Vanguard Cash Plus Account

[sycamore]

What's the cost basis for MMFs held in a cash plus account?

Maybe I misunderstand the question, but isn't the answer $1 per share (which is the price of a MMF). If you buy $1000 of a MMF, then $1000 is the cost basis.

The cost basis of MMF shares doesn't change because of the account type the shares are held in.

[dislodged_crating]

What's the cost basis for MMFs held in a cash plus account?

Maybe I misunderstand the question, but isn't the answer $1 per share (which is the price of a MMF). If you buy $1000 of a MMF, then $1000 is the cost basis.

The cost basis of MMF shares doesn't change because of the account type the shares are held in.

To clarify, I'm referring to the "cost basis method," not the basis of the shares.

Doesn't it matter which shares get sold? E.g. you might have short-term or long-term gains depending on whether you sell shares from your initial investment or shares from dividends.

[Kenkat]

Maybe I misunderstand the question, but isn't the answer $1 per share (which is the price of a MMF). If you buy $1000 of a MMF, then $1000 is the cost basis.

The cost basis of MMF shares doesn't change because of the account type the shares are held in.

To clarify, I'm referring to the "cost basis method," not the basis of the shares.

Doesn't it matter which shares get sold? E.g. you might have short-term or long-term gains depending on whether you sell shares from your initial investment or shares from dividends.

You will never have a gain or loss from any of the shares purchased as the share price is maintained at $1. You will owe income tax on the dividends in the year paid. The MM funds pay dividends monthly and you will receive a 1099 each year reporting the amounts. This differs from other funds where the share price / NAV fluctuates throughout the year.

[Redbard]

I've never "pushed" money from my bank to Vanguard before. How does one go about doing that?

You link Cash Plus account to your bank account for external transfers on your bank's website, and then initiate transfers to Vanguard on the bank's side and transfers from Vanguard's on Vanguard's side.

That way there will be no hold on funds in either direction.

I've found nearly immediate transfers from CP to bank buy doing a Pull from the bank side vs push from Vanguard side, which takes several days.
At lease with my bank I can schedule pulls whre you can't schedule pushes from CP.

[Lyrrad]

Maybe I misunderstand the question, but isn't the answer $1 per share (which is the price of a MMF). If you buy $1000 of a MMF, then $1000 is the cost basis.

The cost basis of MMF shares doesn't change because of the account type the shares are held in.

To clarify, I'm referring to the "cost basis method," not the basis of the shares.

Doesn't it matter which shares get sold? E.g. you might have short-term or long-term gains depending on whether you sell shares from your initial investment or shares from dividends.

Since the cost basis is (generally) maintained at $1/share for a money market mutual fund, there's no capital gains or losses. I've never received a 1099-B for them, and all my return has been from distributions, reported on a 1099-DIV. I don't think Vanguard gives you any option for cost basis election on a money market mutual fund.

(I am assuming you are not referring to money market ETFs, which are less common and are likely to have capital gains/losses from trade activity.)

[VaR]

I may have missed it but I don't think anyone has reported Cash Plus working with Treasury Direct yet. Will update if it has figured it out.

I decided that there weren't any downsides to me setting up my Cash Plus account so I did and tested out a small $40 redeption from a TreasuryDirect CoI. It worked so I redeemed a couple of EE bonds that I had purchased a couple of years ago. I feel confident that those funds will show up too, but I'll report back if there are any problems.

So I think we have evidence that Cash Plus ACH with TreasuryDirect is solved.

[notmyname]

I may have missed it but I don't think anyone has reported Cash Plus working with Treasury Direct yet. Will update if it has figured it out.

I decided that there weren't any downsides to me setting up my Cash Plus account so I did and tested out a small $40 redeption from a TreasuryDirect CoI. It worked so I redeemed a couple of EE bonds that I had purchased a couple of years ago. I feel confident that those funds will show up too, but I'll report back if there are any problems.

So I think we have evidence that Cash Plus ACH with TreasuryDirect is solved.

+1
I was able to add my Cash Plus account as a bank at the TD site recently and initiate a transfer out to that account. I selected "savings" as the account type when setting up.

