Wealthsimple Cash Review: Worth the Hype? [January 2024]

Noel’s Take

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Key Takeaways

• An excellent solution for anyone looking to spend money while earning cash back rewards and avoiding debt.
• Limited fees, 1% cash back, and consistent feature rolls out like peer-to-peer lending, auto-invest and round-up spending.
• Wealthsimple Cash is a great way to spend money while living within your means.

Pros

• Limited Fees
• Earn 1% in Cash Rewards for Spending
• Earn 1% – 4% in Interest Income
• Great for Peer to Peer Lending
• Instant Deposits
• Auto Invest Functionality
• Direct Deposit
• Works with Apple Pay
• Works with Interac E-Transfer
• Helps You Avoid Debt
• Round up Saving Feature
• Very Safe and Secure Platform

Cons

• Instant Withdrawals Cost 2.5%
• $3,500 Daily Deposit Limit
• Feature Roll Out’s Can Take a Long Time
• Daily Spending and ATM Limits
• Not All Merchants Accept Prepaid Cards
• You Can Incur Third Party Fees
• No In-Person Customer Service
• Occasional Platform Glitches
• You Don’t Get Any Overdraft
• No Desktop Application

Rating  

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Thinking about opening an account with Wealthsimple Cash? But you’re not quite sold on it yet?

If so, this article will be excellent for you as I provide an extensive Wealthsimple Cash review from my own first-hand experience with the platform.

As a Wealthsimple Cash user for well over two years now, I know everything there is to know about the platform. In fact, according to Wealthsimple, I’m one of their top 500 active clients (their words, not mine)

This was back at the end of 2021, so who knows if I still am, but I still use Wealthsimple Cash every day for my day-to-day spending, so I wouldn’t be surprised.

Throughout this article, I will break down every aspect of Wealthsimple Cash for you so that you can decide whether or not it’s a good fit for you.

Let’s get into it.

Where Wealthsimple Cash Shines

1. Limited Fees

One of the best things about Wealthsimple Cash is that it has very, very few fees. Unlike a traditional bank, which usually has a monthly or annual account fee, Wealthsimple Cash doesn’t charge anything like this.

It doesn’t require any minimum balances, no signup fees, transfer fees, no deposit fees and no transaction fees – I was pretty impressed with this when I first signed up.

Now there are so third party fees that you could be charged for depending on how your using your account, but will talk about those in the next section.

2. Earn 1% in Cash Rewards for Spending

One of the features of Wealthsimple Cash that I like the most is how I earn cash rewards for spending. Unlike most chequing accounts that you set up with a bank, spending in these accounts won’t offer you much in regards to rewards, as most rewards programs come from credit cards like AMEX or Visa.

But with Wealthsimple Cash, you’ll get 1% cash back on every dollar your spend with your account. And what’s even better is that if you have other accounts set up with Wealthsimple, like a Wealthsimple Trade, Invest or Crypto, you can have the cash back flow into these accounts as Cash, or even have it auto-buy a crypto asset for you.

If you don’t have any of these investment accounts, that’s okay too – you’ll just get your cashback into your Cash account.

See all the different cash-back options in my video below!

3. Earn 1% – 4% in Interest Income

Another benefit of Wealthsimple Cash is that it actually has some pretty decent interest rates that you can earn on your cash, depending on how much you have in your account, these rates can be much much higher than a traditional bank which is almost always below 1%

Below is a table that breaks these interests down.

4. Great for Peer to Peer Lending

One of Wealthsimple Cash’s greatest but underused feature is their peer to peer lending functionally.

If you’ve ever used something like Venmo, it’s basically that, but for Canadians. So instead of having to go through the hassle of an e-transfer, getting emails, security questions, and the sometimes slow transfer, Wealthsimple Cash basically allows you to send money like you’re sending a text.

All you do is open your app, click send or request money, find your contact, and then easily send them money.

Now the only bad part about this is that to take advantage of this feature, the person you’re sending money to also needs to have a Wealthsimple Cash account, which obviously isn’t always going to be the case. This is really the main reason why this feature isn’t used a lot.

Unlike Venmo or Cash app, which has really become mainstream in the US, Wealthsimple Cash hasn’t quite got there yet.

5. Instant Deposits

Wealthsimple Cash’s instant deposit functionality is super convenient for those who might need to add extra money to their account and want to be able to access it immediately.

When you set up your accounts to deposit money into them, you can link your bank account or debit card to your account – or both, which is what I did. When you transfer money from your debit card, you can get up to $3,500 instantly per month, and with your bank account, you get up to $1,000 instantly every three business days.

6. Direct Deposit

Wealthsimple Cash now has direct deposit setup for its users to take advantage of if they wish.

So if you don’t want to deal with sending money from your bank account to your cash account each payday, just setup a direct deposit with your employer and you’ll get your money deposited directly into your cash account – super convenient.

7. Auto Invest Functionality

Another great feature of Wealthsimple Cash is its Auto Invest functionality.

