How To Withdraw Money Out of Wells Fargo Brokerage Account (2023)

How to Withdraw Your Money from WellsTrade

If it’s time to get money out of your WellsTrade account (hopefully because you need the cash and not because you’ve given up on investing), there are multiple avenues you can take. Here’s a list of those options:

Zelle Transfers

Wells Fargo, WellsTrade’s parent company, was instrumental in developing the new electronic money transfer service Zelle. It’s available to WellsTrade customers, and there’s no charge for the service. Zelle is perhaps the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to move cash out of a WellsTrade account. It literally takes just a few minutes for the funds to show up in the receiving account if it’s already signed up with Zelle.

ACH Transfers Terms

WellsTrade’s website has an easy-to-use online form that can move funds from a brokerage account to an external bank account. Although this won’t be as fast as Zelle, it’s a quick and easy option. The broker’s form allows for transactions to be future-dated; so if you want a withdrawal to occur on a specific date in the future, you can set that up. It’s also possible to establish recurring withdrawals if you want consistent and periodic transfers.

Competitors

Send a Wire

WellsTrade also provides the more traditional wire service in case the ACH system isn’t capable of performing your specific request. For example, maybe you need to send funds to a foreign bank. During our investigation, we weren’t able to get the on-line wire form to work. You may need to call the brokerage firm to complete a wire transaction.


There is a $30 charge for domestic wires, and if you need to wire funds to a bank outside the United States, the fee is $40.

Bill Pay

Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not permit WellsTrade brokerage accounts to use its bill pay services. We hope to see this feature added soon.

Mail a Check

If you have a cash balance in your WellsTrade account, you can call up the broker and request a paper check be mailed to you for the balance. There is no charge for this service, although it may take several days to receive the funds. We recommend this service only if you’re not in a hurry. There is an overnight option, but it costs $15.

ACAT Transfer

If your plan is to move your assets to another brokerage firm, you could go with this option. The ACAT transfer service will move both cash and securities in a brokerage account to another firm. With this choice, you don’t have to sell any of your holdings. They will simply be transferred to the brokerage firm of your choice. Be aware that WellsTrade charges a steep $95 account transfer fee. This is one of the highest ACAT charges we have found in the industry.

To begin the process of moving your account, you need to contact the new brokerage firm you want to transfer assets to. Many brokers today have a user-friendly online transfer form that makes the process fairly straightforward.