[stan1]

I decided that there weren't any downsides to me setting up my Cash Plus account so I did and tested out a small $40 redeption from a TreasuryDirect CoI. It worked so I redeemed a couple of EE bonds that I had purchased a couple of years ago. I feel confident that those funds will show up too, but I'll report back if there are any problems.

So I think we have evidence that Cash Plus ACH with TreasuryDirect is solved.

+1
I was able to add my Cash Plus account as a bank at the TD site recently and initiate a transfer out to that account. I selected "savings" as the account type when setting up.

Great, I updated the first post to reflect Treasury Direct now working. That leaves Comcast, Target Red Card, and PSE&G in New Jersey as the last three left on the list. If anyone has confirmation these now work I'll update again.

[slondr]

It seems like there is still no way to transfer from Cash Plus to a PNC Bank account. PNC rejects the routing number if you try to initiate from their end. Vanguard lets you add the account and initiate a transfer, but it fails with a generic error message the day the money should have cleared.

[BuccoSweeper]

+1
I was able to add my Cash Plus account as a bank at the TD site recently and initiate a transfer out to that account. I selected "savings" as the account type when setting up.

Great, I updated the first post to reflect Treasury Direct now working. That leaves Comcast, Target Red Card, and PSE&G in New Jersey as the last three left on the list. If anyone has confirmation these now work I'll update again.

FYI - I was unable to link my Prudential Life Insurance to the cash management account. Failed on selecting checking and/or savings. I paused porting over fully to the cash mgmt account as this had me spooked.

[stan1]

FYI - I was unable to link my Prudential Life Insurance to the cash management account. Failed on selecting checking and/or savings. I paused porting over fully to the cash mgmt account as this had me spooked.

I can add this, is this for bill pay (e.g. to pay your premium) or something else?

I'd recommend multiple ways to pay using multiple accounts to avoid feeling "spooked". I would not recommend ANYONE have only one account to bill pay from.

[BuccoSweeper]

FYI - I was unable to link my Prudential Life Insurance to the cash management account. Failed on selecting checking and/or savings. I paused porting over fully to the cash mgmt account as this had me spooked.

I can add this, is this for bill pay (e.g. to pay your premium) or something else?

I'd recommend multiple ways to pay using multiple accounts to avoid feeling "spooked". I would not recommend ANYONE have only one account to bill pay from.

Correct, via Prudential's website to change my auto payment for monthly term insurance premium. Agreed on the multi-account I'll be leaving my original and having duel (once Vanguard gets this figured out). Spooked was maybe a poor term, but I didn't want everything redirected and a lone bill still hitting my original checking. It's all or nothing for me....trying to simplify life.

Thanks for everything!

[stan1]

Correct, via Prudential's website to change my auto payment for monthly term insurance premium. Agreed on the multi-account I'll be leaving my original and having duel (once Vanguard gets this figured out). Spooked was maybe a poor term, but I didn't want everything redirected and a lone bill still hitting my original checking. It's all or nothing for me....trying to simplify life.

Thanks for everything!

I will add them to the list, but I do recommend rethinking all or nothing given cyber attack risks or just overly complex IT systems failing as happens a few times a year these days with airline systems. Only having one account might end up complicating life not simplifying it.

[retiringwhen]

PSE&G in New Jersey

I can confirm that PSEG is still broken.

Not surprising, it only took 23 years for them the agree to fix the service address for our natural gas meter. We lost our account twice in that time when the owners of the house address mistakenly assigned to our meter sold their house Second time, they actually agreed that there may have been a problem!

And to think I was a PSE&G stockholder in a DRIP for 30 years.

[stan1]

PSE&G in New Jersey

I can confirm that PSEG is still broken.

Not surprising, it only took 23 years for them the agree to fix the service address for our natural gas meter. We lost our account twice in that time when the owners of the house address mistakenly assigned to our meter sold their house :oops: Second time, they actually agreed that there may have been a problem!

And to think I was a PSE&G stockholder in a DRIP for 30 years.

I doubt the list of out-of-date billers (Comcast, PSE&G, Prudential Life Insurance, Treasury Direct until recently) surprises anyone. Bottom 0.1% on the biller recalcitrance index (or maybe that should be 99.9th percentile on the recalcitrance index if we are measuring recalcitrance).

