How to Change Your Savings Account

Change Your Savings Account: You can improve your financial chances by moving savings accounts because not all savings accounts are created equal. Even while your current account may have been adequate for your needs, a new account at a different bank might offer more features at a more affordable price.

The interest you receive on your money and any fees are two essential characteristics to look for in a new savings account. It’s crucial to weigh your options to find the best fit if you’re prepared to switch banks and transfer your funds to a different savings account.

Main Points

• As you accumulate an emergency fund or save for long-term financial objectives, your money can generate interest in a safe location with a savings account.
• Consider the interest rate, account fees, and accessibility of money access before transferring to banks or savings accounts.
• Compared to traditional banks or credit unions, savings accounts at online banks may have greater interest rates.
• Before closing an old savings account, stop any automated transfers, bill payments, direct deposits, or recurring debits or credits.

Change Your Savings Account: How to Transfer a Savings Account to a Different Bank

A savings account is a type of deposit account made to retain money that you don’t intend to spend right away. The best way to safely store your money and receive interest is in a savings account. A savings account is frequently one of a person’s first bank accounts and can serve as a foundation for sound financial management.

You must follow a few essential procedures in order to open your new savings account, move your funds from your old savings account to your new account, and shut down your old account.

Change Your Savings Account: To open a new savings account, apply

Many banks make it simple to start a new savings account by requiring only the completion of an application and the submission of some basic data. Typically, you can submit an application in person or online.

You’ll probably have to give personal data such as your:

• Name
• Address
• Date of birth
• Social Security number
• Phone number
• Email address

You will also need to supply their information if you’re starting a joint savings account. To confirm your identification, the bank might require you to submit a copy of a government-issued ID, and you might be subject to a ChexSystems check. An organization called ChexSystems gathers information about suspicious activity on bank accounts, such as returned checks and unpaid overdrafts.

Typically, opening a new savings account doesn’t result in a hard credit check, which could temporarily harm your credit.

Change Your Savings Account: Transfer funds from the previous account to the new one

You must fund the account with an initial deposit after your new savings account is opened, which might happen instantly if you apply online. It’s possible to submit cash or a cheque as your initial deposit while opening a savings account in person. However, there are a few different methods for moving money from the old account to the new one.

Transfer through ACH

You might utilize an ACH (Automated Clearing House) transfer to transfer all of your funds from your old savings account to a new one if you opened one (ACH). To accomplish this, first link the accounts, then plan the transfer from your old savings account to your new one.

Verify Transfer

If you’re moving money between conventional banks or credit unions, you could use a certified check to transfer money from your old savings account to your new one. You would need to go to the branch and ask for a certified check for the amount of the withdrawal; however, there might be a cost. The check could then be mailed or personally deposited into your new savings account.

Automatic Transactions Redirected

You should move any automatic transactions to your new account if you intend to cancel your previous savings account. These automatic transactions could include:

• Paychecks are deposited electronically
• government benefits or tax refunds are deposited electronically.
• automatic payments for bills
• periodic withdrawals from a checking account

If you had banking alerts set up with your previous bank, you’ll need to do the same with your new one. You should be able to do this through the bank’s website or mobile application.

If you don’t move all of your automatic payments and deposits to the new bank account, new transactions on the old account could result in an overdraft if there aren’t enough funds, which would result in an overdraft fee.

Change Your Savings Account: Delete the previous account

You can ask the bank to terminate your old savings account after transferring all deposits and automatic payments there. To check for any automatic transactions you might have missed, you might wish to keep your previous account open for a few months.

Change Your Savings Account: If you decide to keep the old account open, pay attention to fees. You can incur a monthly fee on the previous account if there is a minimum balance requirement to avoid a fee and you transferred your funds to the new account.

Change Your Savings Account: The Qualities of a New Savings Account

Change Your Savings Account: Finding the best savings account for you requires some research and careful thinking, but switching banks is rather straightforward. It could be beneficial to switch savings accounts if the new account offers better service, a greater interest rate, or fewer costs. Traditional banks, credit unions, and online banking providers all offer savings account opening services.

