Financial products and transfer schemes are typically designed to improve welfare
by helping individuals follow through on their intertemporal plans. We implement an
artefactual field experiment in Malawi to test the ability of households to manage a cash
windfall by varying whether 474 households receive a payment in cash or through direct
deposit into pre-established accounts at a local bank. Payments are made immediately,
with one day delay, or with eight days delay. Defaulting the payments into savings
accounts leads to higher net deposits into bank accounts, an effect that persists for
a number of weeks afterwards. However, neither savings defaults nor payment delays
affect the amount or composition of spending, suggesting that households manage cash effectively without the use of formal financial products.