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Discover Bank

Article Submitted by: BestCash Admin
Savings - Checking - CDs


The place to post comments or questions about Discover Bank.

 

Submitted: Sep 11, 2007    Views: 9808    Comments: 43    Likes: 6   


DiscoverBankDiscover Bank is the banking arm of Discover Financial Services, which also owns the Discover Card. The bank offers CD and Money Market accounts at competitive rates.

Discover not only offers competitive rates, but the bank is considered financially sound, having received a 4 Star Soundness score in the September 2008 update from Bauer Financial.


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Comments Received:

James. H
(Unregistered)

This rate only applies until mid august. After that, this rate will drop back down to 3.05% or lower.

Posted: Jul 23, 2008

James, I'm not sure which rate you are referring to. As far as we can tell, there is no date on when the rates expire. Discover can, like any bank, lower the rate it is offering at any time.

Posted: Aug 14, 2008

James H.
(Unregistered)

Hello Admin,

theres something wrong with the link on the following page----->
http://www.bestcashcow.com/cash_equivalents/savings.html.

when you click on HSBC's "post/read reviews for this bank", it takes you to discover bank page.

Posted: Aug 25, 2008

Mary Crowell
(Unregistered)

Discover Bank's online banking system is deplorable.
24 to 48 hours means 6 days. We have not been able to get satisfaction from anyone by telephone and therefore are now struggling to close the account we opened in early August. We were trying to deposit additional funds and found it could not be done!

Posted: Aug 29, 2008

Seth
(Unregistered)

I had no problem opening my account. My account was opened within 2 business days. Mary, did you try opening it over the weekend? Maybe that was the problem?

Posted: Sep 22, 2008

B Libza
(Unregistered)

I agree with Mary that their on-line banking is deplorable. I do not get accurate account information on my Money Market account history. My two last deposits do not show up on my on-line statement as well as the last interest payment. I have called them at least 4 times on this problem, and while they admit there is a problem, they have not been able to fix it. I am disappointed that a company like Discover can't even run an on-line bank with any competence.

Posted: Nov 25, 2008

Gerrit Erasmus
(Unregistered)

Stay away from this bank!

I opened an account with a large bank transfer over two weeks ago, but we still don't have access to the money. Several tech support people promised to look into it. When I didn't hear from them and followed up, they kept insisting, "The problem is resolved." Maybe their problem is resolved, but not mine.

I finally got hold of a CSR who acknowledged that the money was unavailable, but couldn't explain it. A half-hour later, she came back with the answer: They routinely hold deposits for 10 business days after the money clears.

If that's not enough, they routinely sell customer information to unaffiliated marketers. To opt-out, you have to first read the fine print in the privacy policy, then call the provided number.

Furthermore, they won't let you withdraw more than $35K in a month - also hidden in the fine print - and they charge you $20 if you close the account within 90 days.

And, yes, the online banking system is terrible, regularly throwing esoteric error messages only meaningful to developers.

You've been warned.

Posted: Jan 24, 2009

Paul D
(Unregistered)

I have had nothing but errors with Discover Bank. I processed an online CD with them, but they debited by bank twice, which caused an overdraft on my part. The balances never show online, the details of the account are not available online. My Roth IRA CD now shows a zero balance online, and they can't find the money I deposited with confirmations from my WaMu checking account. 48 hours to find out what happened? 3 different CSR's, no answers... the rates are not worth the incompetency.

You've been warned, again.

Posted: Mar 2, 2009

Lara
(Unregistered)

Just opened a CD. No problems - yet. Will let you know.

Posted: Mar 11, 2009

Jimbo
(Unregistered)

My experience with Discover Bank. CD matured 7/15/09, requested in writing on July 8, that account be closed. On 7/15 called and was told didn't receive request, need to fax in request via long distance number. On 7/15 called back different rep, Jennifer, and was told no letter needed will close account. On 7/17, Ryan, said not closed yet... should be by Monday. On 7/20, Brandon, account still open, having tech problems, but will handle right away. On 7/21, Jessica, will confirm with management and get account closed. On 7/22, Charlene, we're running a little behind, check should be issued by Monday 7/27. Again on 7/22 talked to manager, Heather, having computer problems, took information, has to make some calls and call me back. It's only 26K, but WTF? I would like the money. Missed out on a local CU 3% deal valid only 7/17-7/23. Figured I'd have a check before then from Discover Bank... but still waiting. 2 hours now and 'Heather' hasn't called me back.