This feature is only available for those who do set up their direct deposit with their account. Every time a paycheque lands in your account, Wealthsimple will automatically take the amount you set to auto-invest and move it into your investment account.

Now, this feature only works if you have two things setup:

What’s great about this feature is it makes sure you don’t spend your “investment funds” accidentally as you won’t even have an opportunity to. Another common term for this is “forced savings”. This is a really great feature, in my opinion.

8. Works with Apple Pay

If you use Apple Pay often, you’ll be happy to know your Wealthsimple Cash card will work with Apple pay.

If you don’t use Apple Pay, but you’re looking for a super convenient and safe way to quickly pay for things, then Wealthsimple Cash is something you should definitely consider. Not only does it make paying for things in person easy, but for online merchants that accept pre-paid cards, it makes buying things online that much easier too.

For example, you can set it up to your Uber account as I’ve done, and then all my Uber expenses run through my Wealthsimple Cash account and it’s just super easy and convenient.

9. Works with Interac E-Transfer

As we discussed earlier, Wealthsimple Cash’s peer-to-peer money transfer feature, while great, only works when both the sender and receiver have Wealthsimple Cash.

Luckily though, Wealthsimple Cash now offers Interac E-transfers so if you need to send someone money and they don’t have Wealthsimple Cash, you can still make the transfer through Wealthsimple Cash.

I personally like this feature a lot, I do pretty much all of my day-day to spending from Wealthsimple Cash, and being able to e-transfer from this account keeps all of it under one roof, which just makes life easier. They also didn’t always have this feature either, so it’s great to see them continuing to add helpful features.

As what’s even better is just recently, Wealthsimple released a feature where you can now receive e-transfers into your account with your very own unique Wealthsimple email address. All Interac e-Transfers to your email will be auto-deposit enabled, meaning no tricky security questions are needed, and your money will be available to you instantly.

Way to go Wealthsimple.

10. Helps You Avoid Debt

One thing that I really like about using Wealthsimple Cash is that it helps me avoid debt.

Not only does it not support overdraft, but because its a prepaid card, all the money you spend on your card is money that you loaded up in your account beforehand. So once that’s gone, you’ll have to load more up to spend again because this isn’t a credit you spending on, it’s cash.

I set aside a certain amount of money each month, send it to my Wealthsimple Cash account, and use these funds as my spending fund. So I know this is my budget until my next payday – I find this really helps me spend within my limits and not overspend, which people tend to do more when spending with credit.

12. Round up Spending Feature

Speaking of new features, Wealthsimple Cash is currently in beta with its new round-up spending feature.

All it is is when you buy something with your Wealthsimple Cash card, Wealthsimple will round up your purchase to the nearest dollar and deposit that amount into the same account you receive your cashback rewards (discussed earlier).

So if you bought a beer for $4.50, then Wealthsimple would round up your purchase to $5.00 and invest the $.50 difference into whatever account you have your cash back rewards setup with.

This roundup feature is pretty standard with spending or investment platforms now, but it’s still great to see Wealthsimple incorporating it into their Cash application.

12. Very Safe and Secure Platform

And last but not least, Wealthsimple Cash is a very safe and secure platform. Not only are they are insured by the CDIC for up to $100,000 and a member of FINTRAC to prevent financial crime, but they also have specific security features built into their Cash platform which include:

Read more here about Wealthsimple’s safety features.

Where Wealthsimple Cash Falls Short

1. Instant Withdrawals Cost 2.5%

We mentioned fees earlier, and I really do think Wealthsimple Cash does a great job of keeping fees to a minimum, but one thing they do charge is a 2.5% fee for instant withdrawals.

When you go to withdraw money from your cash account, you’ll be given two options if you have your debit card and bank account set up to your Wealthsimple account. The first option will be an instant withdrawal to your debit card, which will cost you 2.5% of your total withdrawal amount, and then the second option is a free withdrawal through your bank account, which will take 1-3 business days.

So if you’re withdrawing $1,000 from your account and want it instantly deposited into your bank account, then you’ll have to pay $25 for that, which is pretty steep, so it’s something to be aware of if you’ll be withdrawing a lot of money and you want to be able to access it instantly.

2. $3,500 Daily Deposit Limit

Wealthsimple Cash has set a $3,500 daily cap on its deposits from a user. So in total, you’ll be able to deposit $35,000 a month, so unless you’re really spending serious money on this card, this shouldn’t be an issue, but it’s still something to keep in mind if you are a big spender.

3. Feature Roll Out’s Can Take a Long Time

Another thing I’ve noticed not just with Wealthsimple Cash, but Wealthsimple in general, is that their feature rollouts usually take a long time from the time they announce they are releasing a new feature.

For years, they said they were coming out with this metal Tungsten card, which they eventually did, but I’m pretty sure it was well over a year from when they announced it was originally coming out, and then they eventually rolled back the card, and it’s no longer available. But that’s just one example – I do find I’m usually waiting longer than anticipated when I hear about a new feature they’re looking to release – so don’t hold your breath, is all I’m saying!

