Banking Checking Accounts

Discover Checking Review [2024]: Cashback Rewards With No Monthly Fees

The Discover® Cashback Debit account makes it easy to earn cashback rewards and manage your money from anywhere — all with no monthly maintenance fees.

By Melinda Sineriz, ABFP™
and Ben Walker, CEPF, CFEI®

Edited by Yahia Barakah, CEPF

Updated Sept. 24, 2024

We receive compensation from the products and services mentioned in this story, but the opinions are the author's own. Compensation may impact where offers appear. We have not included all available products or offers. Learn more about how we make money and our editorial policies.

Learn More

4.5

Discover®️ Cashback Debit

OUR VIEW

Checking accounts typically don’t offer much beyond being a place to keep money you’re planning to spend. If the account offers interest, it’s usually minimal. But the Discover® Cashback Checking account is different. It offers 1.00% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month.¹

That’s almost unheard of. Especially from a large bank like Discover. And Discover checking also has no monthly fee, no minimum balance requirements, and no overdraft fees.

The downsides? Discover is nearly an online-only bank (it has one physical branch in Delaware), so if you value branch access, it won’t be a good fit. It also doesn’t pay any interest on your balance.

Overall, though, it’s a solid account that puts cash back in your pocket. Even if there’s a limit to it.

Jump to full review

Pros

Earn 1.00% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month¹

Easily switch direct deposit via the Discover mobile app or online for Early Pay (get your paycheck up to 2 days early!)

Get the security of a Member-FDIC bank

Cons

Almost no in-person banking locations

No interest on your account balance

How we evaluate products

Discover Checking details

Annual percentage yield (APY)²	None
Cashback rate	1.00% on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month
Minimum deposit requirement	$0
Monthly maintenance fees	$0
ATM access	Fee-free access to 60,000+ ATMs
FDIC insured	Up to $250,000

Who is the Discover Checking account best for?

A Discover® Cashback Debit account makes sense if getting rewards from your debit card spending works with the way you manage your finances.

For this checking account, you need to do your spending primarily using a debit card. That means using it to make purchases at stores in person or online. Paying bills, sending money to friends or family, or buying money orders don’t count as debit card transactions that earn cash back.

While debit cards are popular, not everyone uses them extensively. Some use credit cards to earn rewards, for example, and if the cashback checking idea appeals to you, a cash back credit card typically offers higher rewards. For example, the Wells Fargo Active Cash^® Card allows you to earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

Not everyone qualifies for credit cards, and not everyone is comfortable doing the bulk of their spending on them. I used debit cards for years due to struggling with keeping credit card debt under control. I just wasn’t comfortable using them. If you’re someone who prefers using a debit card for day-to-day spending, this card makes a lot of sense.

How much can you earn?

With the Discover Cashback Debit account, you earn 1.00% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month. If you max this out, it comes to $30 per month, or $360 per year. While that’s not a life-changing amount of money, it’s still free money.

How does that stack up against an account that earns interest? A SoFi checking account offers an APY of 0.50% (as of 10/31/24) if you meet the qualifications, which include direct deposit.³⁴ You would need to carry a balance of $6,000 to earn $30 of interest in a month on a SoFi® account.

So if you keep high balances in your checking account, you could come out ahead if you went with an account like SoFi®. You shouldn’t keep high balances in your checking account, though. You can earn significantly more interest in a high-yield savings account. SoFi’s savings account, which is bundled with its checking account, offers an APY of up to 4.20% if you meet qualifications, for example.

Overall, you can earn up to $360 per year with a Discover checking account, and that will be more than you can earn with most checking accounts, assuming you don’t keep a high balance in your checking account.

Online account experience

Discover offers an online portal and an app, and the app has high ratings:

4.9 out of 5 rating with over 4.4 million ratings on the Apple App Store
4.5 out of 5 rating with over 289,000 ratings and more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store

If you have credit cards with Discover, you can manage them through the app as well. You can do all the essential tasks for online banking with the app, including mobile deposits.

