Discovery Bank: Personal, home & solar finance

How much can I borrow, and over what term?

You can apply for any amount from R15,000 up to R500,000 in the Discovery Bank app; if you need an amount outside that range, you'll need to contact Discovery Bank directly. Repayment terms are available at 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60 or 72 months, and you choose the term that suits your monthly budget — a shorter term generally means less interest paid overall.

How the interest rate works

Discovery Bank personal loan interest is a variable rate linked to the prime lending rate and personalised to your credit profile at the time you apply. Because it's linked to prime, your rate — and your monthly instalment — can move up or down if the South African Reserve Bank changes the repo rate during your loan term.

The Vitality Money discount

On top of your personalised rate, Discovery Bank offers a fixed interest rate discount based on your Vitality Money status when you apply. This discount locks in for the full term of the loan and won't change even if your Vitality Money status changes afterward:

For example, if your personalised rate works out to 22% based on your credit score and prime, and you're at Diamond status, your locked-in rate for the loan becomes 17% — regardless of what happens to your Vitality Money status afterward. Improving your status before you apply is the only way to secure a bigger discount on a given loan.

Fees and total cost of borrowing

• Once-off credit initiation fee, charged when the loan is activated and set according to National Credit Act guidelines — confirmed in your offer before you accept
• Monthly credit service fee of R69, subject to change with notice
• Interest calculated on the outstanding balance at your personalised, prime-linked rate
• Discovery Bank shows you the full breakdown — total instalment, interest and fees — before you accept the loan offer

Eligibility and documents

• 18 years or older
• Valid South African identity document
• Proof of residence no older than three months
• Proof of income — if your salary is already paid into a Discovery Bank account, this is usually verified automatically without extra documents
• Subject to a credit and affordability assessment; a stronger credit score generally means a better rate

How to apply

New to Discovery Bank

Download the Discovery Bank app, select "Join the bank," create a username and password, and choose Personal Loan when selecting an account type, then follow the prompts to submit your application.

Already a Discovery Bank client

Log in to the app, tap Accounts, then Add Account, tap Personal Loan, fill in the required information, review your offer, and tap "Get this" to submit.

Repaying or settling early

You can settle a Discovery Bank personal loan at any time by depositing the settlement amount into your loan account — this can differ from the simple outstanding balance because of how interest is calculated, so request a settlement quote first rather than assuming the balance shown is the full payoff figure. If you settle early, you won't pay any further interest or fees, and the account stays open for 40 days afterward. You can request a settlement letter in the app under Accounts, or find a settlement letter under More → Document repository → Other documents → Letters.

Frequently asked questions

What is a Discovery Bank Home Loan?

A Discovery Bank Home Loan works like any other mortgage — Discovery Bank finances your property purchase, refinance or bond switch — but it's built on the same "shared-value" idea as the rest of Discovery Bank: manage your money well, and your rate gets better. You get a personalised interest rate based on your credit profile and circumstances, then a discount of up to 1% depending on your Discovery Bank product, your Vitality Money status, and any home loan-linked Discovery Life or Discovery Insure cover you hold. The discount is recalculated every month, based on the main applicant's ongoing behaviour, not locked in once at approval. Discovery Bank can finance up to 100% of a property's value, subject to credit and affordability assessment, and most applicants get a preliminary offer within five minutes of starting an application in the app.

New, switch or refinance: what's the difference?

The maximum loan term is 30 years. If you switch your bond, you can choose a different term based on your age, loan amount and affordability. Discovery Bank doesn't offer pre-approval, since rates are personalised and recalculated based on changing financial circumstances — but you can see an initial offer within minutes of starting an application in the app.

The Discovery Bank Home Partner Network

On top of the interest rate discount, new Discovery Bank Home Loan clients get access to the Home Partner Network — up to 30% back in Ðiscovery Miles on Discovery Bank card purchases at a set of home and furnishing retailers, for the first six months after the home loan is taken out. Partners have included Coricraft, Dial-a-Bed, Nespresso, Patio Warehouse and Volpes. This is a separate benefit from the interest rate discount and from the standing Ðiscovery Miles+ Network — check current partner terms and validity dates in the app or on the Card Discounts & Offers page, since retailer line-ups and reward percentages can change.

How the interest rate and discount work

Your effective rate is your contracted rate minus your discount. From 15 March 2026, all new home loan offers are based on the Prime lending rate rather than JIBAR (the Johannesburg Interbank Agreed Rate), as JIBAR is being phased out industry-wide. Existing home loans issued before that date remain on JIBAR for now, with advance notice before any future change.

The three components of your discount

The remaining up to 0.50% comes from taking up Discovery Life's Home Loan Protector cover and/or Discovery Insure Building and Contents cover, also scaled by Vitality Money status. Note: if your property is sectional title, you can't take up Discovery Insure's building cover (the body corporate typically covers this), which caps your maximum available discount at 0.875% rather than the full 1%.

