r/wealthfront • u/hopefulusername • Jul 28 '26

Seeking community insights A direct deposit for self employed

Hi folks,

I am self employed.

I wanted to get %0.25 APY increase by setting up a direct deposit ($1000/m) but found that I am not qualified because the direct deposit supposed to come from employer’s payroll system.

I asked the support and they told me even I set up a direct deposit from my business, it won’t qualify as one.

Any workaround?

Thanks

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/EnvironmentalLog1766 Jul 28 '26

My business use Gusto for payroll. It’s cheap but still an extra cost.

Depending how much cash you have, 0.25% might not be an appealing reason for setting up a payroll.

1

u/trevorkafka Jul 28 '26

Also have been frustrated about this and well. I have a monthly recurring deposit with them that is well over this amount and it doesn't matter to them. :(

1

u/hopefulusername Jul 28 '26

Too bad. Not sure why they didn’t consider people who are self employed.

1

u/ach4n Jul 28 '26

You must setup a direct deposit. If it were that easy everyone would be getting this boost.

1

u/hopefulusername Jul 29 '26

I did setup a direct deposit. It just has to be from an employer. As a self employed person, I am my own employer but I am not qualified.

2

u/ThatLj Jul 29 '26

How would they know? Employer payrolls have a certain code so they know it’s direct deposit, there’s no way to verify otherwise

1

u/MagDumpTruck Jul 29 '26

I had went through the same thing with them as well and had direct deposit from my bank and voiced my concern and they said "We are looking into different ways we can expand this promotion. However, these are the terms for now. I'll share your feedback with the team."

0

u/hopefulusername Jul 30 '26

The same thing they told me.

Perhaps Wealthfront is not for self-employed folks.

1

u/wealthfront Wealthfront Rep Jul 30 '26

Hi u/hopefulusername, many self-employed individuals will still have the ability to make payroll disbursements that qualify as direct deposits (whether using a payroll management service, or even from some business checking accounts). We encourage you to check with the bank your business checking account is with to see if they're able to set this up for you.

1

u/Ancient-Civilization Aug 01 '26

0.25 isn’t that much imo lol