[bmstrong]

Currently, I automatically purchase a fixed amount of VBIL every two weeks in my regular Vanguard brokerage account. If I were to open a Vanguard CPA, can I set an automatic purchase from the CPA to purchase across/into the Brokerage account of VBIL?

[Investment101]

I tried to link Cash Plus to my main Vanguard account, but it says the routing number is wrong, I guess I can't link it? (I guess it be the case if I want to link it to other bank accounts as well?)

Also if I initiate a transfer from the Cash Plus account, I will get the alerts/notifications, but if I initiated ACH from another account to transfer to cash plus account, it doesn't alert/notify me when it got the ACH, is it the same for you guys?

[stan1]

Currently, I automatically purchase a fixed amount of VBIL every two weeks in my regular Vanguard brokerage account. If I were to open a Vanguard CPA, can I set an automatic purchase from the CPA to purchase across/into the Brokerage account of VBIL?

No, it does not work that way. You have to have funds in the settlement account of your primary brokerage account not the cash plus account.

[stan1]

I tried to link Cash Plus to my main Vanguard account, but it says the routing number is wrong, I guess I can't link it? (I guess it be the case if I want to link it to other bank accounts as well?)

Also if I initiate a transfer from the Cash Plus account, I will get the alerts/notifications, but if I initiated ACH from another account to transfer to cash plus account, it doesn't alert/notify me when it got the ACH, is it the same for you guys?

I'm not following. You don't link multiple Vanguard accounts with a routing number, they are already linked in the Vanguard dashboard so you transfer between Vanguard accounts that way. The Cash Plus account is basically a restricted function brokerage account. So you transfer money between them as if they were two taxable brokerage accounts.

[greg24]

Currently, I automatically purchase a fixed amount of VBIL every two weeks in my regular Vanguard brokerage account. If I were to open a Vanguard CPA, can I set an automatic purchase from the CPA to purchase across/into the Brokerage account of VBIL?

CPA has easy access to VUSXX which is very similar to VBIL.

[Investment101]

I tried to link Cash Plus to my main Vanguard account, but it says the routing number is wrong, I guess I can't link it? (I guess it be the case if I want to link it to other bank accounts as well?)

Also if I initiate a transfer from the Cash Plus account, I will get the alerts/notifications, but if I initiated ACH from another account to transfer to cash plus account, it doesn't alert/notify me when it got the ACH, is it the same for you guys?

I'm not following. You don't link multiple Vanguard accounts with a routing number, they are already linked in the Vanguard dashboard so you transfer between Vanguard accounts that way. The Cash Plus account is basically a restricted function brokerage account. So you transfer money between them as if they were two taxable brokerage accounts.

Thanks for that, I checked and I am able to transfer money from Cash Plus to Vanguard brokerage account, however if I want to buy more funds I don't see the Cash Plus as an option to withdraw money from, I guess I need to transfer from Cash Plus to Vanguard brokerage, then do it from there?

[RickBoglehead]

I'm not following. You don't link multiple Vanguard accounts with a routing number, they are already linked in the Vanguard dashboard so you transfer between Vanguard accounts that way. The Cash Plus account is basically a restricted function brokerage account. So you transfer money between them as if they were two taxable brokerage accounts.

Thanks for that, I checked and I am able to transfer money from Cash Plus to Vanguard brokerage account, however if I want to buy more funds I don't see the Cash Plus as an option to withdraw money from, I guess I need to transfer from Cash Plus to Vanguard brokerage, then do it from there?

That is correct. Happens immediately.

[Investment101]

For Cash Plus account (or any accounts in Vanguard) can I add wise.com as an external account and ACH transfer out of Cash Plus (or any vanguard account)? For most US bank accounts they won't let you add WISE as an external account.

[dkoffer]

Does anyone know if you can use the Vanguard cash plus account for California's FTB (Franchise Tax Board) to pay your personal taxes?

Edit: I just attempted and it looks like it will work.

Thanks!

[stan1]

Does anyone know if you can use the Vanguard cash plus account for California's FTB (Franchise Tax Board) to pay your personal taxes?

