Cross Account Balance Transfers

Cross-Account Transfers

Banks typically do not allow electronic funds transfers between different account owners, even among family members, unless the person is a joint account holder. However, they rarely verify the account owner of the target account. Most of the time, cross-account ACH transfers work without any problems, except in rare cases where they conduct additional due diligence when the transfer amount exceeds certain thresholds (e.g., $100,000).

Balance Transfer Results

I have experimented with cross-account balance transfers between family members. Whether it was a balance transfer to another credit card, a direct deposit into my bank account, or a payment on a loan account, all transfers went through successfully. The results are shown below:

Source Target Amount Method
Bank of America Chase $1,000 Balance Transfer
Barclays Chase $1,500 Balance Transfer
Chase Citi $14,250 Balance Transfer
Chase Citi $15,000 Balance Transfer
Discover Bank of America $18,000 Direct Deposit
Chase Bank of America $11,400 Balance Transfer
U.S. Bank Bank of America $17,000 Balance Transfer
Alliant Credit Union Bank of America $16,000 Balance Transfer
U.S. Bank Alliant Credit Union $16,541 Balance Transfer
Discover Bank of America $23,700 Direct Deposit
  • Adam Smith
  • Becky Smith
  • Cyndi Lauper