A unique feature to Discover’s app is assistance with removing your information from certain people-search websites. These sites are known for selling personal information, and it can be difficult to get the information removed on your own. You do need to activate this feature through the mobile app.

Other notable account features

No fees or minimum balance requirements

The Discover checking account has no monthly maintenance fees, insufficient funds fees, expedited debit card replacement fees, or check reorder fees. Keep in mind that some less common fees may still apply. While this is helpful, Discover is far from the only checking account with minimal fees these days. Chime, for example, and SoFi also have no monthly fees.⁵⁶⁷

Cash deposits

The Add Cash feature allows you to add cash to your checking account at any U.S. Walmart location without any fees. This feature requires a minimum deposit of $20. This is something that sets it apart from other online banks.

SoFi, for example, allows cash deposits through Green Dot, but the retailer charges a fee of $4.95. Ally’s Spending Account doesn’t accept cash deposits at all.

There are limits to Discover’s cash deposits, though. There’s a daily limit of $1,000 ($999.99 if you live in Arizona or New Mexico), a weekly limit of $7,000, and a monthly limit of $20,000.

Early Pay

With Early Pay, you can access funds from qualifying direct deposits up to two days early when you set up direct deposit for your online checking account. While this is a useful feature, many checking accounts offer early access to paychecks and government benefits. This includes Chime, which allows you to get a paycheck up to two days early with direct deposit, and SoFi.⁸⁹

ATM network

Discover provides access to over 60,000 fee-free ATMs throughout the U.S. This is a larger network than other online banks like SoFi and Ally.

Additional Discover products

If you’re someone who values having multiple financial products in one place, Discover does have other offerings. These include:

Credit cards: This is perhaps what Discover is best known for, and Discover does have a strong line-up.
Loans: Discover offers personal loans, student loans, and home loans (including home equity loans and mortgage refinancing).
Savings account: The Discover Online Savings account provides an APY of 4.00% (as of 10/22/24) and has no monthly maintenance fees. This could be a good account to open along with Discover’s Checking account. In fact, Discover offers an auto redemption feature where you can put the cashback you earn directly into a Discover savings account.
Certificates of deposit (CDs): Discover provides multiple CD options with varying terms and APY rates. Discover CDs are FDIC-insured.
Money market accounts: With a Discover money market account, you get competitive APY rates and no fees for monthly maintenance, insufficient funds, standard checks, or excessive withdrawals.
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs): To help plan for retirement, you can choose a Discover IRA Savings Account or Discover IRA CD. These IRA accounts are available as Roth and traditional IRA accounts.

An alternative

U.S. Bank Smartly®️ Checking¹⁰

Unlike Discover, U.S. Bank does have branches, but it’s also easy to open an account online. U.S. Bank’s Smartly Checking is a straightforward account that doesn’t pay interest, but it does frequently offer a bonus, so it’s worth checking out and comparing to Discover.

U.S. Bank¹¹ is a Member-FDIC bank, providing protection of up to $250,000 per depositor.

Visit U.S. Bank Smartly®️ Checking

…or read our full U.S. Bank Smartly Checking review.

FAQ

Is the Discover® Cashback Debit Card a good card?

Yes. We like the Discover Cashback Debit Card because you can earn 1.00% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month. Many debit cards don’t provide rewards, so this is a step up if you frequently use debit cards.

How can I deposit cash into my Discover Checking account?

One option to deposit physical cash into your Discover Checking is to ask a Walmart cashier at any U.S. Walmart location to use the Add Cash feature. The transaction usually posts within 10 minutes.

What are the disadvantages of Discover Bank?

As a mostly online-only bank, Discover only has one in-person branch, which is a drawback if you like in-person banking support. An alternative like U.S. Bank could be a better fit if that’s important to you.

Discover also provides a limited range of banking products, including only one option for checking accounts and one option for savings accounts.

Bottom line

Discover Checking stands out from other options because there aren’t any requirements to avoid or waive fees, plus you can earn 1.00% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month, which comes to $30 per month or $360 if you max out this benefit.

But if the Discover Cashback Debit account doesn’t seem like the right fit for you, check out our recommendations for the best banks.