In this article:
Overview
Wealthsimple offers three different annual interest rates on the balance in your Cash account. The rates are annualized rates, calculated daily, and paid monthly directly into your Wealthsimple Cash accounts. Interest is earned in each of your individual and joint Cash accounts.
Eligible Core and Premium clients are also able to unlock a 0.5% interest rate boost with qualifying direct deposits. All Cash accounts (individual and joint) are eligible for the 0.5% interest rate boost. Learn more.
Below are the three interest rates offered as of July 29, 2024, along with how you will qualify for each:
On July 29, the standard Cash interest rate changed from 4% to 3.5%. We have updated the rate after the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark rate twice in the last two months.
There’s nothing you need to do, this change happens automatically. You can feel confident that Wealthsimple Cash is still Canada’s highest interest chequing account.
|
Interest rate* |
How you qualify |
|
3.5% |
All clients qualify as soon as they open a Cash account. |
|
4% |
Be a qualifying Wealthsimple Premium client or a Core client earning a 0.5% interest rate boost with eligible direct deposits. |
|
4.5% |
Be a qualifying Wealthsimple Generation client or a Premium client earning a 0.5% interest rate boost with eligible direct deposits. |
*The interest rates listed above are not promotional rates.
Joint Cash accounts
If the inviter and invitee fall under different interest rates (based on the table above), the joint Cash account will inherit the higher interest rate among the account owners. Review the table above for a breakdown of how interest rate is determined.
If a direct deposit in a joint account is eligible for the boost, both joint Cash account owners will receive the boost in their individual Cash accounts accounts as well. The interest rate applies to all Cash accounts no matter where the direct deposit lands.
View your interest rate
To view the current interest rate of your individual or joint Cash account, follow these steps:
- Sign in to the Wealthsimple mobile app.
- From the Home tab, tap your desired Cash account.
- At the top of the account under Earned interest, you can see the interest rate for your Cash account.
- Log in to your Wealthsimple account.
- Under Accounts, select your desired Cash account.
- At the top of the account under Earned interest, you can see the interest rate for your Cash account.
Receiving interest in your Cash account
Interest is calculated based on a daily closing balance, the value in the account at 11:59PM EST each day. It is then paid out monthly, with interest accumulated in each calendar month to be paid out within 7 business days of the 1st of the following month.
Interest on new deposits to a Cash account starts accruing 1 business day after the deposit is made, which is when the funds hit our system. The 5 business day settlement period does not matter in this case unless the deposit gets rejected. If the deposit gets rejected, the interest will recalculate and will not be paid on the deposit amount.
Your interest rates are subject to change at any time.
Let's say you keep $1,000 in your Cash account for 1 month and your first direct deposit is made on April 1st.
At the standard 3.5% annualized rate, you would earn around $35.00 in interest for the year (3.5%*$1000), or around $2.92 each month. Since interest is calculated daily and paid out monthly, you would receive around $2.88 at the end of April: (30/365)*35 = 2.88.
At the boosted 4% annualized rate, you would earn around $40.00 in interest for the year (4%*$1000), or around $3.33 each month. Since interest is calculated daily and paid out monthly, you would receive around $3.29 at the end of April: (30/365)*40 = 3.29.
At the maximum 4.5% annualized rate, you would earn around $45.00 in interest for the year (4.5%*$1000), or around $3.75 each month. Since interest is calculated daily and paid out monthly, you would receive around $3.70 at the end of April: (30/365)*45 = 3.70.
All interest accumulated from April 1st to 30th will be paid out within 7 business days of May 1st of the same year.
To opt-out of receiving interest in your Cash account, you can reach out to our support team for assistance.
Taxes on interest earned in your Cash account
Wealthsimple Cash accounts are non-registered accounts, meaning you will have to claim any interest earned during tax season. For more information on when your tax documents will be ready, you can reference this article. Once your tax documents are ready, you can find them directly through your Wealthsimple account.
Individual Cash accounts
We will send you a T5 Statement of Investment Income before March 1st in order to help you report interest earned in your Cash account.
Joint Cash accounts
To learn about tax implications and tax slips for joint Cash accounts, check out this article.
A note from our legal team
Our Cash product is offered by Wealthsimple Investments Inc. (“WSII”), a member of the the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (“CIRO”), and Wealthsimple Payments Inc., a FINTRAC registered money services business. The funds added to Cash account(s) (the “Funds”) are ultimately held securely in trust in the name of the primary account holder with a single or multiple members of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (“CDIC”). CDIC protects eligible deposits held at CDIC member institutions in case of a member institution’s failure. Wealthsimple Payments Inc. and WSII are not CDIC member institutions. Under the trust framework, CDIC insures eligible cash balances up to $100,000 per beneficiary, per member institution, provided certain disclosure rules are met. Coverage is free and automatic. Learn more about how CDIC protection works. Funds must be spread across at least 5 CDIC member institutions in order for up to $500,000 in deposits to benefit from applicable CDIC coverage. The advertised interest rate for the Cash Account is derived from interest earned by Wealthsimple on the funds. The rates are annualized rates, calculated daily, and paid monthly. Subject to change. For more information see here. The Funds are settled with any CDIC member(s) one business day following the date that Funds are reflected in the Account.
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