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- Strategies for Savers
 1. Blog
 2. One-Year Anniversary of Reg D Change - Impact to Savings Accounts


ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF REG D CHANGE - IMPACT TO SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

Comments (8)Post a Comment
POSTED ON MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2021 BY Ken Tumin


Last Saturday was the one-year anniversary of a little-known change in a Federal
Reserve regulation that impacts savers. On April 24, 2020, the Fed announced a
change to Regulation D that permits banks and credit unions to allow their
customers to make more than six payments or withdrawals per month from their
savings and money market accounts.

One thing that wasn’t apparent when the Fed first announced this change was if
this change would be permanent or just temporary. A couple months after the
announcement, the Fed updated its FAQs by adding one to address this question.
According to the FAQ, the “Board does not have plans to re-impose transfer
limits.” Although there may be changes, the Reg D change is considered
permanent.

It’s important to note that banks and credit unions are not required to make
changes. They are free to maintain their old withdrawal limit rules. Some bank
policies include fees when customers exceed six payments or withdrawals per
month. Some banks also have policies that give them the right to close savings
accounts if customers regularly exceed this limit.

As you might expect, many banks and credit unions have been slow in updating
their policies. After one year since this announcement, I thought it would be
interesting to review the latest policies of a few popular banks and credit
unions to see what has changed.


SUSPENDED WITHDRAWAL LIMITS

When the pandemic hit last year, several institutions announced temporary policy
changes to assist customers. In some cases, that included waiving the
6-per-month withdrawal limit. Those waivers still exist at several banks. Here
are the current policies at three popular online banks.

ALLY BANK

Ally Bank started to waive the excessive transaction fee before the Fed changed
Reg D when the pandemic first hit. However, it didn’t make any significant
change after the Reg D change. In its savings account page, Ally still says that
they are “temporarily refunding this fee.”

> Federal law permits limiting certain types of withdrawals and transfers from
> savings accounts. There's a $10 excessive transaction fee for each transaction
> that exceeds this limit. However, we're temporarily refunding this fee to help
> those of you impacted by COVID-19.

Ally is not attributing the fee to Reg D as banks have long done. It only says
that “Federal law permits limiting.”

DISCOVER BANK

In Discover’s FAQ “How do I withdraw money from my Online Savings Account”,
Discover Bank includes a long description of its withdrawal limits. At the end
of the paragraph, Discover states that they “are currently not enforcing” this
limit.

> We are currently not enforcing the monthly transaction limit on savings and
> money market accounts. Therefore, exceeding these limitations on more than an
> occasional basis will not result in the closure of your account.

In my opinion, this suggests only a temporary change.

MARCUS BY GOLDMAN SACHS

Marcus by Goldman Sachs also addresses this limit in its FAQs. In the FAQ “How
many withdrawals can I make each month,” Marcus provides the following answer:

> Due to a change in federal law, you are now free to make more than six
> withdrawals or transfers from your Online Savings Account in a monthly
> statement period. At this time, there is no limit to the number of withdrawals
> or transfers you can make.

This sounds more permanent than either Ally or Discover, but Marcus did include
“At this time” to suggest it may not be permanent.


NEW LIMIT AT AMERICAN EXPRESS

Unlike the other online banks, American Express National Bank has made a policy
change that appears to be permanent. Instead of allowing an unlimited number of
withdrawals, it just increased the number from six to nine. This is described in
detail in one of their FAQs:

> Why is there a limit of nine (9) withdrawals/debits per statement cycle for
> High Yield Savings Accounts?
> 
> American Express High Yield Savings Accounts are not meant for everyday
> spending. Savings accounts like our High Yield Savings Account were
> historically required to limit the number of withdrawals and transfers that
> could be made to six (6) withdrawals and transfers per statement cycle. This
> requirement came from a Federal Reserve Board regulation - Reserve
> Requirements for Depository Institutions (12 C.F.R. 204 Regulation D).
> 
> The Federal Reserve Board revised this regulation in April, 2020 to permit
> banks to remove the six withdrawal / transfer limit. As a result, to give our
> High Yield Savings Account customers additional flexibility to access their
> funds, Savings customers may now make a maximum of nine (9) transfers or
> withdrawals per statement cycle.* There is no limit on the number of deposits
> can be made.

