Discover Bank Review: A Great Online Bank for Your Checking, Money Market and CD Needs
Written by
Caitlyn Moorhead
Edited by
Lindsey Kloosterman
Commitment to Our Readers
GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.
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GOBankingRates Score
Discover Bank
-
Checking Account
4.9
-
Savings Account
4.5
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CD Accounts
4.8
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Money Market Accounts
4.9
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Banking Experience
4.5
Pros
- No minimum deposits on checking and savings accounts
- No monthly fees
- No insufficient funds or overdraft fees
- Above-average rates
- 24/7 customer service
Cons
- High minimum deposit to open a CD
- Limited branch availability
Discover Bank Overview
People have known about the Discover card since its national launch in 1986 when its Super Bowl XX commercial announced the “Dawn of Discover.” However, these days, Discover offers much more than just credit cards and competitive rates. Discover is also a full-service online bank that offers a variety of banking products with a mission focused on helping its customers engage in smarter spending, saving and debt management.
For these reasons and more GOBankingRates has ranked Discover Bank among the Best CD Accounts, Best Checking Accounts, Best Money Market Accounts and Best Online Banks for 2024.
Discover Bank: Key Features
Whether you are looking for FDIC-insured accounts, reasonable minimum balance requirements, high-yield savings accounts, competitive annual percentage yields, or APYs, when you open an account you want to make sure it’s the right one for you. Here are details about Discover Bank to help you decide whether it’s a good fit based on these factors:
Checking Account
Discover Bank offers only one checking account, but it’s packed full of impressive money-saving features. GOBankingRates has named it one of the Best Checking Accounts for 2024. Here are some key takeaways:
- Discover’s Cashback Debit account offers online checking that has no minimum deposit requirement, no minimum daily balance requirement and no monthly maintenance fees.
- It has no insufficient funds or overdraft fees and pays 1% cash back on up to $3,000 worth of purchases with the debit card each month. See website for details.
- When you need to access cash, you can withdraw fee-free money at over 60,000 ATMs worldwide.
Savings Account
The Discover online savings account, like the bank’s checking account, has no minimum opening deposit, monthly fee or minimum daily balance requirements. Plus, there are no insufficient funds, overdraft or excess withdrawal fees. The account pays APY where the interest is compounded daily and paid monthly.
CD Accounts
It’s no wonder Discover Bank’s high-yield CD account also ranked among GOBankingRates’ Best CD Accounts for 2024. The bank’s CD offerings have no monthly maintenance fees and are available in terms of three months to 10 years. A $2,500 minimum opening deposit is required to open a CD at Discover Bank.
Money Market Account
Discover’s money market account features an APY of for balances under $100,000 and for balances of $100,000 and above. GOBankingRates has ranked it among the Best Money Market Accounts of 2024. A money market account offers a great way to receive high-interest rates while still having easy access to your money with ATM, debit card and check options as well as the following features:
- No monthly fees
- $2,500 minimum to open
- Free standard and official checks
- Free online bill pay
- Free replacement debit card, with expedited shipping
- Free stop payment order
- Standard limit of six free withdrawals
- Mobile check deposit
Banking Experience
Now that you know more about Discover Bank’s products, here’s a breakdown of some of the outstanding features that make up its banking experience and helped it rank as one of the Best Online Banks in GOBankingRates rankings for 2024.
- Discover Bank has no minimum opening deposits on its checking or savings account.
- Not having to deposit any money upfront makes it easy and affordable to open one or more accounts at your convenience.
- When you open any type of account at Discover Bank, you won’t have to worry about paying monthly fees or trying to meet qualifying deposit minimums or other requirements to avoid monthly charges.
- Discover Bank has banking service representatives available 24 hours, seven days per week. So, no matter what day of the week or what time of the day — or night — you have a banking question or issue, you won’t have to wait to get the answers or solutions you need. You can reach Discover at 800-347-7000.
- Discover Bank’s app is highly rated by users. Android users rate the app 4.6 out of 5 stars and iOS users rate the app 4.9.
How Does Discover Bank Compare?
Now that you’re aware of some of Discover Bank’s products and services, here’s how the bank measures up to some of its competing financial institutions.
Discover Bank vs. Ally Bank
Besides a high-yield CD, as Discover Bank offers, Ally Bank offers two other types of CDs: Raise Your Rate CD and No Penalty CD. While Discover doesn’t offer more than one type of CD, it does offer better rates than Ally. Discover’s highest APY is for its 12-month CD, while Ally’s highest rate is APY for its 18-month high-yield CD.
