Cases & Investigations
Cash Sweep Interest Rate Investigation

Do you have a brokerage or investment account with Edward Jones, Goldman Sachs, Truist, or another financial institution listed below? If so, you may have a legal claim related to the interest paid on cash held in your account.

Wolf Popper LLP is investigating whether certain banks, brokerage firms, and investment advisory firms paid unreasonably low interest rates on cash held in brokerage accounts. If the interest rate paid on that cash was unreasonably low, account holders may have lost interest they could otherwise have earned, and may be entitled to damages. 

Which Financial Institutions Are Under Investigation?

Wolf Popper LLP is investigating potential claims involving cash sweep programs offered by the following financial institutions and investment firms:

• Edward Jones
• Goldman Sachs
• Stephens Inc.
• Truist Investment Services
• Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
• Altruist Financial
• Axos Clearing
• Thread Bank
• Citizens Securities
• Evolve Bank & Trust
• Synovus Bank
• Fifth Third Securities
• Bank of Oklahoma
• Santander Securities LLC
• Kestra Financial
• Cambridge Investment Research
• Northern Trust Securities
• HilltopSecurities
• Benjamin F. Edwards
• Key Investment Services
• Key Investment Services
• Pershing

Do you have an account with one of these institutions? 

Read on to learn more about the investigation and whether your account may be affected.

What Is a Cash Sweep Program?

Aside from their holdings in stocks, bonds, and other securities, brokerage customers also maintain cash balances in their portfolio.   Cash becomes available when a customer deposits money, sells an investment, or receives dividends, among other scenarios. 

Some financial institutions automatically move customer cash into a designated bank deposit account through a process known as a cash sweep. The deposit account may earn interest, subject to the terms of the account.

You may not have chosen the deposit account yourself or even be familiar with the term “cash sweep.” Depending on your financial institution, this feature may be part of the standard arrangements for your investment account.

To find out whether your account may be affected, you can review your account statements or account agreement for references to a cash sweep, bank deposit program, or cash balance interest rate. You can also contact us if you are unsure whether your account participates in a cash sweep program. 

Why Are Cash Sweep Programs Being Investigated?

The interest rate paid on cash in brokerage accounts can affect how much customers earn, particularly when significant balances remain in an account for an extended period.

Financial institutions earn returns on deposited funds by lending out that cash at high rates while paying account holders interest at a different, and usually, much lower rate. The rate paid to customers may also be lower than rates available through other cash options.

Wolf Popper is investigating whether certain institutions paid unreasonably low interest rates on swept cash and whether their practices may have violated applicable account agreements or other legal obligations. Wolf Popper has extensive experience litigating cases on behalf of consumers complaining of low interest rates paid on their cash and reaching favorable outcomes for those customers. 

The legal obligations of each institution depend on the applicable agreements, account types, facts, and law. The investigation seeks to determine whether affected account holders may have claims for damages. 

Who May Have a Legal Claim?

You may have a legal claim if you had an investment or brokerage account with one of the institutions listed above.

The type of account you held, the amount of cash in the account, the interest rate you received, and the period during which your funds were held in the program may all be relevant to determining whether you have a potential claim for damages.

You do not need to know whether your account used a cash sweep program before contacting us. If you had an account with one of the listed institutions, we want to hear from you.

Join Our Cash Sweep Interest Rate Investigation

If you had an account with one of the financial institutions listed above, contact Wolf Popper LLP for a free case evaluation to learn whether you may have a legal claim related to the interest paid on your cash.