account. Separate registration is required. Additional terms and conditions apply, which will be provided to you at time of registration.We reserve the right to terminate, change, discontinue or add funds transfer functionality at any time, within our sole discretion.”

Since they can change their funds transfer policy, you may wish to have ability to do a wire transfer by phone as a backup, (normally wire transfers are done by mail or FAX). You can set up ability to initiate wire transfer by phone so you could do them that way should you ever need or want to :
“(b) (ii) Recurring Wires. Upon receipt of an original executed Wire Transfer Agreement you will be allowed to make wire transfer requests by phone. Funds will only be transferred to the account designated on the Wire Transfer Agreement.”

By: George

George — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:06:35 +0000

READ THE FINE PRINTS BEFORE PUTTING YOUR MONEY WITH DISCOVER BANK!
I made the mistake of not reading the fine prints before opening an account. When I tried to close the money market account last week, I found out if I close out the account even 1 day before the interest is posted for the previous month, I forfeit the whole months interest. I called customer relations at Discover’s executive office and the woman confirmed that that is Discover Bank’s policy!

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:21:45 +0000

Here’s something else to consider before deciding upon which online savings bank to go with if you don’t feel like counting every month how many times you deposited or withdrew from your account. If you go over the six transaction limit with Discover, Ally or the other high yielding savings account companies, you will automatically be charged a fee that will lower your return. Discover online bank will charge you $15 and Ally bank will charge you $10 for going over six transactions within the month. ING Direct is the only high yielding savings account that I know of that doesn’t charge you a fee for going over the governmental limit. I was told that they send you a friendly reminder. They are also pretty competitive with 1%, so why bother with other banks that are just waiting for you to go over the limit so they can fee you to death?

By: TBay

TBay — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 06:32:59 +0000

Heh, google key logging? Interesting you bring that up. The chance that your stuff is electronically stolen is minimal, unless you visit naughty websites frequently and click on any ad thats says $$$winbigmoney$$$

Only time I have had information stolen from me was when I did not use paypals secure transfer…and that was because I was an idiot and should have thought to do that. Encryption these days is strong.

By: Timothy Maxon

Timothy Maxon — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:53:59 +0000

I wish my experience in opening an IRA was a great one but it was not. I opened two accounts and never got the first email. I got mail sent to the wrong physical address with my full SS number displayed and account info too. The girl who took my info over the phone was programed to state the rate was guaranteed for so many days when the question I ask was did the account earn interest form the day I opened the account till the day it was funded if I got the money to them in the period designated. It is in fact not earning interest till the checks are processed though their Utah offices . I sent the checks into the bank a week ago and the account still has not been funded to this day. When I did not receive the email promised I called the bank and they said they would extend the guaranteed date which they did not. When you are looking for rates and are losing money while the transfer or check is in process or in the mail whats the point. There are other restriction and pitfalls too. Discover makes you open an online account and tells you that if for any reason someone accesses your account you are SOL unless you are aware it is being tapped. So much for putting the responsibility on the account holder shoulder 100%. In today’s world with Google key logging your every move and selling your info to the highest bidder it is not safe and you could lose all your funds unless you check your account daily. I will go brick and mortar from now on. Read the info carefully and make sure you know Delaware law as this is what the contract states period. Needless to say Delaware law is business friendly not consumer friendly. Hope you find this informative…. Flexo

By: jk

jk — Tue, 31 May 2011 02:38:41 +0000

AWFUL>>>>>I made a transfer request from Discover to another checking account and got a confirmation that said it would be there in 2 days. With that information I expected it delivered as promised in 2 days. I understand it could take longer but the confirmation after the transfer was filed said 2 days. The money was not there. They changed the date online and did not contact me. I would have made other arrangements had they not promised it to be delivered in 2 days. They were not at all helpful, the money was already unavailable and it was not where I needed it to be when I was told it would be there.

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:42:04 +0000

I recently opened a Discover Bank Online Savings Account after reading several reviews you had written about online savings accounts that are available. I’m happy I chose Discover. The Customer Service reps were knowledgeable and are available 24 hours a day. (I set up the account at 11:00pm on a Sunday and had no problem getting a hold of a rep to answer my questions.) I had quick access to my account online – by Tuesday, and I received the account information in the mail about a week and a half later. I think your review was very helpful and accurate. Thanks for the tips!

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:07:57 +0000

Gotcha.. thanks!!

By: Flexo

Flexo — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:43:12 +0000

No, electronic transfers to other banks are free. A wire transfer is a specific type of transfer usually for larger amounts over an older transaction system.

By: Marty

Marty — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:30:38 +0000

If you read the fees schedule, it says that Outgoing wire transfers are $20. Does that mean everytime I want to transfer money OUT of my account to another account (like a traditional brick and mortar bank), I have to pay $20? If so, that’s just plain nuts!