Edit: I just attempted and it looks like it will work.

Thanks!

Good to know, it SHOULD work everywhere. The few problems seem to have been with a few billers that didn't have their database of valid routing numbers properly updated and are one-offs to begin with. And I doubt anyone is surprised to see Comcast at the top of the list as a recalcitrant biller.

[dkoffer]

I saw that Cash Plus doesn't seem to work with EFTPS for paying federal taxes (although it does work with IRS Direct!) earlier in the thread. Does anyone have an idea of when this might be fixed?

Anyone have any success working with EFTPS?

Thanks

[stan1]

I saw that Cash Plus doesn't seem to work with EFTPS for paying federal taxes (although it does work with IRS Direct!) earlier in the thread. Does anyone have an idea of when this might be fixed?

Anyone have any success working with EFTPS?

Thanks :)

User anagram reported in May 2024 that it now worked for EFTPS, which was updated in the first post. They recommend selecting it as "savings".
viewtopic.php?p=7883880#p7883880
Try it and see.

I am trying to keep the first post current, if there are any changes please PM or post and I will adjust.

[dkoffer]

Does anyone know how to connect Charles Schwab to Vanguard (from the Charles Schwab side)?

There's a form to enable EFT from Charles Schwab, but it requires "A letter from your Other Financial Institution, on its letterhead and signed by an officer, which includes account title, account number, account type, and ABA Transit Routing Number." and I'm not sure if Vanguard provides that.

Any advice?

UPDATE: Most financial institutions can provide letters like this through their website. Vanguard cannot. Currently you have to call, and it took me 30-40 minutes while the folks figured out that 1) vanguard doesn't have a process for this (hence the long wait), 2) they can generate a letter, 3) they have to physically mail it to you and it could take 5-7 business days. The customer support guy I spoke with said he would request they create an automated process based on our interaction.

So if you aren't in a hurry, you can get such a letter.

[Investment101]

Ok I added Wise.com as an external account in Vanguard, also verified the two small deposits, but it says I need to wait 7 to 10 calendar days to transfer from vanguard to wise, usually after two deposit verification you can transfer right away...I guess vanguard is being safe. So how many days does it take normally for you guys? and I guess I can do it when the message goes away, I will keep checking I guess......but man 7 to 10 days that's a long time, other banks you can do it right after 2 deposit verification.

(Instead of the two small deposits verification other banks got Plaid instant verification, and for Vanguard I forgot what it's called, but both aren't recommended right and always do the manual two deposits verification? also I read that for plaid , even if you later change your account's password after verification, they can still access your account becasue they use token instead of password? is that correct?!!)

[slondr]

Seems like Comenity / Bread Financial still doesn’t support Cash Plus.

[stan1]

Seems like Comenity / Bread Financial still doesn’t support Cash Plus.

I can add them to the front page, but I am not familiar with them. What type of businesses are they so I can add context to the post?

[urban]

Seems like Comenity / Bread Financial still doesn’t support Cash Plus.

I can add them to the front page, but I am not familiar with them. What type of businesses are they so I can add context to the post?

One of their business lines is Bread Cashback American Express credit card.

[stan1]

One of their business lines is Bread Cashback American Express credit card.

I added them to the first post, it looks like they are a non-bank credit card issuer.

[slondr]

Seems like Comenity / Bread Financial still doesn’t support Cash Plus.

I can add them to the front page, but I am not familiar with them. What type of businesses are they so I can add context to the post?

They issue a lot of branded credit cards, including the AAA Signature Visa cards.

[dkoffer]

Hi Folks,

I just attempted to have my Charles Schwab Investor Checking connect to Vanguard Cash Plus. Schwab indicated to me that as a corporate policy they prohibit connecting to Vanguard. They claimed that it was a result of "too many issues" with Vanguard. Has anyone else encountered this?

I've never seen this before and strikes me as rather unusual.

[Claudia Whitten]

Not sure why anyone would want this cash plus account. The interest is worse than money market, and it's also worse than my capital one HYSA. No reason whatsoever to add another account like that. What is Vanguard trying to do here--be a bank?

