Discover Bank VS BankDirect

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 4.5 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 5.0 Star Icon
3.60%APY
Savings/MMA
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Pros:

  • No monthly fees or required balances
  • Personal deposit accounts offered
  • Can open all accounts online
  • Competitive interest rates on accounts

Cons:

  • Only personal deposit accounts
  • Not wide variety of accounts
  • Outgoing wires have a high fee
  • MMA has high opening balance and fee
  • Financial Rates: 3.5 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 2.5 Star Icon
  • Website Experience: 3.0 Star Icon
  • Bank Fees: 4.5 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Low required opening amounts
  • Reimbursement of ATM fees
  • Variety of personal deposit accounts
  • Money market account earns good rates

Cons:

  • Highest MMA rate requires large amount
  • High required amount to open CDs
  • Checking accounts have a monthly fee
  • Must mail in application to open account
Discover Bank Review

Most Discover online bank accounts do not have monthly fees. They also do not have required balances to keep in the accounts. The online checking account, savings accounts, and CDs do not have a monthly fee. They are completely free. Only the money market account has a fee if your balance falls below $2,500.

Personal deposit accounts are available through Discover. They offer online savings, money market, and checking accounts. Their CDs range in terms from three months to ten years. Discover offers IRA CD terms as well as regular CDs.

These Discover accounts are entirely online accounts. Open the savings, money market accounts, and CDs online or by calling customer service. The checking account can only be opened online. Everything for these accounts is done online.

Discover accounts offer competitive interest rates. The rates for every account are much higher than your typical brick and mortar bank rates. The rates are competitive with other online accounts. The only account that has tiered interest rates is the money market account. The difference between the two-tiered rates is very small. Balances over $100,000 in the money market account earn a slightly higher rate. All balances earn competitive rates.

Discover Bank offers only personal deposit accounts. Those accounts include a savings, checking, and money market account, as well as CDs. Discover Bank does not offer any business accounts.

There is not a wide variety of personal deposit accounts offered through Discover. Discover offers one savings, one money market, and one checking account. No business accounts are available. CD terms range from three months to ten years.

One way to access your money in your Discover accounts is through a wire transfer. There is a fee to complete each wire. That fee is $30 for each outgoing wire sent from your Discover account. There is not a fee for domestic wire transfers received into Discover accounts. There may be a $20 fee for wire transfers received in a foreign currency.

The Discover money market account has a high opening required amount. That account requires $2,500 to open. There is a monthly fee of $10. Waive that fee by keeping $2,500 in the money market account.

Read the full Discover Bank review.

BankDirect Review

Most of the BankDirect accounts have a low amount required to open the account. BankDirect checking accounts only require $500 to open. Both BankDirect money market accounts require $500 to open. The basic savings account only requires $100 to open.

BankDirect does not own any ATMs; they reimburse their customers the ATM fees. The first four ATM withdrawals per statement cycle are refunded. The refunds are up to $2.50 per transaction. There is a withdrawal limit of $500 from an ATM each day.

BankDirect offers a variety of personal deposit accounts. There are three different checking accounts and two different money market accounts. There are a variety of different CD terms available. BankDirect offers one savings account. There are no business accounts available.

The BankDirect Money Market Plus account offers a competitive interest rate. BankDirect also offers a mileage money market account. This account earns American Airline miles. Both MMA require $500 to open. The mileage money market account earns much lower interest rates. You earn miles instead of interest. There is no monthly fee for either account.

To earn the high rates offered on the BankDirect Money Market Plus account you must have $10,000 in the account. Amounts under $10,000 do not earn any interest. Only $500 is required to open this account, but to earn any interest requires $10,000.

BankDirect offers a variety of different CD terms. The required amount to open any of the CDs is $10,000. There is no monthly fee. The interest rates for CDs are competitive. The 12-month, 18-months, 24-months and 36-month CDs offer the most competitive rates. To open a mileage CD also requires $10,000.

Two of the BankDirect checking accounts have monthly fees. The interest and mileage checking accounts both have a monthly fee. The fee is waived for the interest checking account if you have at least $2,500 in the account. The mileage checking does not list a way to waive that monthly fee.

Opening an account with BankDirect is not entirely online. To open an account, you must fill out the application online, then print off part and mail it in. You will then receive a welcome kit within one to two weeks. Once you get your kit, you can finish setting up your account.

Read the full BankDirect review.

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