Discover Savings Account with Bonus

[ls2016]

I have a small amount of money in my local bank savings account. I've been trying to find a short term saving account or CD, for no more than 12 months that will earn a little money. I ran across the Discover Savings Acct @ 1.90 % APY with a $150 bonus if account is opened by 12/3/18, with a $15,000 deposit by 12/17/18. Bonus to be paid out by 12/31/18.
My local bank is offering a promotional 6- month savings acct @ 5.9% but the max saving amount is $2,500.
I'm wondering if any fico'ers have tried the Discover savings account? Advantages, Disadvantages?
NOTE: I'm only looking at a max 12 month period as I'll need the money to use for a new mortgage this time next year.
Any thoughts on Discover's Savings acct bonus?

[Anonymous]

---

@ls2016 wrote:
@I have a small amount of money in my local bank savings account. I've been trying to find a short term saving account or CD, for no more than 12 months that will earn a little money. I ran across the Discover Savings Acct @ 1.90 % APY with a $150 bonus if account is opened by 12/3/18, with a $15,000 deposit by 12/17/18. Bonus to be paid out by 12/31/18.
@Anonymous local bank is offering a promotional 6- month savings acct @ 5.9% but the max saving amount is $2,500.
I'm wondering if any fico'ers have tried the Discover savings account? Advantages, Disadvantages?
NOTE: I'm only looking at a max 12 month period as I'll need the money to use for a new mortgage this time next year.
Any thoughts on Discover's Savings acct bonus?

---

How much are you looking to put in there?

This is the largest dollar amount high yield I have heard of on these boards.

https://www.wyhy.org/Spend/SmartReturns-Checking.aspx

[Anonymous]

You might try opening half a dozen bank accounts that are offering sign up bonuses.    I got $800 from Chase by opening a personal checking, a personal savings, and a business checking.  Sign up bonuses are usually more lucrative than interest, though both are taxable.

[DaveInAZ]

The Discover Savings acct bonus is pretty easy to get and they pay it within a few days of meeting the requirement. And the $15k deposit requirement is cumulative, meaning you can deposit $5k, with draw $4k and re-deposit the $4k, rinse & repeat. Just remember there is a limit of six withdrawals or outgoing transfers per month from savings or money market accounts, I went over that by 1 transfer one month and Discover charged me a $15 fee.

And their 1.90% interest is up there with the more popular online savings accounts. You can earn higher interest on "specialty" savings account that have a maximum balance to earn the rate, and/or xx number of required debit card transactions like WyHy.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Sign up bonuses are usually more lucrative than interest, though both are taxable.

---

I agree, the sign up bonuses are nice and may be a higher return in the short term.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/best-bank-bonuses-promotions/

I may have to go chasing some these this winter as a hobby.

[SBR249]

I did the Discover Savings Account bonus last year. Was pretty easy and the bonus credited quickly. The one thing I do like about Discover vs. some other banks is that they will increase the APY on the account in line with Fed interest rates. They are also really quick about pushing funds to external accounts when you need to withdraw, usually 1 business day. 

[MakingProgress]

---

@DaveInAZ wrote:

The Discover Savings acct bonus is pretty easy to get and they pay it within a few days of meeting the requirement. And the $15k deposit requirement is cumulative, meaning you can deposit $5k, with draw $4k and re-deposit the $4k, rinse & repeat. Just remember there is a limit of six withdrawals or outgoing transfers per month from savings or money market accounts, I went over that by 1 transfer one month and Discover charged me a $15 fee.

And their 1.90% interest is up there with the more popular online savings accounts. You can earn higher interest on "specialty" savings account that have a maximum balance to earn the rate, and/or xx number of required debit card transactions like WyHy.

---

Do most banks let you use this cumlitive method to achieve the required deposit amounts?   If you are chasing bonuses do you need to keep accounts open to avoid AA by other banks?

[DaveInAZ]

---

@MakingProgress wrote:

Do most banks let you use this cumlitive method to achieve the required deposit amounts?   If you are chasing bonuses do you need to keep accounts open to avoid AA by other banks?

---

No, most bank bonuses that require a certainly level of deposit require you to have that much on deposit with them, not cumulative. And when I did the Discover bonus earlier this year I deposited the whole $15k and kept it there until I got the bonus credited. It was another member here on MyFico mentioned that for Discover it could be cumulative, and when I checked Doctor of Credit they had it confirmed that cumulative deposits worked for Discover.

No, you don't need to keep accounts open to avoid AA by other banks. Banks that are sensitive to your other banking activity are sensitive to inquiries, opening new accounts, not how long they were open. And I pulled both my Chex and Early Warning Systems reports this year. Chex Systems is very basic, they only report inquires for new accounts, and any negative info such as overdrafts and accounts closed with negative balances (I assume, I don't have any negative banking activity), there was no info on if the inquiries actually resulted in an account opening let alone how long it was open. EWS is much more detailed with many banks reporting statement balances monthly and mailing address, email address & phone #. But they also don't report closed accounts (in good standing), I had a BoA account on there that I had closed a year or two before and it didn't report the closure, they just stopped reporting any new info. 

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that you need to pay attention to each bank's early termination penalty. Some has none, like Discover, you're free to close after deposit requirement met and bonus posted. Some has a set fee if closed within a certain period, most are at 6 months, BB&T for example charges $25 if closed before 6 months. Lastly some banks will claw back the SUB if closed within a certain period, Chase for example needs to be kept open for 6 months to keep the SUB.

[Anonymous]

Great points by OldMan.  This is why one should not embark on the hobby of bonus chasing without a good guide,  The best site I know of for bank bonuses (savings, checking, etc.) is Doctor of Credit.  Read DoC's overview to the hobby first ("A Beginner's Guide") and then before you actually implement any particular bank account and its promotional bonus, read the DoC review of that offering.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-accounts/