By: Tara

Tara — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:13:34 +0000

I have looked over their website several times and I still have some questions. 1) Is there a fee to withdraw money and transfer it to a checking account at a different bank? This would be the same bank account I use to transfer money into the savings account. 2) How long does it take for the money to transfer from the savings account to a different bank account?

By: navi

navi — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:32:09 +0000

They may have decent rates but it is a nightmare trying to withdraw funds from this bank. When I opened a CD with Discover I was assured that if I also opened an online savings account I would be able to withdraw all my funds on maturity via ACH transfer to an externally linked account. Now on maturity of my CD their story has changed . They are telling me I can only withdraw partial amounts via ACH transfer! Is this baiting unsuspecting customers into investing their money or what?

By: gotr31

gotr31 — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:56:22 +0000

I have never liked online bank accounts but this one sounds much better than any of my previous experiences. Thanks for the comprehensive review.

By: faithfueledbennetts

faithfueledbennetts — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:23:15 +0000

Wow, I have never even considered an online bank account. We are looking to open a savings for our daughter, so I will check this out! Sounds much easier than ‘shopping around’ from bank to bank personally & has better rates. Great!

By: Laure

Laure — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:27:58 +0000

It’s great to see Discover being so competitive on rates. The huge additional benefit is that I have found Discover to have superior customer service to all others. It’s such a huge difference, that I’d be loyal to them even if the rates were slightly inferior. Probably wouldn’t be willing to pay an annual fee for their credit card, though; thankfully there isn’t one!

By: Flexo

Flexo — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:59:17 +0000

Those rewards cards from Visa or MasterCard are much more expensive for retailers than non-rewards cards, too. And Discover Card never had the coverage that MC or Visa had, so they’re not in a strong position. But the savings account is free, and pays interest, so I can’t complain about that.

By: Clay Ivy

Clay Ivy — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 04:56:13 +0000

I used to be very interested in investing in shares of Discover. I thought they were undervalued, and they had the best cash rewards in the business. However, they have managed to screw it up. To be able to provide the cash rewards, Discover jacked the rate they were charging retailers. Because Discover is nowhere near the leader in market share, retailers are dropping Discover. Discover doesn’t have enough customers to cause any problem to the retailers dropping the company.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:14:19 +0000

what is your date of return for the savings account

how is interest compounded for the savings account?

Are there any fees for opening the savings account

Are there any restrictions ??

By: Jana

Jana — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:06:47 +0000

When I attempted to edit my autosaver’s plan, I was told to write a letter and to include the changes and a signature (that is unacceptable to me). Also, transferring money from discover to chase takes six days.

Just sayin’

By: Johndoe

Johndoe — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:09:00 +0000

There was some confusion with some transfers between Discover and Chase where I believe I was incorrectly charged fees.

Chase quickly refunded their fee without admitting any fault, making this customer happy with Chase.

Discover didn’t do the same.

By: GoodLife

GoodLife — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:24:27 +0000

How many days is the hold on the initail deposit and besides how many days is the hold on other deposit other than the initial funding money,

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:25:09 +0000

Yes, this is very disappointing to me as well… I’ve been sending “Add New Institution” requests ( http://bit.ly/94cq95 ) daily in hopes that they’ll get Direct Connect working, as neither Direct Connect nor Web Connect are functioning. VERY frustrating.

Quicken is coming full circle to being the crapware it was 10 years ago. Now with Microsoft Money being discontinued, I guess Intuit feels that customer service is no longer a priority, now that they are the only game in town…

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:20:20 +0000

I had the same trouble with Mint.com, and on March 31, 2010, the issue was resolved. You can now use Mint.com with Discover Bank, you just need to answer an extra “challenge question” when synching up with Mint.com

By: Jorge

Jorge — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:15:31 +0000

This article claims that Discover Bank works with mint.com, but that has been broken for months since they changed their web site. So, currently, no mint.com access.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:06:05 +0000

No Quicken Direct Connect support? My E*TRADE account has been moved to Discover. E*TRADE supported Direct Connect which made things easy. I’ll probably close this new Discover account rather than enter interest in manually.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:09:16 +0000

Agreed. I don’t normally chase rates, but double the interest rate is a big difference and I have enough in my savings account that it is probably worth it to do it once.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:47:56 +0000

Rate chasing is generally a waste of time. Most high-yield accounts are rather close, and today’s interest rate leader might not be tomorrow’s. But if a few minutes spent will earn you over $100 or more in interest a year, it could be worthwhile once or twice.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:05:05 +0000

I recently opened a Discover account as well because it is offering rates that are double my other bank. I’m not normally a rate chaser, but there are times when you need to consider the total value of moving your money, and double the rate is a biggie.