How to Withdraw Money from My Charles Schwab Brokerage Account?
Have you ever been in a financial crunch and need to get access to money set-aside for more important
things, you know, like the day that $TSLA breaks $3,000/share? Or maybe, you wanted to rebalance
your portfolio and move some assets to cash with the impending recession everyone keeps talking
about. Perhaps, you just need some extra cash to show that special someone in your life how much
you appreciate them.
Whatever the reason, there is nothing more frustrating than needing fast access to cash from your
brokerage account and having to wait or go through some complicated unclear process. In this
guide, I break down everything you need to know about how to get access to your money in your
Charles Schwab brokerage account.
There are 2 main methods for withdrawing money from Charles Scwab:
1. Via ACH - Automated Clearing House
2. Via Wire - Bank-to-Bank Transfer
Depending on how fast you need the money and what fees you are willing to pay will impact which withdrawal method is right for you.
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ACH Withdrawal Fee at Schwab
The cheapest option of withdrawing money at Charles Schwab is by ACH - it’s FREE!
How to Withdraw Money by ACH at Schwab
Here are the steps to withdraw money from your Scwab brokerage account via ACH:
1. Under the accounts menu, select the “Transfers & Payments” sub-menu option.
2. You will be navigated to the “Transfers & Payments” page where you see the options to transfer money including withdrawals and to pay bills from your account.
3. Click on the “Online Transfers” card to start the withdrawal by ACH request.
4. You will be navigated to the first page of the “Online Transfer” request form. Select the “Cash” only radio option and the brokerage account you want to withdraw funds from.
Note: The available balance to transfer/withdraw doesn’t mean that you have to withdraw everything but is the maximum amount you can withdraw. You confirm the exact amount in a later step.
5. Next, you will need to choose the destination account from the “To” dropdown. If you haven’t linked an external account (e.g., if this is your first withdrawal), you will need to add the external account at this time.
6. If there is no external account linked or the account you want to transfer funds to, click the “Add External Account” button from the “To” dropdown.
7. This brings up a pop-up window interrupting the transfer request to add the external account. Click “Continue” to proceed.
8. You will be navigated to the “External Accounts” page. Click the “Add Account” button.
9. The first step will be to choose the Scwab account you want to link the external account to. Then, click “Continue”.
10. A confirmation screen appears, “How we use login credentials”, providing privacy and security information related to connecting your external account. Click “Continue” to proceed with adding your external account.
11. You will be navigated to the “Select your financial institution” screen where you choose your financial institution and follow the instructions specific to your bank. Some banks require additional verification such as an RSA SecurID code, or email/text message with confirmation code. It varies depending on your bank.
12. After adding your external account, you can complete the “Online Transfer” request adding in the amount you want to withdraw and confirming the request.
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Limits to Money Withdrawals by ACH at Schwab
You need to have at least $1 to transfer and you cannot transfer more than $100,000 into or out of your account per day.
How Long Does it Take to Withdraw Money by ACH at Schwab
ACH transfers use a clearing house to process the request, while fast, it’s not instant. It takes 1-2 business days between your Schwab account and external accounts. This delay is the main drawback of using online transfers via ACH. If you need quick access to cash, withdrawing by wire may be the best option although there is a fee.
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Withdraw Money by Wire at Charles Schwab
If you are pressed for time, a faster method to withdraw money from your Scwab brokerage account is via Wire. Wire transfers are direct bank-to-bank without the intermediary clearing house making the transfer complete within minutes to a few hours (e.g. same day) depending on when you request the transfer. For online requests, it costs $15 per wire.
For larger accounts, there are wire fee waivers. With $100,000 or more in Household Balances, the total combined value, over a given period of time, of the Accounts of Your Household, including margin balances and other outstanding debit balances like mortgages and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), you get three free online domestic wire transfers per quarter.
1. To make a withdrawal by wire transfer request, you first click on the “Transfers & Payments” sub-menu option of the “Accounts” main menu, the same as for an ACH transfer.
2. Next, select the “Send a Wire” card option.
3. You will be navigated to the “Send a wire” page to start the process.
Note: The same-business day arrival time is based on a Domestic (within the United States) wire option. If you are wiring funds internationally to a bank outside of the US, you would need to choose that option which will take longer to complete. Select the “Domestic” option to proceed with wiring funds to a bank in the US.
4. This will show the wire request form with several sections which include:
a. Amount to be wired and date
b. Destination Bank
c. For credit to
d. Further credit instructions
e. Transmission notes
5. Enter the amount you wish to withdraw in the “Amount to be wired” input and select the desired date. You may not be able to enter today if the cut-off time has passed, 1:00 p.m. PT (4:00 p.m. ET) for online requests.
6. Next, enter the destination bank routing number (also called ABA number for domestic banks). This is a 9-digit code. Many banks have this published on the internet but you can always look at a check in your checkbook with the first 9 digits as the routing number. For banks with branches in multiple states, they will likely have a different routing number per state. You would use the one where you opened your account at.
7. Next, you enter the information for the recipient including your account number, name, and address in the “For credit to” section.
8. You then will be asked, “Do you have any further credit instructions?” This is used when the transfer account is an external broker or other intermediary with a banking account number that is used for everyone but a separate individual account number for each account holder. It’s very important when processing such requests to include the additional credit to information which will be provided to you by the receiving institution. Be sure to confirm with your receiving institution that additional further credit details aren’t needed. For the common use case of withdrawing to your personal bank account, just answer “No”.
9. Finally, is the optional “Transmission notes”. This is used when wiring to an escrow account (e.g., in the case of using funds to buy a house). The escrow account manager will provide you with the details to use in this scenario.
10. Next, click “Continue” to review your request and confirm all of the details. Lastly, you will be shown a confirmation screen. Be sure to keep track of the confirmation details in case there are any issues with the wire and you need to contact support to follow-up.
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Limits to Money Withdrawals by Wire at Schwab
There is no limit for making a wire withdrawal request. This is another benefit of using wire if you need to move a large amount of money quickly.
How Long Does it Take to Withdraw Money by Wire at Schwab
For domestic wire transfers (transfers within the US and US territories), wire transfers are completed same-day when requested online by 4pm ET.
Why can’t I withdraw money at Schwab?
There are a few cases where you expect to withdraw a certain amount of money but aren’t able to.
This relates to settled vs unsettled transactions as well as margin changes if you have a marginable
account with marginable securities.
Stock transactions take 2-business days to settle and option transactions take 1-business day to
settle.
Scwab defines “available funds” as the portion of your preceding day’s ending balance, plus
the current day’s credits, minus the current day’s debits, that is available for immediate withdrawal. Depending on the transaction types of a given day may limit the “available for immediate withdrawal” amount. Specifically, if you intend to make a withdrawal request, be wary of any transactions involving margin as margin requirements could change.
The safest approach would be to move to cash 2 business days before you need it if you intend to
make a wire transfer or 3-4 business days before for an ACH transfer.
If you have any questions regarding the amount available to withdraw or the withdrawal process, you can always contact support, 1 (800) 435-4000, to help with your specific situation. The support is great with short wait-times.
How to Withdraw Money from Schwab Summary
Having to dip into your brokerage account can be intimidating and filled with uncertainty, but if you do find yourself in that position, you can rest assured that the process with Scwab is straightforward and quick either with a free ACH withdrawal that takes 1-2 business days or a same-day Wire transfer for $15.
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Arthur Chachuna is professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of Brokerage-Review.com.
He has been an avid investor for 23 years, and has background in both applied math and programming.
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