[RickBoglehead]

Not sure why anyone would want this cash plus account. The interest is worse than money market, and it's also worse than my capital one HYSA. No reason whatsoever to add another account like that. What is Vanguard trying to do here--be a bank?

I went from Ally Checking and Savings to Vanguard Cash Plus. Why? Ally Checking pays 0.10%, i.e. nothing. I would keep my funds in Ally Savings (currently 3.7%), then do 3 or so transfers a month to cover my automatic payments for credit cards.

I moved it to Cash Plus. My funds are invested in Vanguard Treasury Money Market, currently paying 4.25%, i.e. .55% more than Ally Savings. Once a month (for me tomorrow), I move money to cover the month's bills to the CashPlus core, which is paying 3.65%, i.e. nearly the same as Ally Savings.

Capital One 360 Performance Savings is paying 3.7%. So, the Vanguard setup is paying me more money... And Treasury Money Market is currently 100% state tax free, raising the yield even higher.

I don't know why you WOULDN'T do this.

[stan1]

Not sure why anyone would want this cash plus account. The interest is worse than money market, and it's also worse than my capital one HYSA. No reason whatsoever to add another account like that. What is Vanguard trying to do here--be a bank?

It may not be for everyone, and Vanguard is actively marketing it so they may feel its not being as widely adopted or used as they hope.

You can have Treasury Money Market Fund (or another purchased money market fund) inside the Cash Plus account. It provides an ACH routing number and account number that you can give to billers so you don't have to use a bank as an intermediate step. Billers cannot pull from your regular taxable account, only the Cash Plus account, which I think adds an extra layer of security.

I think Vanguard is mostly doing this because some customers asked for a cash management account and some asked for an FDIC account. Vanguard is not a bank. This is what they came up with that offers FDIC coverage and ACH pulls but not paper checks, a debit card (or a credit card).

Overall I'm neutral on it and primarily use it to pay off large charges on my credit card such as vacations that the regular bank account we use for cach flow can't cover month to month.

[Bama12]

Not sure why anyone would want this cash plus account. The interest is worse than money market, and it's also worse than my capital one HYSA. No reason whatsoever to add another account like that. What is Vanguard trying to do here--be a bank?

Capital one is paying 3.70, Vanguard Cash plus is paying 3.65%.

Vanguard is trying hard not to be a bank but give people what they want.

If, I wanted a savings account outside of money market. I would open cash plus at Vanguard, to have my money at one place .05% is nothing.

[Claudia Whitten]

I moved it to Cash Plus. My funds are invested in Vanguard Treasury Money Market, currently paying 4.25%, i.e. .55% more than Ally Savings. Once a month (for me tomorrow), I move money to cover the month's bills to the CashPlus core, which is paying 3.65%, i.e. nearly the same as Ally Savings.

I'm confused. You're in money market in a Cash Plus account? Capital One's 3.7% is higher than CashPlus core at 3.65%

[Claudia Whitten]

This is what they came up with that offers FDIC coverage and ACH pulls but not paper checks, a debit card (or a credit card).

Oh, no checks? I need checks still and a debit card.

[Claudia Whitten]

If, I wanted a savings account outside of money market. I would open cash plus at Vanguard, to have my money at one place .05% is nothing.

This is one of my problems with it. This is positioned as another savings/checking account, so presumably people are moving money to it and using it instead of another savings/checking account. In other words, it's account proliferation, not consolidation. Either Vanguard is going to be a bank or not. I don't want yet another pseudo bank account that kinda sorta replaces my bank savings account but not really.

[RickBoglehead]

I moved it to Cash Plus. My funds are invested in Vanguard Treasury Money Market, currently paying 4.25%, i.e. .55% more than Ally Savings. Once a month (for me tomorrow), I move money to cover the month's bills to the CashPlus core, which is paying 3.65%, i.e. nearly the same as Ally Savings.

I'm confused. You're in money market in a Cash Plus account? Capital One's 3.7% is higher than CashPlus core at 3.65%

Yes, you clearly don't understand the advantage.

And why do you use a debit card?

[Legitimate-Engine]

If, I wanted a savings account outside of money market. I would open cash plus at Vanguard, to have my money at one place .05% is nothing.

