Not only is Discover Bank offering a great rate of 1.90 APY on their 12-month CD, but includes a great provision concerning if you lose your job. In that case you can withdraw your money if you need it without any early withdrawal penalty. You need to open it by December 31, 2009 to get the benefits and rate.

Keep in mind concerning the job loss provision that it has to be involuntary, as you can’t just quit your job and then withdraw your money. But if you are terminated or laid off, suffer a strike or are locked out from work in any way, you get the benefit. A leave of absence, quitting or retiring doesn’t trigger the removal of the early withdrawal penalty. Still, a great feature in difficult economic circumstances.

For those who are self-employed at the time of opening a CD with Discover Bank, an act of God like a fire, property damage in general, inventory damage or closing of the business for fire or flood must be experienced to be able to withdraw your funds without a penalty for early withdrawal. For business owners or contractors you must have an account open for 30 days or after renewal to receive the benefit.

While this may sound restrictive to some, in reality if you operate in good faith these are very reasonable, especially considering the high rate of return offered and the possibility of a no-penalty early withdrawal under circumstances out of your control.

For employees, to qualify for the CD you must work at minimum of 30 hours a week, while if you’re a full-time student you can qualify if you’re 15 hours a week or more.

A minimum balance of $2,500 must be maintained to get the $1.90 APY and benefit of penalty-free withdrawal if you qualify and need it.

Considering the national average for a 12-month CD at the top 50 banks as measured by deposits is 0.70, this is a really great return.

Discover Bank also offers an 18-month CD at a 1.95 APY.

Tags: cds, certificate of deposit, saving money

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 2:02 pm and is filed under reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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