Posted: Jul 22, 2009

Jimbo
(Unregistered)

Follow up on above. Took several more calls involving 2 managers. Account closed and check issued on July 24. Overnighted UPS and received on Monday July 27 WITHOUT any additional interest for them taking 10 days to close the account and issue a check... and 3 more days to get it to me.

Posted: Jul 28, 2009

Sambo
(Unregistered)

I have been trying to open an on line CD for two days. No luck, so I went on line to see if there were any comments about this. Thank G I did and saw all the negative comments. Discovers sorry on line sight saved me all the problems you guys have been through. Thanks

Posted: Aug 7, 2009

Dougster
(Unregistered)

I'm pondering a Discover Online Savings account and would like to know how well, or not well, that kind of account has worked for anyone.

Posted: Aug 8, 2009

Kevin
(Unregistered)

Opened an online savings account about 3 weeks ago, maybe more. You'd think I would know the exact date, but I never got an e-mail confirmation when I opened it, so who knows.

After two weeks of having no clue if I had an account or not (the money hadn't been transferred from my checking account yet), I got a welcome package in the mail, that had my account number. So I created an online account (actually got e-mails for doing that!), but I am STILL unable to log in to it ("service not available" error).

Last week I got another letter from them, that had my account balance, showing as the amount that should have been transferred in. Trouble is, THE MONEY NEVER CAME OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCOUNT. And I still cannot log in to the online service.

So in short, this is a terrible experience, this company has no clue how to operate an online bank, and after a month I have no idea if I have an account or not. I'm sure if I call them I'll have even more horror stories, which I'm doing today.

Posted: Aug 13, 2009

Lance
(Unregistered)

I haven't had any trouble. Opened a CD online. Received confirmation and was able to transfer funds from my main checking account.

Posted: Aug 17, 2009

Quizzer
(Unregistered)

Whats the best option to move from Ally?
-Discover
-AmEx
-Cap1

Thanks

Posted: Aug 17, 2009

Blrowe
(Unregistered)

I opened an account [online savings] on the 14th with an initial ACH from my real savings account of $500 just to see if they are competant..so far I am waiting for it to be opened will update tho nothings been xfered so far or "opened" as far as "verfied" as far as I know

Posted: Aug 19, 2009

WW
(Unregistered)

Wished I had read all of the comments above before I opened my online savings account 10 minutes ago. I guess I'll just keep the initial $500 transfer in there for 90 days and see what happens. Will update my experience with Discover in the coming weeks. (I have Capital One and Wilmington Trust Direct accounts but their rates are getting lower and lower...)

Posted: Aug 19, 2009

Guest
(Unregistered)

Blrowe and WW,

I'm waiting to know your experiences with Discover online savings.

Thanks

Posted: Aug 19, 2009

mopsley
(Unregistered)

Thanks to everyone for all that detailed info.

Was just about to open an acc't at Discover but after reading comments will definitely go to another bank.

Mopsley

Posted: Aug 22, 2009

Quizzer
(Unregistered)

To Mopsley:

Which bank are you going to?

Thanks

Posted: Aug 24, 2009

WW
(Unregistered)

Follow-up to my 8/19/09 comment above: So I opened my account on 8/19/09 with an initial EFT transfer of $500 from my bank. I saw my bank account being debited the very next day followed by a slew of e-mails (presumbaly the login info/password etc. => haven't opened the e-mails yet.. my bad). I then received a welcome letter/confirmation of my account opening on or about 8/22/09. All in all, had it not been for my laziness to open the e-mails, the registration process seems to have gone ok.

Posted: Sep 1, 2009

Kevin
(Unregistered)

follow-up to 8/13 comments above...

After waiting a month with no ability to login to my account, no initial deposit taken from my checking account, and no letter/call from Discover letting me know of any problem, I called them.

Tech support told me they could fix it, and it would take 24 hours. The next day, it worked! Then it didn't! It was fixed for a few hours and then broke again. Two days later they call me and tell me I have to call general account support.

I call them and find out my initial deposit had been returned. Maybe I wrote the routing/acct number wrong, maybe they messed it up, who knows. But either way, it a deposit is returned they should probably LET ME KNOW.

My money was finally taken from checking today so it looks like I'm almost in the clear. Still can't login to my account, but I expect after the deposit clears it will all be fine.