5. Not All Merchants Accept Prepaid Cards

Now that I’ve been using the Wealthsimple Cash card for a while, I’ve realized that not all merchants actually accept prepaid cards as a form of payment.

I’ve noticed my card declined in airplanes, online stores, and certain subscription services as well.

Now, this isn’t to say no e-commerce stores or subscription companies will accept payment from prepaid cards – in fact, most will, but for all the times my card has not worked, its usually from these types of places.

Another way I’ll know my card won’t work is if the place only accepts credit cards, which is why I think it doesn’t work on airplanes.

So with all that said, it is usually a good idea to keep a backup card in your wallet for these situations, I always keep both my Wealthsimple Cash card and my AMEX with me just to be safe.

6. You Can Incur Third Party Fees

Wealthsimple Cash doesn’t charge any fees for using the card, but third-party fees may apply, depending on what you do with it.

For instance, there’s a currency conversion fee for transactions that involve foreign currencies. Mastercard determines the applicable exchange rate from the range of rates available in wholesale currency markets for the processing date.

On top of that, if you use an ATM to withdraw cash with your Wealthsimple Cash card, you may see a standard withdrawal fee of around $3.00. While this may not be a big deal for some people, it’s worth noting that these fees can obviously add up over time and eat away at your account balance.

Personally, I don’t use ATMs often, so the withdrawal fee doesn’t bother me much. Plus, I usually expect to pay ATM fees when I do in fact withdrawal money from them, so it’s not something I hold against Wealthsimple Cash, but nonetheless, it’s still important to be aware of these fees and factor them in as you spend.

7. No In-Person Customer Service

Because Wealthsimple Cash doesn’t have any physical client offices, customer service is all done digitally or over the phone, which for some people, could be seen as a huge drawback for those who prefer handling their issues in person.

Personally, I find the convenience of resolving issues over the phone or through the app to be a major plus, as it saves me time and effort. But hey, everyone is different, and if the idea of dealing with your issues or concerns over the phone, email or within the app is not something you feel comfortable with, then Wealthsimple Cash may not be a good fit for you.

8. Occasional Platform Glitches

Ever since Wealthsimple combined all its platforms into one app, I have found the app to be a little slower and glitchier than it once was.

Now I like the fact that all my finances from my TFSA, to my RRSP, to my crypto investments and my spending wallet are all under one app as it makes it super easy and cheap to transfer funds around, but like I said, I have found the app to act up from time to time.

I’m assuming this is likely due to the fact it’s relatively new, and they are still working out some of the bugs with everything being under one roof now, but if you are someone who has little to no patience for this kind of stuff…well then you might want to wait a while until they figure out the kinks!

9. You Don’t Get Any Overdraft

Wealthsimple Cash is a reloadable prepaid credit card, which means that you actually don’t get any overdraft protection. In other words, you can only spend what you’ve transferred into your account, and if you try to spend more than what you have, your transaction will simply be declined.

This can definitely be a drawback and inconvenience for people who are used to relying on overdrafts to cover their expenses, but for those of us who do consistently go into overdraft, not having the option can actually be a positive aspect of Wealthsimple Cash as it’ll force you to limit the amount you can spend to only what you have available.

10. No Desktop Application

The last downside of Wealthsimple Cash is that it doesn’t yet have a desktop option – it’s strictly an app.

So if you like to have both or prefer desktop over mobile, this might be an issue for you. I prefer mobile, but I also like having a desktop option, so while it’s not a deal breaker for me by any means, it is something I’d like to see them incorporate in the future as they have with their Invest, Trade and Crypto.

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Who Should Use Wealthsimple Cash?

With everything said above, are you still unsure whether or not Wealthsimple Cash is right for you?

If so, this next section might help as I outline what type of people may or may not be best suited for Wealthsimple Cash.

You Should Use Wealthsimple Cash if…

Wealthsimple Cash Might Not be For You if… 

My Experience with Wealthsimple Cash

As I mentioned, I’ve been using Wealthsimple Cash for a few years now and really enjoy it. I use it as my day-to-day spending account for things like food, gas, entertainment and other random expenses.

The main feature I use with Wealthsimple Cash is the spending feature. I haven’t setup direct deposit, auto invest or round up spending yet, but I probably will in the future. While I occasionally use the peer-to-peer lending feature, I use the e-transfer functionality more for sending money, because as I stated earlier, Wealthsimple Cash isn’t used by a lot of people yet, which makes the peer-to-peer lending less useful. But when I can use it, I do, and it works great.

The only real downside I’ve experienced lately is that Wealthsimple Cash’s app is now incorporated into the Invest, Trade and Crypto app, so it’s all under one roof. Because of this, it can occasionally be a bit buggy. I wouldn’t say it’s been a big issue, but definitely something I’ve noticed in the last few months.

But overall, on a 1-5 rating, I’d still give Wealthsimple Cash a 4.5/5 rfor all the other reasons I’ve stated throughout the article, which is why I use it everyday and will continue to do so.

Testimonial from Other Wealthsimple Cash Users

FAQs About Wealthsimple Cash