I find it interesting that American Express noted that its savings account is
“not meant for everyday spending.” I think American Express is not alone in that
they don’t want their savings account to be used like a checking account even
though the Reg D change essentially allows this.


NO LIMIT WITHOUT FANFARE AT NAVY FEDERAL

For the case of Navy Federal Credit Union, I could not find any mention of
Regulation D or savings account policy changes. However, there is no mention of
withdrawal limits. In fact, Navy Federal’s account disclosure includes the
following:

> Savings Transfers and Withdrawals
> 
> You may transfer and/or withdraw funds from your savings account as often as
> you want.

I’m not sure exactly when or how the disclosure changed. I assume the disclosure
used to include the Reg D withdrawal limits. Navy Federal isn’t promoting
unlimited withdrawals from savings accounts, but it appears that they are
quietly allowing it with no end date.


STILL HAS NOT CHANGED

As you might expect, there are many banks and credit unions that haven’t made
any changes to their withdrawal policies. In fact, many still say that the
6-per-month limit is due to federal regulation.

This reminds me of the last change to Reg D in 2009 when the Fed increased the
number of allowed checks per month in savings and money market accounts from
three to six. After the Reg D change, many banks and credit unions maintained
the 3-per-month check limit for several years and claimed it was due to federal
regulation. It will be interesting to see how many years it will take this time.

CAPITAL ONE

Capital One’s 360 Performance Savings account page still lists the 6-per-month
withdrawal limit and cites “federal laws” as the reason. This is done in both
the savings account Q&A and in the account disclosure. The following is from the
360 Performance Savings Disclosure:

> Pursuant to federal law, no more than six (6) withdrawals or transfers per
> monthly statement cycle to a third party or to your other accounts at Capital
> One are permitted on this account.

CHASE BANK

At Chase Bank, the Savings Withdrawal Limit fee still exists with the same
6-per-month limit. Chase is actually more strict than the old Reg D in that all
withdrawals are counted (The old Reg D exempted certain withdrawals like ATM
withdrawals.) Below is an excerpt from the Chase savings account page:

> Savings Withdrawal Limit Fee: $5 Savings Withdrawal Limit Fee, which is a
> Chase fee, applies to each withdrawal or transfer out of this account over six
> per monthly statement period. All withdrawals and transfers out of this
> account count toward this fee, including those made at a branch or at an ATM.

PENFED

There are many credit unions that have also not made updates to their policies.
PenFed, the fourth largest credit union in the nation, is one of them. In
addition to still listing the 6-per-month limit, it blames federal regulations
for the limit. This is an excerpt from PenFed’s membership disclosure:

> federal Regulation D limits the following to no more than a total of 6 per
> monthly dividend cycle

ALLIANT CREDIT UNION

Another large and popular credit union, Alliant, is still listing the
6-per-month limit. It’s also still blaming the Fed. This is an excerpt from
Alliant’s savings account FAQs:

> Are there any transaction restrictions for savings accounts?
> 
> Federal regulations limit pre-authorized withdrawals to six per month per
> savings account.


BOTTOM LINE

Since the Reg D change doesn’t require banks and credit unions to change their
6-per-month withdrawal limits, the institutions don’t have much motivation to
make changes. Banks don’t seem to want their customers to use savings accounts
as checking accounts. As American Express mentioned, its savings accounts “are
not meant for everyday spending.” There is probably more cost for the bank to
maintain accounts with more withdrawal transactions. That may be one of the
reasons why banks typically offer higher interest rates on savings accounts. As
the pandemic and temporary COVID measures end, it’ll be interesting to see how
banks will change their 6-per-month limits. Do they return to the old limit? Do
they allow unlimited withdrawals or do they follow American Express and just
slightly increase the limit?

Unlimited or higher limits on withdrawals will offer savers a small benefit.

First, it will make it easier for savers to keep more money in their savings
accounts instead of their checking accounts. Most savings accounts have higher
interest rates than checking accounts. In 2019, I described how Ally customers
could use Ally’s free overdraft transfer service to maximize their interest.
Without the excessive transaction limit, it’s even easier to keep more in your
Ally savings account.