Posted: Sep 1, 2009

JB
(Unregistered)

I opened an online saving account recently, took a few days to get access to the account, but I can now login and see my account. I initially opened it with $500. It shows the $500 in my online savings account, but it still hasn't came out of my funding accout (checking). Never seen a bank that gives credit before it's debited! I'm just trying to figure out how to be able to transfer money into and out of the account through my other bank. It said free transfers into and out of the account when I signed up, just hard to find out where to do that. Theres a banking HQ which looks like that could be it, but it needs to be setup.

Does anyone know how to transfer money into and out of the online savings? Also there should be no fees associated with either, correct??

Thanks in advance!

Posted: Sep 9, 2009

Gper
(Unregistered)

JB,
I use Discover online savings. In order to transfer money between accounts at different banks you have to first set up Money HQ. Basically you give them your external account # and routing number and Discover will probably make one or two small deposits in to your account, which you will need to verify with them once your receive them. I'm not sure why they have Money HQ instead of an integrated transfer system, but I think it may be because Money HQ might be run by some third party.

I haven't had such a difficult problem with discover bank. They did hold my initial deposit for 10 days but it still eventually cleared. I received an accurate statement in the mail when I opened the account. My only complaint is that the latest interest payment does not show up in my recent activity online. The total balance of my account went up (as if the correct interest payment was there) but there is no record of the actual payment. Anybody else have this problem?
I do think Discover Bank has a poorly functional website, especially for an online bank. I only have my money there for the good interest rates.

A more competent online bank with a well put together interface, although with much lower interest rates, is Citibank. The Ultimate Savings Account is ok over there, but the interest rates are lower and seem to be getting even lower every month or so.

Posted: Sep 9, 2009

J
(Unregistered)

ING is only 1.4% right now, but i stay with them precisely because of their excellent website and customer service. 4 years and no problems. I guess if I had a ton of cash in there the extra fraction of a percent might be worth it, but for my needs I'll trade reliability and website aesthetics for a few extra bucks.

Posted: Sep 9, 2009

StupidOne
(Unregistered)

ING Direct is now 1.3%.

Posted: Sep 9, 2009

Rob
(Unregistered)

I opened an account a few months ago. I haven't had any real problems but agree with other posts that the online experience is poor. How to do the additional transfers not as simple as you would expect, it should be just as easy as the initial transfer. My main complaints are with the money HQ transfers. It takes entirely too long to transfer money, averaging about a week in most cases. I also did not like having to supply my banks online login information, why couldn't they just use router and checking account information and let you confirm your identity once they transfered small amounts like other banks do? To get past that annoyance I simply temporarily changed my password to my bank so that it could verify my identity and then changed it back after completing the setup. I am probably going to leave the money I have in there now but plan on using another online banks for future deposits.

Posted: Sep 11, 2009

JB
(Unregistered)

I think i'll skip the money HQ thing. I can transfer money in electronically through my other bank and now that i verified it with the small deposits into the discover online savings i should be able to pull it back out when i want.

It's funny, i opened my account on the 3rd of Sept. and the opening deposit shows being deposited in my discover online savings account on the 4th of Sept., however the money still hasn't come out of my funding account at my other bank! lol. It's been 8 days! Guess i'm earning double interest on the same money!!

Posted: Sep 11, 2009

Robert
(Unregistered)

Avoid Discover Bank. Their website is poorly organized and poorly managed. Transferring money is too difficult and you don't know what hole it goes down for far too long. Who is making money on your money while you have no access, probably the same people running the MoneyHQ at Discover. THis is no way to run an online bank. Plus a $20 dollar fee if you close the account within 90 days after opening, this is buried in agreement. DollarSavingsDirect.com, EmigrantDirect.com are easy to use, and reliable. E*trade is also reliable but their interest rates are trending down.

Posted: Sep 11, 2009

JB
(Unregistered)

i agree with you robert. i absolutely LOVE etrade, i just wish there rates weren't so stinking low these days. they use to have one of the highest rates around!

Posted: Sep 14, 2009

Jim
(Unregistered)

I just opened 2 accounts at Discover Bank. One for myself and one for my father. It was a bumpy start getting the accounts set up. I had to make a half dozen calls to customer service. Their reps are not the most knowledgable. They also would not let you set up beneficiaries online as most other banks do. This was a hassel, had to call them several times to get it right, then wait for paperwork. With the set up problems behind me, all seems to be going smoothly now. If you have the patience to get through the initial headaches, it's worth the effort. They have one of the better rates out there. The money HQ is a great feature. It not only lets you transfer money between banks but also allows you to send money to anyone anywhere electronically for free.

