Are you wondering how to transfer money from Netspend to a bank account? While Netspend does allow you to link external accounts and initiate transfers from Netspend to your bank account, my recommendation is to never initiate a transfer to your bank account via the Netspend app or website. That’s because Netspend charges a fee for outbound ACH transfers.
Fortunately, it’s still easy to transfer money from Netspend to your bank account without incurring any fees. To do that, you’ll want to initiate transfers from your external bank account instead.
In this post, we’ll walk through exactly how to transfer money from Netspend to your bank account.
How To Transfer Money From Netspend To Bank Account
Netspend allows users to link external bank accounts to their Netspend account. However, the issue is that according to the fee schedule, Netspend charges $1.95 for outbound ACH transfers. This means if you link an external bank account and initiate a transfer out of Netspend using the Netspend app or website, you’ll have to pay a $1.95 fee. This is terrible and I would not recommend doing that.
However, Netspend does give you an account number and routing number, which means you can log into your external bank account’s website, link Netspend to it, then initiate an ACH transfer from your external bank account. If you initiate transfers from an outside bank account, you will not be charged any fee. I’ve been doing this for years and have never paid any fees to transfer money from Netspend to my bank account.
To find your Netspend account number and routing number, log into the Netspend website and click on your account information (it should be labeled as “account”). You’ll find your account number and the routing number on that page. Once you have that information, you can go to your outside bank account and link Netspend to it.
The most important thing to remember when transferring money from Netspend to another bank account is to only do the transfers from the outside bank account (i.e. not from the Netspend website). You should never be initiating transfers from the Netspend website. If you are, it means you will be charged a fee.
An Example Of How To Transfer Money From Netspend To Bank Account
I think an example might help clarify exactly how to transfer money from Netspend to your bank account.
Let’s say I have $1,000 on my Netspend card. To move that money out, I first go to my external bank account. In this case, I use Ally as my primary bank account. On the Ally website, I link Netspend as an external bank account using my Netspend account number and the routing number.
Next, to get the $1,000 out, I log into my Ally bank account, then initiate a withdrawal of $1,000 from Netspend to my Ally bank account.
If I had money in the Netspend 5% savings account, I’d first, have to move that money to my Netspend card before initiating the withdrawal. To do that, I’d log into the Netspend account, then move the money from my Netspend savings account to my Netspend card. Then I go to my external bank account and initiate a withdrawal from my Netspend card.
Potential Issues When Transferring Money From Netspend To Bank Account
There are a few issues that you may run into when transferring money from Netspend to your bank account. Here are the biggest issues you might run into.
Some Banks Won’t Link With Netspend
The biggest issue you may run into is that your bank won’t link with Netspend. Because Netspend is a prepaid debit card, some banks have trouble linking to it.
Unfortunately, the only way around this is to find a bank that will link with Netspend if you find your bank doesn’t link with it.
I’ve always had luck linking Ally with Netspend, and indeed, that’s the primary account I use to link with Netspend and transfer money out of it. Occasionally, some people have had issues with using Ally. My advice is if you find Ally doesn’t work, try a different bank account until one does work.
How To Move Money From Your Netspend Savings Account To Your External Bank Account
Another question you might have is whether you can link the Netspend savings account to an external bank account. The answer is you cannot do that. The savings account does not come with an account number, so if you want to move money out of the savings account, you’ll first need to move the money from the savings account to your Netspend card, then initiate an ACH withdrawal out of Netspend from your external bank account.
Be sure that if you’re withdrawing money, the money has been moved out of the savings account and onto the debit card. Your external bank account cannot pull money directly out of the Netspend savings account, so if you forget to move the money out of your savings account first, you could get hit with an overdraft fee if you don’t have enough money on your Netspend card.
I like to think of the Netspend debit card as a funnel or an inbox. Any money that I want to transfer into or out of the savings account must first flow through the prepaid debit card.
Final Thoughts
Transferring money from Netspend to your bank account isn’t difficult. The only difficult part may be if your bank has problems linking to Netspend, as that will force you to find another bank account that does work with Netspend. I’ve had luck with my Ally bank account, so I recommend using them if you need a good bank account that works with Netspend.
Remember, to avoid withdrawal fees, always initiate your Netspend withdrawals using your external bank account’s website. You should never be doing anything in your Netspend account other than moving money between your Netspend card and your Netspend savings account.
I hope this information helps!
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