Cash App is one of the most convenient, no-hassle ways to send money to friends and family. With its simple design and smooth cash transfers, there's no doubt as to why its one of the most popular personal finance apps around.
Recently, Cash App has added more ways for their users to grow their wealth through investing in stocks, and the ability to buy bitcoin inside their app, which has made some Cash App users wonder what else is possible in mobile banking and personal finance apps.
SoFi is one such app on the rise. Quickly becoming an approachable 'one-stop shop' personal finance app with a full run of features, including high-interest savings accounts, checking accounts, investing accounts, crypto, personal loans, student loan refinancing, what doesn't SoFi do?
Many Cash App users are making the switch to SoFi to see how "green" SoFi's "grass" is, and want to know how they can transfer their cash, stocks, and crypto from Cash App into SoFi.
Today we're going to show you precisely how to transfer from Cash App into SoFi, step by step, no fuss.
Moving stocks and cash between Cash App to SoFi involves a process called an ACATs transfer - "Automated Customer Account Transfer service".
This type of transferring allows you to take all the assets that are inside of one account, and move it to a new brokerage without losing ownership. This is great, because it avoids selling off and rebuying these assets, which in turn would create taxable events that you'd have to pay for.
ACATs might sound complex, but these transfers are pretty simple, and both apps already have everything you need for ACATs built in!
Here's what we have to do:
Before we go into everything, 2 crucial disclaimers:
1: ACATs transfers come with a fee.
Whenever ACATs transfers are made, the brokerage you're leaving (Cash App in this case), will charge a fee (usually $75) for processing your transfer. This sucks, but the good news is the brokerage you're transferring into will often give you a rebate for transferring into their services, or just pay it outright for you.
With SoFi, your transfer needs to be qualified in order to get reimbursed - more on that in step 3!
2: SoFi doesn't offer crypto wallets at this time.
While you are able to withdraw Bitcoin from Cash App and place it into third-party bitcoin wallets, SoFi doesn't offer individual crypto wallets to its users yet. If you want to hold your bitcoin inside your SoFi account, you'll have to sell off all your bitcoin inside Cash App, and then rebuy your position inside SoFi after everything else is set up.
This will incur a taxable event, as it is considered capital gains. Make sure you understand the tax liabilities of selling your cryptocurrency before transferring in this way.
Okay! Now we can get to the good stuff.
First, let's go into your Cash App, and grab a few details for the ACATs transfer.
SoFi will need the following:
This 17-digit investing account number is separate from your regular 10-digit Cash App account number.
The easiest way to find your investing account number is by opening any Cash App monthly investing statement.
Here's how to find it:
Copy down your investing account number in a secure place, we'll need it for step 3!
Sofi accounts are pretty quick to set up, and aren't too different from any other mobile banking sign up experience.
You'll have to give them your information, including your social security number, and then verify your information.
Follow these steps:
After this, SoFi's verification process can take up to 2 business days to finish. However, if your name and verified IDs match during sign up, it's possible to get verified automatically.
Now that we have your Cash App investing account number, and your SoFi account is all set up, we can initiate your ACATs transfer!
ACATs with SoFi uses the third-party service Plaid to connect different banks together. Cash App uses Lincoln Savings Bank for transactions with Plaid, so you'll need to type that bank in when Plaid pops up.
How to Initiate Your ACATs Transfer:
SoFi will reimburse users for their $75 transfer fee if the value of the account transferred is at least $5000.
If your Cash App investing account is nearing $5000 in value, it may be worth it to delay your ACATs transfer and instead invest more into your Cash App investing account until it exceeds that threshold.
However, if you're farther away from that $5000 than you'd like, paying the $75 ACATs transfer fee to Cash App isn't the end of the world.
ACATs transfers don't incur any taxes, and may take a few business days to process.
Both Cash App and SoFi offer great value in different functions for your financial health.
Just because you're starting up with SoFi doesn't mean you have to get rid of Cash App altogether - it's still a great way to send cash to friends and family.
SoFi has a lot of cool promotions and products designed to help regular people get ahead in their financial outlook.
Make sure to check out everything they offer, and take advantage of the value for yourself!