Discover Bank vs. American Express National Bank
American Express National Bank, Member FDIC, does not require any deposit minimums to open one of its CDs, which is much more affordable than Discover Bank’s $2,500 minimum deposit requirement. However, American Express National Bank does not offer money market account options like Discover.
Final Take
If you are okay with doing all of your banking tasks online, Discover Bank has much to offer. Its checking and savings accounts do not require minimum opening deposits, and none of its accounts have monthly fees that can eat into your funds. GOBankingRates has ranked Discover Bank highly in several categories including Best Checking Accounts, Best Money Market Accounts and Best Online Banks for 2024.
FAQ
Now that you know more about Discover Bank's products, rates and fees, here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about the bank.- Does Discover Bank have an app?
- Yes, Discover Bank has an app for both iOS and Android users, and the app rates 4.9 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 4.6 on Google Play. You can text APP to DISCOV (347268) to download it on your phone. With the app, you can complete tasks such as depositing checks, finding ATMs, setting up bill pay, transferring money, setting up account alerts and even freezing your debit card in case of emergency
- Can I deposit cash into my Discover Bank account?
- Yes, you can deposit cash into your Discover Bank account in any of the following ways:
- Transfer from an external bank account
- Direct deposit
- Mobile check deposit
- Mail a check to the following address:
- Discover Bank
- PO Box 30417
- Salt Lake City, UT 84130
- Yes, you can deposit cash into your Discover Bank account in any of the following ways:
- Is Discover a reliable Bank?
- Discover Bank protects its customers' accounts in multiple ways, such as Secure Socket-Layer technology, proactive fraud monitoring and enhanced account verification measures.
- Is Discover debit worth it?
- Right now, Discover is not accepting new applications for its debit card. As to whether it's worth it, that depends. You can earn 1% on up to $3,000 of debit card purchases per month, which is $30. However, you might be able to find better debit card rewards at another bank.
- Is Discover Bank financially stable?
- Yes, Discover Bank has a stable rating from Standard and Poor's.
- Does Zelle work with Discover?
- Discover is not accepting new enrollments for Zelle at this time. If you enrolled in Zelle on or after March 1, 2022, you might not be able to use this service.
- How can I withdraw money from my Discover® Savings account?
- You can withdraw funds from your Discover Savings account up to six times per month. Withdrawals can be made via online transfer, wire transfer or official bank check.
More on Discover Bank
- Discover Banks Newest Promotions
- Discover Bank CD Rates
- Discover Bank Routing Number
- How To Avoid Discover Monthly Maintenance Fees
- How To Do A Balance Transfer With Discover
- How To Request a Discover Credit Line Increase
Compare to Other Banks
- Ally Bank Review
- American Express National Bank Review
- Capital One Bank Review
- Marcus by Goldman Sachs Review
- All Bank Reviews
Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.
Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Dec. 28, 2023.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
To determine rankings for the Best Online Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors across exclusively online banks: (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (3) savings APY; (4) 1-year CD APY; (5) Bauer rating (out of 5 stars); (6) products/services offered (auto loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, investment services and insurance); and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Google Play (Android) and Apple app stores. Factors (1) and (2) were weighted 0.5 times, and factors (3) and (7) were weighted 2 times. For all savings and checking account data, only the basic accounts/products offered at each institution were analyzed.
To determine rankings for the Best Checking Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors from all banks (excluding neobanks): (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) number of branch locations as sourced from the FDIC; (3) minimum deposit to open an account; (4) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (5) APY on the checking account; (6) overdraft fee amount; (7) the average mobile app rating between the Google Play (Android) and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being the best. Factors (1), (2) and (5) were weighted 0.5 times, and factor (4) was weighted 1.5 times.
To determine rankings for the Best CD Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors from all banks (excluding neobanks): (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) number of branch locations as sourced from the FDIC; (3) minimum deposit to open an account; (4) 12-month CD APY; (5) 60-month CD APY; and (6) the average mobile app rating between the Google Play (Android) and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being the best. Factors (1) and (2) were weighted 0.5 times, factor (3) was weighted 2 times, and factors (4) and (5) were weighted 4 times.
To determine rankings for the Best Money Market Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors from all banks (excluding neobanks): (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) number of branch locations as sourced from the FDIC; (3) minimum deposit to open an account; (4) APY on the money market account; (5) the minimum balance needed to earn the APY; (6) monthly money market fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Google Play (Android) and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being the best. Factors (1) and (2) were weighted 0.5 times, and factor (4) was weighted 4 times.
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