This is one of my problems with it. This is positioned as another savings/checking account, so presumably people are moving money to it and using it instead of another savings/checking account. In other words, it's account proliferation, not consolidation. Either Vanguard is going to be a bank or not. I don't want yet another pseudo bank account that kinda sorta replaces my bank savings account but not really.

Using this "instead of" another savings/checking account is, quite literally, the definition of consolidation and, quite literally, the opposite of proliferation. You get rid of your HYSA at wherever and open Cash Plus at Vanguard.

I have been happy with Cash Plus. I keep about a month worth of living expenses in the FDIC sweep. Paycheck goes into that, bills get paid out of that. Emergency fund is kept in VUSXX within Cash Plus. Once a year when I rebalance I transfer excess cash from Cash Plus to my regular brokerage account and buy stocks/bonds in whatever proportions I need.

I have a traditional checking account at a traditional bank with some cash deposited that I can access immediately if necessary.

[Claudia Whitten]

This is one of my problems with it. This is positioned as another savings/checking account, so presumably people are moving money to it and using it instead of another savings/checking account. In other words, it's account proliferation, not consolidation. Either Vanguard is going to be a bank or not. I don't want yet another pseudo bank account that kinda sorta replaces my bank savings account but not really.

Using this "instead of" another savings/checking account is, quite literally, the definition of consolidation and, quite literally, the opposite of proliferation. You get rid of your HYSA at wherever and open Cash Plus at Vanguard.

I have been happy with Cash Plus. I keep about a month worth of living expenses in the FDIC sweep. Paycheck goes into that, bills get paid out of that. Emergency fund is kept in VUSXX within Cash Plus. Once a year when I rebalance I transfer excess cash from Cash Plus to my regular brokerage account and buy stocks/bonds in whatever proportions I need.

I have a traditional checking account at a traditional bank with some cash deposited that I can access immediately if necessary.

I see.

Vanguard is pushing Cash Plus with this pitch: "You could earn more with the Vanguard Cash Plus Account than with a traditional savings account, which only pays 0.41% APY on average."

But that's simply not true for Capital One's "performance savings" customers, who earn more than Cash Plus.

The other pitch is "one place": "The Vanguard Cash Plus Account is a savings account alternative. It allows you to keep your short-term cash and your long-term investments at Vanguard. All in one place."

That's also not going to happen. I bank at Capital One. Closing the savings account there is just a hassle and will not close my relationship with capital one, as I'll also have a checking account there.

And there's this: "You can view and manage the Vanguard Cash Plus Account alongside your other Vanguard accounts online and on our app. You'll get routing and account numbers to link and move your money however you need."

Big deal. I don't see any plus to any of that.

[stan1]

I have been happy with Cash Plus. I keep about a month worth of living expenses in the FDIC sweep. Paycheck goes into that, bills get paid out of that. Emergency fund is kept in VUSXX within Cash Plus. Once a year when I rebalance I transfer excess cash from Cash Plus to my regular brokerage account and buy stocks/bonds in whatever proportions I need.

I have a traditional checking account at a traditional bank with some cash deposited that I can access immediately if necessary.

Thanks for posting, I think this is exactly how Vanguard intended people to use it. I think it is great that they added in the purchased money market option. I agree it complements a regular banking account not replacing it, and I think resilience (multiple banks) is a better plan for the coming years than one stop shop anyways unless someone is in their final years and is simplifying for that reason.

Vanguard's original promotion was using ACH pulls from fintech apps such as Venmo rather than paper checks, which works for some things but my landscaper and gutter guy still want paper checks not Venmo. Home repair is pretty much our only use case for paper checks at this time, gifts are going out as gift cards not paper checks.

[stan1]

Vanguard is pushing Cash Plus with this pitch: "You could earn more with the Vanguard Cash Plus Account than with a traditional savings account, which only pays 0.41% APY on average."

But that's simply not true for Capital One's "performance savings" customers, who earn more than Cash Plus.

The other pitch is "one place": "The Vanguard Cash Plus Account is a savings account alternative. It allows you to keep your short-term cash and your long-term investments at Vanguard. All in one place."

That's also not going to happen. I bank at Capital One. Closing the savings account there is just a hassle and will not close my relationship with capital one, as I'll also have a checking account there.

