Update 4/5/24: Deal is back.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: Nationwide
- APY: 4.3%
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: No for Online Savings
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: No
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: 9/29/23
Contents
The Offer
Direct link to offer, targeted bonus. Sent out via e-mail, subject line is ‘Maximize your savings with a Boost Bonus’
- Discover is offering a bonus of $150/$200. Bonus you receive depends on the amount you deposit by 4/26/2024 and hold until 6/25/2024:
- Deposit and maintain $15,000 and get $100 bonus
- Deposit and maintain $25,000 and get $200
The Fine Print
- To qualify for a Savings Boost Bonus, deposit directly to the selected savings Account (“Account”) a Required Deposit Amount (“RDA”) of $15,000 in New Funds (i.e., not currently on deposit at Discover) to earn $150 Bonus OR $25,000 in New Funds to earn $200 Bonus between 9/8/23 and 9/29/23 11:59 PM ET (“Funding Period”). Maintain a minimum of your Account Balance as of 9/6/23 11:59 PM ET plus RDA (“Hold Amount”) from 9/29/23 11:59 PM ET to 10/30/23 11:59 PM ET. RDA may consist of multiple deposits made during Funding Period. RDA funds must be credited to Account by end of Funding Period to be eligible. Any funds added over qualifying Hold Amount are excluded from Hold Period requirements. Maximum Bonus eligibility is $200.
- Important: Customers with an existing Online Savings Account were selected at random to receive the offer. Only one account per customer is eligible. The offer is non-transferable. No promotion code or enrollment is needed. Account must be open when Bonus is credited. Bonus to be credited to Account by 11/30/23 and is subject to reporting on Form 1099-INT. Offer ends 9/29/23. Offer may be modified or withdrawn without notice.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Discover’s Online Savings Account does not have any fees, nor any minimum balance requirement
Early Account Termination Fee
There is no mention of an early termination fee according to the Online Savings Account Guide.
Our Verdict
Unlike the bonus for new account holders, you actually need to keep the funds in the account for roughly one month. The account does earn a base rate of 4.30% APY and with this bonus it adds another ~12% APY but you obviously only get that through the very short period. Still worth doing though if you were targeted.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
I also got the same email. I have 2 discover savings accounts, the email mentions the one savings account with less than 1k balance.
Question: If I move money out from my ‘other’ discover saving account to lets say Sofi, and then move from Sofi to the targeted discover saving account, will I eligible for bonus?
If you click-through to the link, it says “‘New Funds’ means money that is not currently on deposit at Discover…” so I would say the terms prohibit it. But if I were you, I might try it. Assuming the rates on your two accounts are the same, there is very little opportunity cost. You’re not applying for the bonus, so I don’t think you’d get in trouble for it even if they don’t give you the bonus.
FYI, there’s a new post for this at https://www.doctorofcredit.com/discover-savings-customers-get-100-200-bonus-by-increasing-you-balance-15000-25000/ .
I received this bonus after being targeted with an almost $3k balance in my existing Discover savings account. I made my required $25k+ deposit from 2 different external bank accounts that landed in my Discover account on or before 4/25 (last day would have been 4/26 to get the transfers done).
I like how they emailed you every step of the way to tell you when you met the deposit requirement, when you earned the bonus, etc. I especially like that I didn’t have to open a whole new account for this bonus!
4/4 – First received targeted email for $150/$200 savings bonus offer
4/16 – Received another email reminding me about the bonus
4/23 – $5,025 external transfer received from Laurel Road checking
4/25 – 20k external transfer received from Cap One savings
5/28 – Received email stating I needed to hold my current balance until 6/25 to receive bonus
7/18 – Received email congratulating me on earning the bonus and that I should expect to receive it by 7/25
7/21 – $200 savings bonus posted
I haven’t withdrawn any of the funds yet. I earned about another $100 in interest monthly from the savings rate on this account, so that was nice too. My P2 and P3 have done this bonus before (they weren’t targeted this time around), and I was targeted late last year, but didn’t complete the offer.
Account was sitting at <$100 for a while. I opened with a bonus back on 10/4/2021
4/16/2024 deposited $25k
6/27/2024 removed $25k from account
7/18/2024 "FearTheZ, your bonus is on the way" email received
7/21/2024 "Account Promotion" $200 credit posted
It’s here!
Account Promotion
$200
7/21/2024
Got mine too (P2 did not pursue despite targeted).
Received email “Shawn, your bonus is on the way.”
Same, but it looks like they are going to wait until the last possible moment to deposit it.
Meanwhile discover no longer allows trial deposits for new account linking, and instead require you give them user/password to your other banks. They have become dead to me as an ACH hub, I’m closing all my accounts once I get this bonus.
Since Discover doesn’t allow new account bonus churning, you can leave the account open instead of closing out of spite to get targeted for something like this again in the future. I’ve done a few of these over the years just by leaving it open and getting targeted.
I use Discover all the time for an ACH hub. Never have entered my credentials. They’re one of the few that actually emails me with “You received a small deposit” to let me know.
FIRST LAST, a small deposit posted to your account referenced above on July 8, 2024. This type of deposit typically occurs when you link a Discover Bank account to an external financial institution.
Did anyone receive an e-mail saying they qualified for the bonus? Asking because I did get one at the half way point back in May but nothing after June 25th which was somewhat surprising.
Not surprising at all. Why would you need THEM to tell you you qualified for the bonus? You would know if you met or didn’t meet the requirements. It’s pretty straightforward.
No need for the snarky comment. I was asking because the Savings Boost Bonus FAQ states the following…
How will I know if I’ve qualified for a Savings Boost Bonus?
If you’ve met the Required Deposit Amount ($15,000 or $25,000) and fulfilled the Hold Amount and Hold Period requirements, we’ll send you an email confirming that you’ve qualified.
When money?
Account must be open when Bonus is credited by 07/25/2024.
Lurking around for any DPs on bonus received.
Reminder you can withdraw now.
any reason to keep this open after receivng bonus. I did mine in 2022.
Discovers offers existing users offers from time to time as in the post.
had account open since Nov 2022, not seeing any in last two years lol
Are you subscribed to promo emails? They are targeted, not sure how. P2 opened theirs in early 2021 and has had two offers since then (only used the first). I’ve had two offers in the same timeframe and have had my account for a decade or so.