【Updated 2025.8】Discover Savings now has $150/$200/$400 account opening bonuses. You only need to deposit $15,000/$25,000/$45,000. If you don’t have that much cash available at once, you can consider the small tricks below. Notably, the savings account itself is currently earning 3.5% APY, so this is actually a pretty solid deal.

This is a very strong bonus, and we’ve updated our bank account bonus ranking as well~

Based on reader data points, the total amount deposited is cumulative. There are a few tricks below that may help complete the requirement. Be careful not to contact customer service, or they may cancel your bonus. The bonus is usually paid about 1 month after completing the requirement, so don’t worry if it doesn’t post immediately.

  • You can repeatedly transfer money in, out, and back in again. For example, if you have $5,000, moving it in and out three times can satisfy the $15,000 requirement. Of course, this comes with some risk. If you really want to try it, it’s better to vary the transfer amounts each time so it doesn’t look too obvious.
  • In addition, some readers have tested opening both Discover checking and savings, then transferring money back and forth between the two. If the requirement is $15,000 and you have $5,000, transferring it back and forth three times may do the trick.
  • Another method is the cancel trick: first move some money into savings. Then during business hours on a weekday, schedule a transfer out and immediately cancel it. The money will return to Discover Savings and may be counted as a deposit.

About Discover Bank

Besides offering no-annual-fee credit cards, Discover’s bank accounts are also free. I’ve personally used them for several years and think they’re pretty good, with a few unique perks as well. Let’s take a look.

Discover Checking

Discover Checking is excellent and can really be considered a model of a no-hassle, no-fee account.

  • Account opening bonus: None at the moment
  • Debit card cashback: Earn 1% cashback on up to the first $3,000 in purchases each month!
  • Fees: No monthly fee, no minimum deposit, $0 incoming wire transfer fee
  • Cash withdrawal: Free withdrawals at partner ATMs (Allpoint or MoneyPass networks) (locator link)
  • Application link >>
One thing worth highlighting here is the debit card cashback, which can be quite useful. Paying bills through Plastiq counts as a debit card transaction on the account payment side, so it can trigger the 1% cashback (it used to be 2%, which meant a small profit after fees). The fee is 1%. It can also work well for paying estimated taxes, since debit card processing fees are fixed, and you may be able to come out slightly ahead with that 1% cashback. For everyday purchases, remember that the merchant needs to run the card in Debit mode in order to trigger this 1% cashback.

The biggest fee-related advantage is the lack of a monthly fee. Most other banks have a minimum balance requirement, otherwise you get charged a monthly fee. For example, Chase, BofA, and US Bank all have a $1,500 requirement. The free checkbook is another nice perk.

The only real downside may be that Discover has no physical branches except in DE, so if you run into a truly unusual issue, it could be inconvenient.

Discover Savings Account

Account opening bonus

See the beginning of this article.

Overview

Fees: No monthly fee, no minimum balance requirement, no early account closure fee

There’s not much else to say here. It’s very convenient to fund the account via ACH transfer or by writing yourself a check and depositing it into your own account. Discover is also fairly quick about posting bonuses. In general, once the money arrives, the bonus is often paid within a few days, which is much better than some banks that take more than 1 month.

Compared with other major banks, the savings account still has major advantages in both fees and interest rate.

My Take

If you don’t keep a lot of cash on hand and want an easy checking and savings setup to hold long term, Discover Bank accounts are a good choice. If you prefer earning various account opening bonuses by moving money around or using direct deposit, you can also consider the following offers:

In addition, debit card cashback rewards are not taxable. However, savings account opening bonuses are taxable, and the bank will send a 1099-INT the following year. Just report it as interest income.

Application Links