SCUS vs VBIL

SCUSBSchwab Ultra-Short Income ETF

VBILAVanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF

In short

SCUS Schwab's cash-parking entry: an actively managed sleeve of short-dated investment-grade dollar debt, measured against 3-month T-bills, at 0.14% a year. That undercuts the typical ultra-short bond ETF, and most active ones too.

VBIL Vanguard's cash-parking ETF: roughly two dozen Treasury bills, none maturing more than three months out, at 0.06% a year. It landed in 2025 and undercut most of the T-bill shelf on price.

Stated mandate

SCUS The fund seeks current income consistent with capital preservation while maintaining liquidity. It actively invests in investment-grade, short-term, U.S.-dollar-denominated debt securities issued by U.S. and foreign issuers.

VBIL VBIL seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted Treasury index with an ultra-short-term dollar-weighted average maturity, using a passive approach designed to follow the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bills 0-3 Months Index.

Why people hold it

• SCUS 0.14% a year undercuts the ultra-short category's 0.20% median, and lands below active rivals like PULS at 0.15%.
• Active, not index-tracking: managers pick among short-dated investment-grade dollar bonds from US and foreign issuers, with capital preservation and liquidity written into the mandate.
• Income arrives monthly, drawn from roughly 150 positions rather than a handful of bills.
• Sits in the upper half of a crowded ultra-short bond field, with cost doing the heavy lifting.

• VBIL It charges 0.06% a year, well under the 0.14% median for 0-1 year Treasury funds and under the category veteran, BIL.
• Plain passive mandate on the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bills 0-3 Months Index, tracked very closely. One of the tightest implementations in its peer group.vanguard.com
• Roughly two dozen bills backed by the US Treasury, every one maturing inside three months. Interest goes out monthly.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with active daily trading, which tends to keep bid-ask costs small.

Worth knowing

• SCUS Launched in August 2024, so the track record is short next to ultra-short mainstays like SHV.
• Assets are modest and trading is moderate, so spreads can run wider than at the category's biggest names.
• Benchmarked to 3-month T-bills, but it buys credit rather than only government paper, so the share price can move when spreads widen.

• VBIL The payout floats with short-term rates. Monthly income rises and falls with what bills yield, and nothing about it is fixed.
• It opened in 2025, so its live record is short next to T-bill funds that have been running for years.
• Stretching maturity gets cheaper: peer XONE targets one-year duration at 0.03%, trading lower cost for more rate sensitivity.

Full SCUS profile⁠

Full VBIL profile⁠