What's the difference between an external account transfer and linked external accounts? (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between an external account transfer and linked external accounts? ›

What's the difference between an external account transfer and linked external accounts? This is a transfer of funds between an account you own with us, and an account you own at another financial institution. This is when you link accounts you have at other financial institutions to your mobile and online banking.

Linking external accounts provides you with view-only access to balances and transaction details for accounts you hold at other financial institutions.

“It's perfectly safe to link bank accounts, provided your banks are federally insured and follow security best practices.

A linked savings account is a savings account that is connected to another account such as a checking or negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) account. Generally, linked savings accounts are held at the same bank as the customer's other accounts, making it easier to transfer funds between accounts.

Credit Karma goes the extra mile when it comes to the safe-keeping of our members' personal information. We use 128-bit or higher encryption to protect during the transmission of data to our site and encrypt data at rest.

External transfers are transfers of money between your U.S. Bank accounts and your accounts at other financial institutions. For outbound transfers (from a U.S. Bank account to another financial institution), funds are typically available in the external account one business day after your transfer is processed.

The external transfer service also employs a two-tiered verification system to make sure your accounts are secure. When you sign up for the External Transfer service, we provide confirmation of your identity and the accounts held externally.

A typical example of a linked account is when an administrator logs into their domain admin account in order to perform some administrative activity. As long as no other users use that domain admin credential, the low-privilege user and the admin user are presented as a pair on the Linked Accounts page.

Benefits. You may be able to use a linked account as overdraft protection and avoid incurring an overdraft fee. Some banks waive the monthly maintenance fee when you link another account. It's easier to make transfers between the accounts, and you won't have to pay for a wire transfer fee.

When an account holder moves funds from one account to another, say from a checking account to a savings account with a higher interest rate, or from savings to an IRA account, a transfer has occurred. The transfer does not have to be within the same bank.

Are linked accounts safe? ›

So, is linking bank accounts secure? Banks and credit unions utilize a variety of features to ensure safety, including: Transport layer security encrypts data, preventing hackers and cybercriminals from accessing your personal and account information.

Linking your checking and savings accounts together makes it possible to use your savings as overdraft protection. This is a service that you specifically have to opt in to at your bank, and it can help avoid overdraft fees.

Checking account linking is generally safe when you use the right investment platforms. Do your research before sharing your credentials!

In some cases, your login credentials are required for us to complete the verification process and confirm that the bank account being linked is actually your bank account. Fidelity only uses this information once during the login process, and the data is not stored in any manner whatsoever.