I posted this today
Stay away from Discount
See this from YNET:
דיסקונט הבטיח משכנתא זולה אבל לא מצליח לספק אותה -
This is no news for us. Bank Discount has been making promises right and left to people.
Do you know anyone who has actually got one of their promised 
subsidized mortgages? Neither do we.
We have advised our clients against this program from the beginning. Their so-called subsidy is only 0.3% less than the going rates. Our clients get better rates than this at the real banks when we get them approved anyways.
As I always say, rate is only one parameter of the loan. There are so many other things which are either hidden or not understood which impact mortgages over time. Discount gives you a good rate, but locks you into using their bank for everything at their rates.
Mortgage Israel
Did you compare how much more you will be spending for your banking there? Have you compared the penalties of the mortgages to those of different banks? In general, this is not a bank that I recommend doing business with. Even if they happen to have a good branch that is convenient for you, this is not the place for your mortgage.
Discount is trying to become one of the major banks by offering mortgages as a loss-leader. Loss-leaders are great if you happen to need that particular product. I used to work at a big do-it-yourself homecenter in DC (which was recently reborn as an online tool store; an interesting story about branding and brand retention). Every week we had a different loss-leader. Usually it was something like mulch or manure. Hoping that people coming to buy manure would also buy tools and plants and fertilizer, these staples were sold at a small loss to the store. Some people would wait for the sales and come in early on a Sunday morning and buy 40 sacks of manure!
Many people think that manure and mortgages have a lot in common. If used correctly, both can be used to increase the value of your home. Both start with m. I think that it ends there, but I'll be happy to get comments suggesting more similarities.
I call into question the rationale of a company who treats their most intricate and expensive product as the loss-leader in order to sell their cheaper products. They want to get you hooked on their mortgages so that they can catch you with their expensive consumer credit options.
My assessment is that they are more reminiscent of a drug pusher than lean-mean marketing machine. We will find you better alternatives for your mortgage.
