[Update: Fidelity is no longer offering $100 bonus for opening an account.]
I forgot about the $100 bonus when I opened the Fidelity mySmart Cash Account, which I think is the best checking account . I registered for the bonus over the weekend, not sure if I will get it after the fact. I received an e-mail yesterday saying the bonus was approved. Today the $100 bonus showed up in my account. That was fast! In addition, new customers to Fidelity may also qualify for up to 25,000 United MileagePlus miles or American AAdvantage miles .
* Don’t worry. None of the bonus links are referral links. Just posting as a happy customer.
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Anonymous says
Hi,
Have you had any issues with the account? Does it support electronic funds transfer?
Thanks
Harry Sit says
I haven’t had any issue whatsoever with the Fidelity mySmart Cash account. I run everything through it — direct deposit, ATM, checks, bill pay, direct debit, brokerage settlement, … everything. Fidelity’s electronic fund transfer is the fastest you can get anywhere. Transfer today, you see it in the other account the next business day.
Kemble2000 says
Looks and feels bettere than sliced bread! Though big snag…they will close your account (based on internal rules) without notifying you! As a member of a FINRA b/d, Fidelity required a 407 letter to open the account, which they received. One month later, computer systems did not “link” and thought my letter never came in. Bank account closed, no access to funds, checks declined for payment, all without any notice (all I received was an email stating my BillPay service was turned off). Still a new product…so be very mindful of all transactions and notices.
Anonymous says
Had my mySmart for about 6 months and very happy with it. Here’s something I’ve learned that is interesting: If you mail or make a deposit in person (cash deposits are not accepted), it takes about 4 business days before funds are available. Same is true if you transfer funds from external accounts by ACH into your Fidelity account using Fidelity’s site. I have an account with BofA, and when I initiate a transfer from my BofA account (from BofA web site), into my Fidelity account, funds are available on the day it’s received by Fidelity. In other words, don’t use Fidelity to transfer funds into your Fidelity account unless you don’t mind the 4 business day hold. Where ever your money is already in, use that home banking service to transfer money into your Fidelity and funds will be available when it’s received. With BofA, if I make a transfer request by 5pm, it’s in my Fidelity account the next morning.
Anonymous says
I called Fidelity and they told me the mySmart account wasn’t eligible for either the $100 or the miles promotion. Has anyone tried recently to see what would happen?
Anthony says
Hello everyone. I recently started using this service and I wanted to comment about to make sure you were aware of the gotcha’s before you wholesale move all your banking over as I unfortunately did.
The MySmart Cash is a good idea in concept but it comes up short in a bunch of ways:
The biggest issue I ran into was regarding transfers between fidelity accounts. I like to seperate my money using direct deposit to diff. accts and only access it if needed rather than dump everything in one big checking account. If I decide I need access to cash and it lives in another account and I’m outside business hours (ie saturday or sunday when I actually enjoy the money I make m-f) I can’t get at it. That’s because transfers are instant during the bank’s working hours.
The second maor issue is with a bug they have in their bill pay system. As I said, I direct deposit specific ammounts ot multiple accounts, one of which is a fixed amount bills acct. I fund this account w/ the exact ammount to pay this bills that have the same amount every month. On some occasions you can get into a scenario where two bills close together will cause your bills to be rejected because you have scheduled funding to occur between those two bills but the system tries to be smart and says you won’t have enough to pay both of these in the future so we won’t pay the bigger one.
As I said I have some very specific usesages of how I like to setup my account but the truth is this hasn’t been able to replace my bank account which I’ve had to keep around and may end up returning to eventually if this continues to be a pain.
Good luck
Robert Hall says
How do I transfer my Etrade brokage accounts(2)?
Harry Sit says
Robert – Please call Fidelity customer service. List of phone numbers.
DT says
Can anyone tell me how long the direct deposit takes to become available for ATM purchases or withdrawals? I currently have a PNC account and the money is available for purchase minutes after my direct deposit (usually around 12:30 a.m.). Does MySmartCash have the same turn around speed?
I would hate to have to jump through the hoops of having my direct deposit switched to find out my deposit is going to take 4 days longer.
Harry Sit says
@DT – My experience is the same or next business day. Please verify with customer service.