Introducing Free Instant Withdrawals from the Wealthfront Cash Account

We’ve been working all year to make it easier, faster, and cheaper to access your money when you need it. Today, we’re excited to announce you can make free instant withdrawals from your Wealthfront Cash Account to an eligible linked account every day of the year. We are one of the only high-yield cash accounts on the market to offer this service for free.

That means you can earn a high, industry-leading 4.00% APY from our partner banks on all of your cash without worrying about leaving a buffer in external accounts for last-minute purchases. And no matter whether it’s Sunday, Monday, Labor Day, or some other special day, your funds will arrive within minutes. You can track your transfer’s progress in real time in the Wealthfront app. 

How do free instant withdrawals work?

These faster withdrawals are made possible by new standards in the financial industry called the RTP® Network and FedNow Service that allow your money to move much more quickly between institutions. Wealthfront has now adopted FedNow in addition to RTP, which we adopted earlier this year, and we’ve already moved over $8 billion of clients’ money using these new standards. It’s never been faster to move money from your Cash Account to an eligible external account, including those at Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and Wells Fargo. Accounts held at over 1,000 institutions are automatically eligible and we expect that number will continue to grow rapidly. You can see the full list of RTP-eligible banks here and FedNow-eligible banks here. 

Once you’ve linked an eligible account, you can initiate a free, instant withdrawal any day, anytime, and you’ll receive the funds within minutes. To make sure your eligible accounts are linked and ready for instant withdrawals, click “+ Add account” at the bottom of your Wealthfront dashboard, and then select “External” from the account options. To initiate a withdrawal, head to the “transfers” menu on our website or app and select “Withdraw.” You’ll see any RTP- or FedNow-eligible accounts clearly marked with a lightning bolt, and you’ll get a preview of your expected transfer timing with an arrival estimate. (Withdrawals to accounts that are not RTP- or FedNow-eligible are processed via ACH and usually arrive in 1-2 business days.)

Once the funds have been sent, we’ll send you a real-time push notification letting you know. You can also track your transfer’s progress in real-time in the Wealthfront app.

Earn a high APY on all of your cash

We designed the Wealthfront Cash Account to be the ideal place for your short-term cash until you’re ready to invest. But maybe you’re nervous about last-minute expenses because you’re not sure how long it will take to transfer your money where you need it to be. As a result, you might keep some of your cash in accounts where it earns very little interest, just so it’s available in a pinch. We’ve worked to eliminate that stress and hassle by making it possible to easily and instantly withdraw your money from the Cash Account for free, any time of day and any day of the year. You can forget about counting business days and confidently earn a high 4.00% APY from our partner banks on all of your cash right up until the day you need it.

Build long-term wealth on your own terms

At Wealthfront, we’re building a financial system that favors people, not institutions. That means we’re constantly working to improve the tools we offer for managing and growing your money, including our high-interest Cash Account. You may have learned to expect slow and expensive money movement from your other accounts, but you can count on us to keep making our products better. Stay tuned for even more improvements to the Cash Account next year.