And there's this: "You can view and manage the Vanguard Cash Plus Account alongside your other Vanguard accounts online and on our app. You'll get routing and account numbers to link and move your money however you need."

Big deal. I don't see any plus to any of that.

Agree, it sounds like its not a good fit for you personally.

Marketing always has a slant to it. Businesses like Vanguard often try to sell me things I have no need for. I have a CapOne credit card that has been very easy to use. They send me ads for checking and savings accounts all the time, but I'm not interested. I have a good credit union with local branches that provide banking services for me.

[RickBoglehead]

Using this "instead of" another savings/checking account is, quite literally, the definition of consolidation and, quite literally, the opposite of proliferation. You get rid of your HYSA at wherever and open Cash Plus at Vanguard.

I have been happy with Cash Plus. I keep about a month worth of living expenses in the FDIC sweep. Paycheck goes into that, bills get paid out of that. Emergency fund is kept in VUSXX within Cash Plus. Once a year when I rebalance I transfer excess cash from Cash Plus to my regular brokerage account and buy stocks/bonds in whatever proportions I need.

I have a traditional checking account at a traditional bank with some cash deposited that I can access immediately if necessary.

I see.

Vanguard is pushing Cash Plus with this pitch: "You could earn more with the Vanguard Cash Plus Account than with a traditional savings account, which only pays 0.41% APY on average."

But that's simply not true for Capital One's "performance savings" customers, who earn more than Cash Plus.

You seem to be hung up on Vanguard's marketing slogan, vs. the actual account benefits. Yes, ONE account at ONE bank pays more than CashPlus's sweep account, by .05% today. If I had 10,000 for a year at simple interest, you would earn $5 more a year. But the Money Market account holding that money until it's time to pay a bill would earn $50 more a year. You do see that they're comparing to the average savings account in the nation? You do realize that many people are lazy, and leave large sums sitting in really poor interest bearing (or non-interest bearing) accounts for silly reasons? Marketing is focused on the broadest appeal that an advertiser thinks they can get. If they have a long and complicated slogan, nobody reads it. People are lazy.

My Ally checking account holds a balance of $100 to pay Comcast monthly. My Ally savings account holds $500 in case I need CASH NOW. My CashPlus account regularly has a balance of a few hundred dollars. That is increased around the 15th of the month to pay bills for the next 2 weeks or so, and then it's back to a few hundred dollars. My Vanguard Treasury Money Market account in the CashPlus account has enough for 3 or so months bills. The joint Vanguard brokerage account has the rest of my Treasury Money Market funds.

You also seem to not realize that it's easier to put funds in and out of the CashPlus sweep account to pay bills from a Vanguard Money Market account (which has much higher rates than Capital One), then it would be to send funds from Vanguard to Capital One's Performance Savings to pay bills. Capital One Performance Savings is limited to 6 withdrawals a month. CashPlus has no limits.

[stan1]

Vanguard is trying hard not to be a bank but give people what they want.

I think it is actually pretty forward looking for a demographic who wants digital payments. Paper checks? Good riddance. You can do an ACH pull from Apple Cash (or equivalent fintech) and use Apple Pay for payments you don't want to put on a credit card (in lieu of a debit card). Or Venmo.

My relatives with 5-18 year old kids send Venmo payments around to the other school and activity parents ALL the time. Another family took kid to McDonalds? $10 reimbursed by payment app, they just do it as a matter of course without any thoughts, just assumed it will be done. Teacher requests a contribution for an art project? Parents send $5 to President of Parent Teacher Organization or someone else who buys supplies. Very decentralized and real time.

[leeks]

So this leaves the list of problematic vendors as:
Treasury Direct
Comcast/Xfinity
Target Red Card
PSE&G - electric and gas utility serving New Jersey/vicinity.

Did I miss any updates on those?
IRS and Bank of America are reported as two notable fixes.

I am trying out Vanguard Cash Plus this week and have discovered a new problematic vendor. I tried to add the account and routing number as a "bank" within Virginia's 529 plan website (https://www.invest529.com/). Hours later, I got an email saying the account cannot be used because it cannot be verified.