I got a flyer in the mail and when i go to open cd online the rate shows much lower so i called discover and they said based on my social ( i do have a savings account with discover) when i open the account online they will update the rate to the promo rate within 60 days.Can they be trusted to do this.any experience with this?
Answers
I can tell you one thing for certain, when you sign up for those offers the code you enter is what is used to determine what special offer you will get. If it is not working at the very beginning when you sign up, don't fall for empty promises that it will be done in the future.
CSR's are known for expressing their opinion and 9 out of 10 times they are wrong. If you call again you will get a different response to your question. If they can't honor the terms of the offer from the very start don't do it.
No matter what a CSR says, even if they sincerely believe it and aren't just telling you a lie, past experiences (on different-but-similar matters) has shown me that no matter what a CSR says, if it's an irregular thing, the bank's system never actually does what the CSR told you it would do -- and it then becomes your responsibility (and hassle -- a major hassle at times) to fight for what you were told. Document, now, everything you were told, by whom, the date and time of the call so the recording of it can be pulled at a later date, and hope Discover honors what they tell you, they may not still in the end. And be prepared to write on your calendar now to check back in 60 days, and document every call, person, date/time, correspondance, etc. Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll actually happen but in the half-dozen times something different-but-similar happened with me, where a CSR told me even though it wasn't the norm or what the computer was showing, it'd still happen, it never did, and thank goodness I had documentation to back it up. Sometimes it was only a minor fight, and once they couldn't find the recorded call (which I had documented the person/date/time) so relented, but a couple times it was a real fight to get them to do what they said.
If it were me, I wouldn't do it knowing the hassle, but again I don't have Discover so I don't know what they're like (for instance, are their CSRs even in the US or does it go offshore to the Philippinnes or somewhere like that?)
I just saw people post that there's still one place offering a 12-mo for 5.25% right now, look in the Promo/Deals forum.
I can't speak for Discover but past experience at a half-dozen other places has taught me that no, it's not going to happen automatically even if a CSR tells you it will, and to be 100% prepared to fight for what they told you. You'll have to decide if it's worth it.
