Early Direct Deposit of Tax Refunds

If you are expecting a tax refund, you probably want it as soon as possible. The deposit table below should help. We all know that direct deposit is quicker than snail mail. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an early direct deposit? The good news is that some people can get an early direct deposit depending on how they choose to have their refund sent. If you are getting a direct deposit of your tax refund, some banks post refunds up to a few days prior to the date that the IRS indicates that you will receive your refund.  We call these institutions a No Hold Bank (NHB)* because you could receive an early direct deposit of your tax refund since it is before the expected direct deposit date shown on the Where’s My Refund (WMR) status tool.  A Traditional Financial Institution (TFI)** does not usually post an early direct deposit of a tax refund.

You might be wondering “how early” a direct deposit could be with these early direct deposit type of bank products. Below are prepaid products, credit unions, and traditional banks.  Generally speaking, traditional banks do not post direct deposits early.  Some credit unions and NHB prepaid cards have early deposits.  The approximate number of days and time your deposit will post is in the table below.  These dates and times are considering that you paid your tax preparation fees upfront.  For people who chose to have tax preparation fees deducted from their refund, you can usually add an additional day because the refund is processed through a 3rd party bank***.  Some of the 3rd party institutions will show the refund early and are noted below, but the transfer to your bank can take up to 24 hours.

Prepaid Cards: direct deposit is usually early and available immediately.

Credit Unions: direct deposit is usually shown as a pending transaction early; but, available either the night before or next day.

Traditional Banks: usually do not post direct deposits early.

Some No Hold Banks only post paychecks early and not early direct deposit of tax refunds.

The days and times shown below are based on what we have been told by users or by the products advertised early deposit timeframe. The times are shown “as early as” we have seen deposits released.

Early Direct Deposits

If your bank or prepaid card is not listed or to check with others who use the same bank as you, check our Banks & Prepaid Card Forum.

The table above shows how an early direct deposit works and it is an ongoing IGMR project.  We are continuing to gather information from our users and verify how early they receive their tax refunds.  Please leave us a comment if you have experienced something different or have an additional bank or product we can add.  To ask others, join the live conversation and ask about early direct deposits.

Want to join a credit union?  Here is a list of credit unions anyone can join.

* No Hold Banks (NHB) generally do not hold your refund when they receive it from Treasury and they will post 1-3 days earlier than you expected DDD on WMR.
** Traditional Financial Institutions (TFI) generally do not post deposits early.
*** 3rd Party Banks are used to process refunds that are having tax preparation fees deducted from a refund.