Only writing this review because I couldn't believe all the bad reviews I saw on this site. I have had Ally for about a year now because I moved out to Hawaii and the local banks are all crap (no 'mainland banks' like wells fargo out here either). After some bad experiences with the locals I decided to just go the online route, ally was the best known so went with them. So far Ally has been the best bank I have ever had and I have never had a single issue with them.

They pay 100% of ATM fees everywhere exactly as advertised; give you free money transfers to any person at any bank, free checks etc. I even overdrafted my checking account once by accident and they waved all fees without me even asking. Also contrary to many reviews on here their customer service have been great for me. They have 24/7 phone availability, and I have never been on hold for more than 5 mins. People on the phone seem reasonably competent and never have done me wrong. Overall, a great bank if you know how to use a computer or pick up a phone.

Also, any review talking about car loans on here is not talking about the same Ally bank that offers checking/savings accounts; they are separate entities.

My two properties are now in delinquency including penalties and interest due to Ally Bank's horrible bill paying service. They never sent the checks out for either of my properties semiannual taxes yet showed them in the system as having been sent. Their customer service department then refuses to make good on their obvious delinquency. One error....maybe. Two errors on the same day yet still claiming no responsibility? No way.

Stay away from this bank!!! The high interest rates they pay simply are not worth it.

I opened an account with ally because of their good interest rate and promise of decent services. They have not delivered. My account was frozen for "suspicious activity" and I was not notified until I started getting overdue notices on bills I thought had been paid. Their smartphone app crashes constantly making it hard to tell if they receive deposits or not. Their communication is terrible, emails are responded to very slowly and the people at the call center can be downright rude. An online bank to having unreliable software is inexcusable.

Two words: Debit card. I noticed lately that I carry very little cash, if any. It's just so convenient. We can now use the internet to communicate over great distances, and Ally bank has whole-heartedly embraced that fact. I opened a checking account with them about three months ago, and I've observed their entire system revolves around the internet.

Since they don't have a brick and mortar presence, they don't incur the expenses of one, and can give that money to you in the form of a higher interest rate. I had a savings account with USAA before, and my Ally checking account had an interest rate 4 times higher than my USAA savings account! That's a CHECKING account with FOUR TIMES AS MUCH INTEREST as a SAVINGS account!

The only problem I've noticed is that with the debit card, you may get in the habit of not carrying cash, and without and ATM or card scanner, you can't access your money. To fix this, make sure you get in the habit of always carrying $10 or $15 in your wallet when you have access to an ATM. A debit card means nothing if you don't have an ATM, which leads to the last thing I love about Ally: ATM fee reimbursement. Ally acknowledges that if you join, you'll use your debit card A LOT, so they don't have a limit on the number of ATM fees they will reimburse.

*Note: The rating I gave their customer service was meant to be interpretted as "neutral / don't know". I've never used their customer service because I've never needed them.

I am a freelancer, so my income is not steady, last week I was paid for some work I did, I thought it would be a good idea to pay all my bills, that way I wonâ??t have to worry about them the rest of the month. Which turned out to be a big mistake.

The next day my debit card was blocked for "suspicious" activity. I remember I was at the store and couldn't pay, my card kept getting declined. When I got home, I checked the account, it showed I had sufficient funds, so I sent Ally a message, asking them why my card was declined.

Two days later they finally replied, saying there was suspicious activity on my account and that my debit card had been blocked, for me to call some fraud protection number to get it unblocked.

I checked my account again and didn't see any "suspicious" activity, just bills and a few grocery store charges - I don't know how any of these would be considered suspicious, especially since they show up in my statement every month.

If somehow paying all my bills on the same day triggered some suspicion, what they should have done was flagged the account until a human could verify - whether or not there really was "suspicious" activity - not block it automatically.

That is just irresponsible and stupid. And the worse part of it all, is they now wanted me to take time out of my busy schedule to call some number and try and fix their mistake.

They didn't apologize or anything. The rep I exchanged emails with did nothing to help, she was just like - well, theres nothing I can do, you have to call the number.

Finally, I broke down and called the number - and guess what? They hung up on me! So I have no idea if my account has been unblocked or what. I could contact them again, but what good is that gonna do?

I've decided to look for a new bank, I cant be a part of a bank that does something like that. Its disappointing, I was such a big fan of Ally, recommended them to everyone and now I feel like such a fool for thinking they were any different.