How Many Transfers From Savings Per Month: Limit, Fees, Exceptions

There is no federal rule that limits how many transfers from savings per month you can make. The Federal Reserve removed that cap in April 2020. Even so, many banks still enforce a six-transfer monthly limit as their own policy and charge a fee, often $5 to $15, for each transaction over it. Whether a limit applies to you depends on your bank’s current account agreement, not on federal law.¹

Which Transfers Count Toward the Six-Per-Month Limit

Banks that still enforce a cap count the same categories the old federal rule targeted: electronic or remote transactions that move money out quickly and with little friction. These are sometimes called “convenient” transfers.

Online and mobile transfers from savings to checking or to an outside account.
Preauthorized or automatic transfers, including recurring bill payments and standing instructions.
Telephone-initiated transfers, where you call the bank and ask them to move funds electronically.
ACH transfers to or from accounts at other financial institutions.
Overdraft protection pulls from savings to cover a negative checking balance. Each pull counts as one transfer.
Checks or debit card purchases drawn on a savings or money market account.

Peer-to-peer payment apps like Zelle or Venmo, when funded directly from savings, function as electronic transfers to a third party and would count under any bank-imposed cap. The Federal Reserve does not classify these separately from other electronic transfers.²

Withdrawals That Don’t Count

Some ways of getting at your savings have never been subject to the monthly cap, because they involve physical presence or a built-in delay.

In-person withdrawals at a branch, whether cash or a teller-assisted transfer.
ATM withdrawals, no matter how many you make.
Checks that the bank mails to you on request, drawn against your savings account.

If you are close to your bank’s monthly cap and need to move money, an ATM withdrawal or a branch visit sidesteps the count.

What Happens if You Go Over

Consequences escalate the more often it happens. The first thing you will usually see is an excess withdrawal fee, typically $5 to $15 per transaction over the limit. Some banks waive it the first time. Others apply it immediately. A bank may also simply decline the transaction so it never goes through.³

If you exceed the limit repeatedly over multiple statement cycles, your bank can convert your savings account into a checking account without your permission. That conversion usually means losing the interest rate you earned on the savings account. In some cases, the bank will remove transfer capabilities instead, or close the account and move the funds somewhere else.³

Why Banks Still Use the Six-Transfer Limit

The six-per-month cap came from Regulation D, which required banks to limit certain transfers out of savings accounts to classify them as savings deposits. On April 24, 2020, the Federal Reserve deleted that limit from the definition entirely, and Regulation D now defines a savings deposit as an account from which transfers may be made “regardless of the number of such transfers and withdrawals or the manner in which such transfers and withdrawals are made.”⁴ The Fed has said it does not plan to bring the limit back.²

The rule change permits banks to drop the cap but does not require them to. Many traditional banks have kept the six-transfer limit as internal policy, treating savings accounts as a place to hold money rather than spend from. Online banks have more often dropped the limit entirely. Two customers at two different banks can face completely different rules on the same transaction.

Finding Your Bank’s Actual Rule

Your account agreement is the only reliable source for whether a limit applies to you and what the fee is. Under Regulation DD, the federal Truth in Savings rule, banks must disclose any limits on the number of withdrawals and the amount and conditions of any fee, in writing and in a form you can keep, before you open the account.⁵ If you were never told about a transfer cap or an excess withdrawal fee when you opened your account, the bank may not have met its disclosure obligations.

If your bank wants to add a new limit or raise its excess withdrawal fee after your account is open, it has to mail or deliver written notice at least 30 calendar days before the change takes effect. The same 30-day notice applies before a bank can convert your savings account to a checking account because of excessive transfers.⁶ That notice is your window to change how you use the account or move the money.

Money Market, Credit Union, and Business Accounts

Money market deposit accounts sit under the same framework as regular savings accounts. The federal six-transfer limit used to apply to both, and its removal applies to both.⁴ If your bank still enforces a cap, it covers your money market account too. Because money market accounts often come with check-writing or debit card privileges, it is easy to run through six third-party transactions without noticing.

Credit union share accounts work the same way. The National Credit Union Administration regulates credit unions, and its Truth in Savings rule at 12 C.F.R. Part 707 requires credit unions to disclose any transfer limits on their accounts.⁷ Whether a specific credit union still enforces a six-transfer cap is, again, up to that credit union.

Business savings accounts are a different story. Regulation DD’s disclosure rules apply only to accounts held by individuals for personal, family, or household purposes, which leaves business accounts, including those held by sole proprietors, outside those protections.⁵ A bank can impose monthly transfer limits on a business savings account with fewer upfront disclosure obligations, so the account agreement does more of the work. Read it closely.

1
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Federal Reserve Board Announces Interim Final Rule to Delete the Six-Per-Month Limit on Convenient Transfers From the Savings Deposit Definition in Regulation D
2
Federal Reserve Board. Savings Deposits Frequently Asked Questions
3
HelpWithMyBank.gov. Can the Bank Stop Paying Interest Because I Wrote Too Many Checks?
4
eCFR. 12 CFR 204.2 – Definitions
5
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 1030 – Truth in Savings (Regulation DD)
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 1030.5 Subsequent Disclosures
7
eCFR. 12 CFR Part 707 – Truth in Savings