To actually receive the discount each month, the main applicant must stay in good standing, have Vitality Money active, have the home loan debit order linked to a Discovery Bank account, and meet a minimum average monthly card spend threshold that varies by card tier — for example, R5,750 or more on a Gold card or Ðiscovery Account, up to R23,600 or more on a Purple card (or lower combined spend-plus-debit-order thresholds as an alternative route). These spend thresholds are reviewed annually and apply to discounts from 1 January 2026 onward.

Fees you should budget for

For a new home loan, registration and initiation fees must be paid upfront — they can't be added to (capitalised into) the loan. For a switch or refinance, you can choose to capitalise your registration, initiation and (for a switch) cancellation fees into the loan instead of paying them upfront, subject to credit approval. Transfer duty and conveyancing fees don't apply to development loans.

Who can apply, and how

• You must already be a Discovery Bank client with a qualifying transactional account, in good standing (not overdrawn, in arrears, under debt review, administration or sequestration)
• You can't have another Discovery Bank credit application already in progress
• The main applicant can add up to three co-applicants during the application; if married in community of property, your spouse must legally be added as a co-applicant
• Apply in the app: Accounts → menu (top right) → Add Account → Home Loan → accept terms → choose new/switch/refinance → submit information and documents
• Discovery Bank doesn't lend to businesses for home loans — only individuals qualify

Cancelling or settling your home loan

Even a fully paid-up bond stays registered at the Deeds Office until formally cancelled by an attorney — this applies whether you're selling, switching banks, or have simply paid off the loan. Discovery Bank asks for 90 days' notice before cancellation to avoid an early termination charge (ETC), calculated as the interest that would have applied over the remaining unfulfilled notice period. As a worked example from Discovery Bank's own materials: on a R250,000 balance at 10.5%, the ETC works out to roughly R71.92 per day, or about R6,472.80 if you give no notice at all over the full 90 days.

The full cancellation process typically takes 6–8 weeks once an attorney is appointed, and your settlement figure is usually higher than your outstanding balance shown in the app, since it includes processing-period interest, fees and contingency buffers. Legal fees for a standard cancellation average around R5,500, guided by Law Society of South Africa tariffs. You must keep paying instalments, keep debit orders active, and maintain required insurance until the cancellation is actually registered.

Also available: Revolving Credit Facility

Separately from home loans and personal loans, Discovery Bank offers a Revolving Credit Facility to existing primary accountholders (Transaction Account, Credit Card Account or Ðiscovery Account) with Vitality Money active. You only pay for it when you use it — specifically, when you carry an end-of-day debit balance of at least R500 during a statement period. A once-off initiation fee of R350 applies the first time you use the facility, plus the standard R69 monthly facility fee when a balance is outstanding. It isn't available as a standalone product — you need a qualifying primary account first.

Frequently asked questions

What is Discovery Bank Energy Solutions?

Discovery Bank partnered with Rubicon, a South African energy solutions provider and the official distributor of Tesla Powerwall products locally, to offer clients financing for solar panels, battery storage, inverters and other backup power equipment for their homes. The partnership launched in June 2023, aimed at helping South African households manage the impact of load shedding, and was expanded to all Discovery Bank clients by August 2023 after an initial rollout to a limited client segment. On Discovery Bank's own site, the offering is now branded Discovery Bank Energy Solutions, and includes upfront savings on a range of EcoFlow portable power devices alongside bespoke solar, inverter and off-grid installations. Discovery Bank joins Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank and FNB in offering a solar financing option to its banking clients.

Installation timelines and how you pay

At launch in mid-2023, Rubicon quoted a full journey — from initial consultation to guaranteed installation — of around three weeks. In August 2023, once the service had scaled to all Discovery Bank clients, Rubicon announced a 48-hour installation guarantee in major centres after funding was secured. However, Discovery Bank's own current Energy Solutions page states installation happens within three weeks once you accept your quote and make payment — so the three-week timeline appears to be the standing figure rather than the shorter 2023 promotional guarantee. Confirm the exact timeline for your address when you get your quote, since it can vary by location and system complexity.

Once you accept a quote, you can pay using your Discovery Bank card — which can qualify for up to 55 days' interest-free credit on select transactions, the same mechanism as any other Discovery Bank credit card purchase — or use your Discovery Bank credit facility to finance the solution over your chosen term. A Rubicon-accredited installer then delivers and installs the system. Discovery Bank also offers Live Assist support, available 24/7/365, for queries during the process.

Is this worth considering?

• You want to own a solar or backup power system outright rather than rent or lease one
• You're already a Discovery Bank client and want financing integrated into your existing banking relationship rather than a separate lender
• You value working with an established, single-brand-accredited installer network — Rubicon is South Africa's official Tesla Powerwall distributor
• You want flexibility on system size — the product range spans small portable power units up to large bespoke residential solar installations

As with any solar financing decision, compare the total cost of financing (interest plus fees over your chosen term) against paying upfront if you have the cash available, and get more than one quote if you're not already committed to a specific provider or brand.

Frequently asked questions