The six-withdrawal-per-month rule that savings accounts used to carry is gone. The Federal Reserve deleted it from Regulation D in April 2020 and has not reinstated it.
That much is well covered. The part that is harder to find is what individual banks actually do now that the choice is theirs — because the answers are further apart than most summaries suggest, and the penalty for going over differs more than the limit itself. Below are six institutions’ current published terms, read directly from their own pages.
The short answer
No, high-yield savings accounts do not have a federally mandated withdrawal limit. The Federal Reserve deleted the six-per-month transfer restriction from Regulation D on April 24, 2020, and reserve requirements have remained at zero since.
But banks kept the right to set their own limits, and they made different choices. Some dropped limits entirely. Some kept six. Some settled somewhere in between. The number that matters to you is your bank’s number, not the old federal one.
What six banks actually publish
Each row below was read from that institution’s own page on August 2, 2026 — not from a comparison site, and not from another article’s summary. Where a bank does not publish a number, that is recorded as its own finding rather than filled in with the old six.
| Bank | Stated limit | If you exceed it |
|---|---|---|
| Ally Bank Online Savings |
10 per statement cycle savings and money market counted together |
No fee — but account closure. Ally states it will close the account if you exceed the limit “on more than an occasional basis.” |
| Marcus by Goldman Sachs Online Savings |
No limit | Not applicable. Its FAQ states there is “no limit to the number of withdrawals or transfers you can make.” |
| Openbank (Santander) High Yield Savings |
No count limit | No count penalty. Dollar-amount limits on external transfers still apply, so a single large move can be blocked. |
| Capital One 360 Performance Savings |
Not published on the product page | Not published. The account disclosures govern. Note: withdrawals are online or in branch, not by ATM. |
| American Express High Yield Savings |
Not published on the product page | Not published. The page directs you to the Consumer Deposit Account Agreement. |
| Discover Online Savings |
The Discover savings page now redirects to Capital One’s 360 Performance Savings. Capital One’s disclosure references “Capital One or Discover Bank deposit accounts opened on or after May 18, 2025” for FDIC coverage purposes — worth knowing if you hold both, since combined balances affect insurance limits. | |
Three things this table shows that a single number cannot
None of the six publishes a six-per-month cap. That figure is still repeated constantly, but it did not appear on any of these institutions’ pages. This does not mean no bank anywhere enforces six — smaller banks and credit unions set their own terms, and some kept it. It does mean you should not assume it applies to you.
Half of them do not publish a number at all. Capital One, American Express, and effectively Discover leave it to the account agreement. If a product page is silent, that is not the same as “no limit” — it means the binding answer is in a document most people never open. Which is exactly why the next section exists.
The penalty varies more than the limit does. This is the part worth pausing on. Ally has the strictest published cap of the six and charges nothing for going over — but says it will close the account for repeat offenses. A no-fee policy sounds like the gentler option and is not. If you are choosing an account partly on flexibility, read the consequence, not just the number.
Why the six-withdrawal rule existed, and why it went away
Regulation D defined what counted as a “savings deposit,” and part of that definition capped convenient transfers at six per month. The distinction mattered because savings deposits carried different reserve requirements than transaction accounts.
On April 24, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board issued an interim final rule deleting the six-transfer limit from that definition. The Board had already reduced reserve requirement ratios to zero in March 2020, which removed the reason the distinction existed. Banks were allowed to suspend enforcement immediately.
The change was made during the early pandemic, which led to a widespread assumption that it was temporary. It was not reversed. Reserve requirement ratios remain at zero, and the transfer limit has not been reinstated.
Sources: Federal Reserve Board press release, April 24, 2020 and the Federal Register notice. (Related: Do Savings Accounts Pay More Than Checking? The $6,000 Cross.)
How to find your own bank’s limit in about two minutes
The product marketing page is usually the wrong place to look. Limits live in the account agreement. Here is the fastest route:
- Search your bank’s site for “deposit account agreement” or “truth in savings disclosure” rather than browsing the savings product page.
- Open the PDF and search the text for withdrawal, transfer limit, or excessive. The relevant clause is usually one paragraph.
- Note two things separately: the count limit, and the consequence. They are often in different sentences, and the consequence is the part that varies.
- Check whether the limit is per calendar month or per statement cycle. These are not the same, and a cycle that ends mid-month can catch you out.
What counts toward the limit is narrower than people expect
Where limits still apply, they have historically targeted convenient transfers — automatic transfers, online transfers to another account, and debit-card-style transactions. Withdrawals made in person at a branch, at an ATM where offered, or by mailed check have generally sat outside that category. Because banks now set these terms individually rather than following one federal definition, this is another line to confirm in your own agreement instead of assuming.
What this means in practice
If you use a high-yield savings account the way most people do — money goes in, occasionally some comes out — no current limit is likely to affect you. Ten transactions per cycle is more room than a typical saver uses.
It matters in specific situations: if you are running a bill-paying rhythm through savings, moving money between several accounts to chase rates, or treating the account as a working buffer with frequent transfers in both directions. In those cases the limit and its penalty are worth checking before you open the account rather than after.
Common questions
Is the six-withdrawal limit coming back?
There is no announced plan to reinstate it. The rule was tied to reserve requirements, which remain at zero. If that changed, the Federal Reserve would have to go through rulemaking again.
My bank still says six per month. Is that legal?
Yes. The federal ceiling was removed, not replaced with a federal prohibition on limits. Banks may set their own terms, and some kept the old number.
Does this apply to money market accounts too?
The Regulation D change covered savings deposits, which included money market deposit accounts. Ally, for example, applies its 10-transaction limit to savings and money market accounts as a combined total.
Will exceeding the limit hurt my credit?
Deposit account activity is not reported to the consumer credit bureaus the way loan accounts are, so an excess-transaction fee or an account closure does not appear on a standard credit report. It can still affect your banking history record.
That banking history sits with specialty consumer reporting agencies such as ChexSystems and Early Warning Services, which operate under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Banks check them when you apply for a new account, and a reported closure can stay on file for up to five years. Whether a bank reports a closure — and how it codes the reason — is up to the bank, so treat this as a risk rather than a certainty. You are entitled to a free copy of your ChexSystems report, which is worth pulling if an account has ever been closed on you.
Bank policies in this article were read directly from each institution’s own pages on August 1, 2026, and the regulatory history is sourced from the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Register. Terms change; confirm current details in your account agreement before acting. This article is general information, not financial advice.