Fees Savings accounts are no exception to the rule that banks make money by assessing fees for their goods and services. Higher fees may negate the savings you are making. Therefore, to get an idea of how much you would pay, check the fee schedule for each savings account you’re thinking for.

A savings account may charge the following types of fees:

• recurring maintenance charge
• Extra withdrawal charge
• Statement about the paper fee
• The returned item deposit charge
• charge for inactivity
• Fee for wire transfers

You pay a monthly maintenance charge only to have the account. If you take more withdrawals from your savings than are permitted each month, there can be an excess withdrawal fee. For instance, your bank might impose a six-withdrawal monthly maximum and impose a $5 overage fee.

APP

The annual percentage yield, also known as APY, measures the potential interest earnings on a savings account balance over the course of a year. Because the APY takes compounding into account, which means you receive interest on your interest, it is higher than the basic interest rate. Which savings account pays you the highest interest rate can be determined by comparing APYs.

A greater APY is advantageous, but it’s critical to comprehend how it’s used. The same APY may be applied by some institutions to all balances. As a result, you might get 0.01% of your money back. Your APY may be tiered by other banks according to your balance. As a result, you may receive 0.05% on your first $2,499 in savings and then 0.60% on all additional sums.

Initial Payment

The minimum deposit required to create a savings account can differ from bank to bank. For instance, one bank might allow you to open a new saving account with no money, while another might demand a $500 opening deposit. Savings accounts with greater APYs could need a bigger minimum deposit.

Change Your Savings Account: Customer service and convenience

A savings account is designed to hold funds for longer-term objectives or funds that are not required for daily costs. However, it’s critical to think about how simple it will be for you to retrieve your money. If you anticipate needing your money soon after depositing it, familiarize yourself with the bank’s funds availability policy.

Change Your Savings Account: When comparing banks and their savings accounts, the following inquiries can be useful:

Does the bank provide a mobile app or internet banking?
Can I deposit checks on my phone?

• Will the account include a debit card or an ATM card?
• Can I transfer money between accounts or set up direct deposit?
• Can I make a deposit at an ATM or a branch?
• Are there restrictions on the quantity or number of deposits and withdrawals made each day, each week, or each month?
• What kind of customer service is offered

Change Your Savings Account: Think about different goods and services

You might wish to look into additional financial services and products offered by the new bank when looking for how to move savings accounts. A few of these are:

• Savings accounts
• Accounts with certificates of deposit
• accounting for money markets
• Bank cards
• Loans, such as credit cards, personal loans, and mortgages
• retirement savings
• Services for wealth management
• Insurance

Since you have more products with them, consolidating all of your banking services or products into one bank may be more convenient for you and enable you to negotiate better terms with your bank.

FAQ

Can you move money between savings accounts?

Change Your Savings Account: An electronic or paper check-based bank transfer is a transaction that transmits money from one bank account to another. A bank transfer can be internal, in which case money is moved between accounts at the same financial institution, or external, in which case it moves money between accounts at two different financial institutions.

How many times is it possible to withdraw money from a savings account?

Change Your Savings Account: The Fed has relaxed regulations for how banks treat savings accounts under the change to Regulation D announced in 2020. Fed regulations now permit limitless transfers and withdrawals from savings and money market accounts, as opposed to the previous limit of six convenient transfers or withdrawals per month for bank customers.

What is the process of transferring money from one account to another known as?

Money is sent from one account at Bank A to another at Bank B by a bank-to-bank transfer, sometimes referred to as an external transfer. External transfers that are electronic or use the internet can speed up the transfer of funds to another party by removing the need to transport money between banks physically.

How come people change their savings accounts?

What causes people to switch banks? You may be able to take advantage of introductory offers, like as lower interest rates or sign-up bonuses, by switching banks. Incentives are frequently given by banks to attract customers. It might be worthwhile to switch if all you have to do is do so in order to receive a cash incentive or better terms.