Posted: Sep 17, 2009

JC in NJ
(Unregistered)

Wow, is all I can say when it comes to DiscoverBank, A Bank that is totally online. The website is horrible. I mean it's not that I don't understand how to use it. I read very carefully what needs to be done to transfer money and to set up the account itself. However, you simply have to end up waiting or e-mails with codes never arrive. The design of this site is poor and on top of it, it simply is broken. I'm looking into getting my money out of this company ASAP and I would advise you to think twice before putting money into a company that has these many visual problems. Think about all the problems you don't know of or can't see on the surface.

Posted: Sep 28, 2009

LP
(Unregistered)

I have been a long-time satisfied Discover Credit Card user. Recently my monthly statement included an advertisement for the Discover Bank Savings offering 2% APY. Trusting the Discover Card name, I went online & the site looked familiar & I was able to easily open the savings account. However, after that things have gotten a little strange. I had to re-register to see my account online & now the site (which no longer looks like the familiar Discover CC site) is not user friendly. It made me wonder if I had accidentally gotten on to a fake site. The weirdest thing is that it does not allow you to make additional deposits unless you register for the Money HG service & wait for an email with a code to activate it. I have NEVER had a savings account before where it was not simple to add additional money.
Also, beware there is a $20 charge if you close the savings account before 3 months.
Although Discover Bank shows that my funds have been received & an account is open, the $ has yet to be withdrawn from my Ing Direct account which seems strange. By the way, I'd like to mention that online banking with Ing Direct has been a wonderful experience. I only opened this Discover Bank savings account in search of a higher rate. Now I'm wishing I had been content with Ing.

Posted: Oct 1, 2009

LP
(Unregistered)

Just an update: I received confirmation from Ing Direct that the funds had been transferred to Discover Savings.

Pros:
Discover Bank Savings' rate of 2% for a savings account is one of the best rates & the $ is FDIC insured.

Con:
I wish their website & processes were more user friendly. I do not want to have to register & agree to the fine print of Money HG just to be able to transfer money. If they were able to accept my original deposit w/o Money HG, why am I being required to jump through hoops & agree to another service AFTER I have established my account?

Posted: Oct 2, 2009

Sue
(Unregistered)

My experience after opening a savings account a few weeks ago has convinced me to stick with the account I have at DollarSavingsDirect. Discover's interest rate has dropped to 1.85%, DollarSavings is 1.70%. Not enough of a difference to make it worth the hassle of having to go through Discover's 'Money HQ' feature just to transfer funds. DollarSavings is much easier to deal with, as is IngDirect.

Posted: Oct 7, 2009

Dan
(Unregistered)

I can vouch for the terrible user experience. It took jumping
through hoops to get the transfer accounts set up and the damn site locks you on the first login try - service not available, try 20 mins later, half an hour later I still can't in.
I understand locking me out after 3 or more tries due to
typing errors but to be locked out after the first try! They can't seem to get my balances right. What I see online doesn't match my paper statement! My balance doesn't
match the balance info in account details! Why can't they
just show total balance versus available balance in the event
of pending deposits to be cleared. Now that they have dropped to interest rate from 2% to 1.85%, it seem hardly worth the effort! I'm going to close my account after the 90 days! I have had it with Discover.

Posted: Oct 7, 2009

LP
(Unregistered)

Can't believe they dropped their rate so soon after hyping their 2% interest rate.

And in order to transfer any of my money to another bank Money HQ is asking for all my info for the other bank: account #, user id, password, & pin. Sorry, I don't share that confidential info!

Posted: Oct 14, 2009

Dissatisfied
(Unregistered)

*I should begin by making it clear that I am receiving nothing from ING for submitting this post. I do hope that someone from Orange comes across it, though, because they deserve the props.*

I can't agree enough with other users. I am a longstanding, satisfied Discover Card user, and the high savings rate at DiscoverBank (which later dropped significantly) roped me in. Last summer, I sadly pulled money out of ING, whose website and customer support I have found to be nothing but amazing for the past five years. To give a sense of the difference in experience: When I called ING to tell them that I didn't want to renew a CD, the rep kindly asked why I was then moving my money. When I replied, "I never thought it would happen, but the ING savings rates just aren't competitive enough anymore," I could almost hear her nod her head as she simply explained the focus they were placing on their customers with mortgages. (This was in June or July 2009.) "We hate to see you go," she said, "but thank you for your business."

