[UPDATE: Note some changes in Mango terms.]
We’ve written a lot about high-yield savings accounts, some of them being prepaid cards with an attached savings account. Prominent among them is the Mango prepaid card which offers a 6% APY interest rate on up to $5,000 balances.
Previous Posts:
- Mango 6% Rewards Checking Account + $20 Bonus
- Mango Prepaid Changes Hands
- Changes to Mango Prepaid 6% Interest Account (take 2)
The big change recently was the added requirement of receiving a $500 direct deposit. And – we thought – a new restriction in the usage of the account which would not allow ACH pulls to withdraw money from the Mango prepaid account.
Numerous reports have come in that ACH withdrawals are working again and are not getting reversed as they were in the past. It worked for me as well. There is, however, a $2500 ACH withdrawal limit per transaction. The problems we were experiencing were apparently just a transition glitch and not any new rule.
This is really a huge difference in the palatability of the account since now you should hopefully be able to ACH push $500 into the Mango prepaid and ACH pull $497 out (leaving $3 for the monthly fee); you can even automate this through your banks online banking system. Or you can pay your credit card bill using the routing/account numbers.
Be sure to always leave over a $1 balance in the account since they’ve added a condition that the 6% rate only applies to accounts with $1 in the prepaid account at the end of the month. The end of the month is when the monthly fee hits and you want to make sure that there is $4 in the account so that there will be $1 remaining after the monthly fee. [Update: I now believe the $1 has to be in the savings account; the prepaid doesn’t have to have any balance.]
See also Guide to 5% Interest Prepaid/Savings Accounts for a roundup of all the high-interest options on prepaid cards.
Thanks to reader Tuck and Octavio for clarifying this issue.
View Comments (105)
Why doesnt it say anywhere on this page that you can only transfer $1700 per day from card to savings account? pretty important imo
How do you ACH money out of Mango? I have a Chase checking account.
Hello ALL
Whast is the current limit for ACH out of Mango to Chase or any other account. I setup 4K and it failed
I saw somewhere in the blog post that the limit is 2.5K. Is this still valid or it has been reduced further ?
There is a $2500 limit if you are transferring the money out via ACH.
Did you find out? I also need to know, planning to empty the checking next month.
BEWARE THEIR LOOPHOLE!!
You will disqualify yourself for the 6% interest if you ACH withdraw. From their site:
"To qualify (for the 6% interest), you must add Net Direct Deposits of $800 or more to your Mango Card account during the calendar month.... Net Direct Deposits are the total amount of ACH direct deposits to your card account for the month less the total amount of ACH debits made from your card account during the month."
So basically, money goes in, but doesn't come out if you want interest.
Thanks Pat, we also wrote about this once https://www.doctorofcredit.com/major-negative-changes-mango-6-apy-prepaid-account/
Let me update this post.
When did the $500/$497 rule go into effect? I've had a $0 balance for both out cards form the beginning a month or two ago.
I"m new to Mango and trying to figure out the maze. Assuming I already have $5K in my savings account, do I need to transfer the $500 DD into the savings account to trigger the 6% or can I leave it in the card account? If that's the case can I just set up a monthly DD push for $500 into Mango and then a $497 pull the next day? Thanks for the help.
No need for the $500 to go to Savings (in fact, I'm not sure if that would even work - it's supposed to go to the checking/card). Yeah, you can push in $500 and then pull out $497 the next day.
So are 3 card holders now getting interest on all 3 or just one? seems to be conflicting reports?
Thanks - looking to add 2 more if still viable.
Checked today and they have corrected the issue and my interest has posted for May.
Great! Thanks for letting us know.
Mango is starting to impose $1,700/day card to Savings transfer limit.
I have had no problems depositing $4,500 to my card and then transfer the full amount to my Savings.
However, a friend just opened an account and was not able to to transfer $4,500 to her savings. She got a message that she has exceeded her daily limit.
Looking in the Savings Agreement it has a paragraph:
"To add funds to your Savings Account, you must first load them to your Card Account and then transfer them to your Savings Account via "mangomoney online*". You may not transfer more than $1,700.00 per day from your Card Account to your Savings Account. ."
It appears that they are now trying to enforce this.
p.s. The workaround, at the moment at least, is to make multiple transfers < $1,700.
*) My posts do not show up here if they have a URL, so I removed the URL!
Just ran into this problem. Thanks for the tip, worked for me.
I called their customer service a few days ago because my interest has not posted in May. I received an email Friday afternoon that they were having a system issue and I should receive my interest by EOD on Monday, June 20th.