Wealthfront Cash Review: Online Cash Management Account
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Many or all of the products on this page are from partners who compensate us when you click to or take an action on their website, but this does not influence our evaluations or ratings. Our opinions are our own.
Overview
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The Wealthfront Cash Account offers a high interest rate with no fees, and it offers debit card and check writing services, which aren’t always a given with these kinds of accounts.
Cash management accounts, or cash accounts, are a sort of hybrid checking and savings account but are offered by brokers, such as Wealthfront, rather than banks. Wealthfront, like most cash management account providers, sweeps customers’ cash balances into third-party banks that provide FDIC insurance on deposits. The lack of fees on the cash account offered by Wealthfront, a top robo-advisor, make it a worthy cash account to consider.
No overdraft fees.
No monthly fees.
Competitive rate on all balances.
Large, free, nationwide ATM network.
Early direct deposit.
No cash deposit.
No branch access.
Limited customer support hours.
Product reviews
Cash management
Upsides:
Offers a high APY. Wealthfront is currently offering a promotional rate boost. The ongoing standard rate is 3.30% APY. That’s higher than the national average for savings accounts, which is currently just 0.38%.
No fees. Wealthfront doesn’t charge any maintenance, withdrawal or other fees on this account, though there is a $1 minimum opening deposit.
Early direct deposit. Customers can have their income directly deposited into their Wealthfront Cash Account and access the money up to two days earlier than their regular payday. (Want this feature at your bank too? See banks with early direct deposits.)
FDIC coverage up to $8 million through affiliated partner banks. The FDIC typically insures up to $250,000, per depositor, per institution. Wealthfront sweeps customers' funds into multiple partner banks to ensure coverage of up to $8 million (and up to $16 million for joint accounts).
Debit card allows purchases and cash withdrawals. Customers can use an optional debit card that allows them to make purchases and cash withdrawals from more than 19,000 ATMs for free.
Peer-to-peer transfer app compatibility. Customers can link their account to peer-to-peer money transfer apps such as Venmo, Cash App and PayPal.
Free “send a check” feature. If you’ve met the basic requirements of holding $1,000 across your Wealthfront balances for the past 30 days, Wealthfront can send a check payment on your behalf for free.
Automated saving and investing tools. Wealthfront allows its users to set a maximum account balance on their Wealthfront Cash Account or other checking account and automatically move additional cash into other categories and some accounts, such as a Wealthfront Individual or Joint Automated Investing Account or an IRA.
Customized subaccounts. The Cash Account offers the ability to create categories, or subaccounts. This makes it easier to have your funds organized among multiple specific savings goals. You can name the categories to be helpful to you — ex. “Vacation,” “Property taxes,” and so on.
» LEARN: How savings buckets work
Quick investing through the account. The Wealthfront Cash Account allows customers to put money in their Wealthfront investment accounts, which feature a globally diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Free same-day withdrawals. Customers can receive a same-day transfer from their Wealthfront account to an external bank account within minutes. There are more than 1,000 participating banks and credit unions that can receive same-day transfers.
Downsides:
No cash deposits. Even though cash withdrawals are available, cash deposits are not.
Customer experience & overdraft fees
Customer experience
Upsides:
Solid website and high app ratings. The Wealthfront website is well designed, and it’s easy to find information about different account offerings as well as FAQs and general information about the company. Both Apple and Android users give the Wealthfront app high ratings.
Downsides:
No branches. Wealthfront Cash is an online-only service.
Limited support. Wealthfront has extended weekday hours for live phone and chat support — 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Monday through Thursday and 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT on Friday — but it doesn’t offer support on weekends. Customer support is also available by email and by filling out a form on the website.
Overdraft fees
No overdraft program. Wealthfront rejects any transaction that can’t be covered by the funds in your account. While that means no overdraft fees, it also means you have to keep track of your account balance so you don’t come up short during a transfer.
Rating methodology
NerdWallet’s overall ratings for cash management accounts are weighted averages of account features and customer experience. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include rates and fees, ATM access, availability of cash withdrawal and limits, user-facing technology, customer service, overdraft programs and innovation. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). The ratings are incremented in tenths of a star.
NerdWallet does not receive compensation for our star ratings. Read more about our ratings methodologies for banks and credit unions and our editorial guidelines.