It felt like a "We're still in love, but maybe should move on" type of break-up. It was a kind of painful.

What made it worse was the terrible relationship with Discover that ensued too soon after. After several days of trying to log in to my new DiscoverBank account with only about a 20% success rate, I called customer service. The rep was horrible. He was arrogant, unknowledgable, and downright rude. I felt like I was talking to an insolent fraternity boy who was showing off to his friends. AFTER I explained to him my problem and walked through what I was doing with him step by step, the dialogue went like this: "Well, our website just isn't that difficult." "Well, this is what I'm doing, and it's only allowing me to log in 1/5 times, which I can't explain." "Wull, I never have any problems with this!" (No kidding.) I hope so sincerely that that call was recorded, and that the employee was fired. The money is staying at Discover for the moment (I opened a couple of CDs), but not a penny more shall enter. It couldn't even if I wanted it to, it seems, because for the past 48 hours I have been getting an error message telling me that my account is "currently inaccessible" and to try again in 20 minutes.

The moral of the story: interest rates, like relationships, have bumps. When the relationship is good, though, it's worth riding out the bumps.

Lesson learned. ING, I want to get back together.

Posted: Oct 21, 2009

Ted
(Unregistered)

I opened a savings account for $500 with the normal hoops to jump through. Wanted to then transfer $55K in to it. Could I? No. They have a policy that forbids them from accepting more than $25k per month via ACH. What kind of bank won't take your money? This lunacy plus the exasperating nightmare of a website and unsatisfying "customer service" makes leaving a no brainer. This so called bank is a cruel joke to avoid at all costs. Wish I had seen their track record before I wasted my time. Use them at your own peril.

Posted: Oct 21, 2009

Ken Griffiths
(Unregistered)

Just opened a Discover savings acct. a few days ago.
They transferred $$$ from my bank -wow- how efficent.
A few days later I try to transfer $$$ INTO Discover online - called them - said I have to wait 10 days but they still have my bank info, routing and bank acct info !!!
WTF ???

Posted: Oct 25, 2009

Dan
(Unregistered)

I opened an American Express High Yield savings acct and I've just transferred 99% of my money from Discover to American Express. The rate is currently @1.7%
certainly higher than ING and HSBCDirect. I'm leaving
minimal amt in there to meet the minimum 3 months to
avoid closing charges! Frankly there is no minimum that
you have to maintain to keep the acct open for the 3
mos to avoid the charges! I'm so tired of the damn
discover website telling me to log in 20mins later every
time I try to log in or acct current inaccessible! They just don't have the backend infrastructure or bandwidth to
support the kind of service needed.

Posted: Nov 2, 2009

jb1
(Unregistered)

I like to share with you my disappointing story with discovery. I am with discover many years. I was happy with their credit card, so when I saw 2% saving I jump on it. I opened checking and saving. Soon I realized that checking is much lower than advertised. You got to read fine print! I was a little disappointed that company like discovery was not clear about it, but that's OK, I should have read fine print, it does explain that apy depends on balance. So, I thought, I just close the checking. Oops $20 fee for closing before 90 days, minimum balance $2,500 - disclosure, you got to read it to. OK next best thing transfer balance above 2500. I tried to do it online, cannot. I called representative ask for transfer $6,000 from checking to saving, no problem, right? Wrong!
Nothing happen for few days. I called customer service for explanation. I was told they have my request. After about two weeks finally I could do it by myself online.
90 days passed I called to transfer remaining balance to saving and close my checking account. I opened account on 8/6 I called 11/4. According to representative, the account need another 2 days to avoid penalty. I called again 11/5 this time representative agree that account is open for 92 days. He said he would close my account and transfer the balance within 24 hours. Called 11/6 again, because nothing happen, I was told they have my request and it probably will happen on Monday. This is internal transfer between saving and checking. Most of my banks do it instantly, discovery needs few days.
By the way ach transfers take a week.
Additional complains.
1 Most of the time you cannot login.
2 The webside is disorganize.
3 Transactions are missing
explanation
1 during login getting error suggesting to try again in 20 minutes
2 you cannot see all your transaction on single site.
for some strange reason they divided transaction in two categories, so you can see one list or the other but not all.
3 finally transaction are missing. They pay interest on the last of the month. For some reason October interest disappear. I have it on pinted statement. I see interest for previous and next month, but not for the October. I called representative, they acknowledge that it is unusual, but that's it.

Posted: Nov 6, 2009



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