Even if savers aren’t trying to minimize the amount of cash in their checking
accounts, this Reg D change should lower the odds of being hit with the
excessive transaction fee. There are many reasons why you may exceed six
withdrawals in a month from a savings account. For example, if you’re using your
savings account to fund a new account at another bank, there may be multiple
withdrawals made with one or two done in relationship with the trial deposit
that’s done to verify that you own the existing account. Not having to worry
about excessive withdrawals on savings accounts doesn’t come close to make up
for the record low interest rates. Nevertheless, it’s a small benefit, and in
today’s world, savers need all the help they can get.

If you know the withdrawal limit policies of other banks or credit unions,
please leave a comment.

All references to institution websites and disclosures were made on 4/26/2021.



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8 Comments.
P_D   |   Apr 26, 2021   |   Comment #1
Why give up a fee earner?

They probably don't appreciate that the Fed took away their excuse though.

Gonna miss the CSR's "Sorry sir but we are required to do this by law." (while
you hear them yelling "YIPPEE" in a foreign accent in the background at the call
center)
Reply
6 votes  |   Report Post
NYCDoug   |   Apr 26, 2021   |   Comment #2
With some petty/greedy/thoughtless FIs, you need to be aware of trial deposits
-- and their subsequent withdrawal(s) -- when linking external accounts via ACH.

The trial withdrawal(s) may count against your monthly limit . . . Though a call
to customer service will sometimes suffice in order to reverse the fee that
automatically hits your savings account once you accrue more than six
withdrawals during a given statement cycle.

An inconvenience, nonetheless -- to say the least!
Reply
6 votes  |   Report Post
Kaight   |   Apr 26, 2021   |   Comment #3
Alliant is a real piece of work. Leaders there know the average member cannot
even name the three branches of government, no less be aware of obscure Fed
rules changes. So why not continue to blame the Fed when so many members will
just nod their heads like drones and not question that, or anything else.
Reply
2 votes  |   Report Post

enduser   |   Apr 26, 2021   |   Comment #5
Right on P_D re: fee earner.
NYCDoug, that irks me when banks count ACH linking micro deposits towards
withdraw limits.

One bank that has held strong to the very old 3 withdraw limit is Hancock
Whitney.
"We allow up to three (3) withdrawals/transfers from your savings account per
month at no additional cost. There is a $3.00 fee for each transfer or
withdrawal from your savings account in excess of three (3) per month."
Reply
2 votes  |   Report Post
P_D   |   Apr 27, 2021   |   Comment #6
Remember that there really isn't any reason to incur the Reg D style fees since
they are charged on a per account basis and many FIs will allow you to open
multiple accounts of the same type. So if they have a limit of 6 withdrawals per
account, you can get 6 more without a fee for every additional account you have
open. It can be an inconvenience in some cases to have to shuffle funds between
accounts -- and remember each time you transfer from one account to another that
counts as a withdrawal from the sending account -- but that is easily offset by
the psychic reward of denying them a fee for this dumb rule.
Reply
3 votes  |   Report Post
Nonchalance   |   Apr 27, 2021   |   Comment #7
Barclays is another that charges after six, and blames the government.
Reply
4 votes  |   Report Post
Sandra   |   Apr 29, 2021   |   Comment #9
From citibank (citi.com) Home page: "Beginning April 19, 2021, Citi is lifting
the six-per-statement limit on transfers from your savings and money market
accounts."
Reply
6 votes  |   Report Post
NYCDoug   |   May 4, 2021   |   Comment #10
From a NYTimes Article [May 1, 2021, Section B, Page 6 of the New York edition]
with the headline: A Banking Rule Changed. Not All Banks Went Along

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/your-money/covid-banks-savings-access.html?searchResultPosition=1


> The rule change, however, didn’t require banks to drop the limits. Some banks
> temporarily suspended their caps and accompanying fees, allowing customers
> unfettered use of their savings. But others kept both limits and fees in
> place, and continue doing so, even though the rule change appears to be
> permanent or at least long term, said Ken Tumin, the founder and editor of
> DepositAccounts.com, which has tracked banks’ policies.
> 
> According to its response to frequently asked questions on its website, the
> Federal Reserve “does not have plans to reimpose transfer limits” but may make
> “adjustments” to the definition of a savings account “if conditions warrant.”
> 
> Some institutions, in their account disclosures, still cite the federal
> regulation as the reason for imposing the limits and charging the fees. But,
> Mr. Tumin said, “it’s because of their policy, not the federal regulation
> anymore.”

Reply
2 votes  |   Report Post

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