How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Mercury

A POD designation is available on Mercury Personal checking and savings only. It is not available on any business account.¹

Business checking, savings, the sweep program and Treasury have no POD or TOD designation.¹

A Mercury trust account can itself name beneficiaries, up to 5 individuals or another trust, and at least one is required. They are named in the original application, not afterward in the dashboard.¹

After onboarding, a trust account's beneficiaries cannot be changed self-serve. A change is requested by email, and may take additional review or documentation depending on the change.¹

There is no beneficiary designation to make on a Mercury Invest or Mercury Treasury balance. Those are brokerage accounts at Apex Clearing Corporation.¹

Up to 5 individuals can be named on an account.¹

One trust can be named on an account in place of individuals, by its legal name and Tax Identification Number.¹

Mercury supports naming your trust as the single POD beneficiary of your Mercury Personal checking and savings, using the trust's legal name and Tax Identification Number.²

Up to 5 individuals or 1 trust per account. Checking and savings balances are split evenly among all named beneficiaries; custom percentages and contingent beneficiaries are not supported.¹

Under the agreement, multiple surviving beneficiaries own the account in equal shares as joint tenants with right of survivorship.³

No rights vest in a designated beneficiary until the death of the account owners (section 3.4 of the agreement).³

If no designated beneficiary is living when the last surviving owner dies, the funds are paid to the legal representative of the last surviving account owner.¹

On a joint account, POD beneficiaries take only on the death of the last surviving co-owner; the surviving joint owner takes first.¹

A beneficiary can be edited or removed at any time from the Beneficiaries screen under Settings, then Account Settings.¹

Mercury Personal accepts revocable living trusts as account owners. Irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts, court-supervised trusts, charitable trusts, business or institutional trust structures, and 401(k) or other qualified retirement-plan trusts are not accepted.²

A trust that references a 401(k), ERISA or a qualified plan, or whose trustee is a plan administrator, is not accepted.²

Mercury business accounts cannot be held by or re-titled to a trust; Mercury lists trusts as an entity type it cannot open a business account for. A business owned by a trust still banks in the business entity's own name.²

Mercury Invest is not available inside a trust account.²

Mercury does not convert an existing account. A trustee opens a separate trust-titled account and moves the money in; a Mercury Personal individual or joint account cannot be re-titled into the trust, and Mercury supports one trust account per person.²

You do not need to create a new trust. Mercury takes the revocable living trust you already have, and does not ask you to upload the full trust document at onboarding.²

Mercury's guidance tells applicants to look at who created the trust and why, whether the document says it can still be amended or revoked, and whether it holds personal assets rather than retirement, pension or employee-benefit assets.²

The agreement lets the bank ask for a Certificate of Trust, authenticated excerpts of the trust instrument, a trustee affidavit, or a full copy of the trust when it deems it necessary.³

The bank may suspend, freeze, restrict or close the account if it decides the documentation is deficient or there is a dispute among grantors or trustees.³

Access to the trust account is limited to verified trustees and grantors listed at onboarding. Beneficiaries get no access, and additional users, custom roles and limited-access permissions are not supported.²

Trust accounts carry checking and savings, sub-accounts, debit cards, ACH and wires, automations, and savings at the same rate as other Mercury Personal savings.²

Tax reporting for the trust account runs through one designated primary grantor, including where the trust has more than one grantor.²

The $240-a-year Mercury Personal subscription includes one trust account.²

Mercury Invest and Mercury Treasury brokerage accounts, which carry no beneficiary designation¹