“Ally bank: Quarter mil xfer $ limit ”

10/17/09: Ally Bank has reduced the APY for the Online Savings Account
from to 1.70% from 1.80% at the beginning of the week.

I opened a OSA this past week. Verified banks via trial deposit,
started money movement, all went fine. I like the simple, clean web
site User Interface. Compared to the cluttered chaos of citibank or
tdameritrade, it is quite nice. They show you the current interest
rate your money is earning right there at account status, not hidden
(ever try to find the rate Citibank's Ultimate Money Market is presently
paying? -- impossible!) so you'll easily and immediately see when they
adjust the rate.

They show you the current w/d counter for the statement period (says
"Limited Transaction Count") right there at account status, so you know
when you are close to hitting the federal law limit, 6 w/d per period.
I've never seen this feature from any bank before.

So far, it is just like their commercials, "story" and banner ads state:
nothing hidden, being 100% straightforward with the customer.

- unlimited number of linked external accounts
- Quarter mil xfer $ limit (website msg is "Amount must be 250,000 or less")
- ACH deposit start to earn interest immediately (i.e. "good faith")
but will take 3 business days to clear the source bank.
- ACH w/d show up in destination bank in 3 business days (so I'm told)
- Alerts possible for "Regular Deposit" and "Cross Balance Threshold"
Other activity automatically generates a status email.

One glitch: a visual-only rendering imperfection of login & "security
image" dialog boxes on firefox 1.5 & 2.

Ally bank: please implement "next day" ACH for deposit and wd/! Countrywide's
late Savingslink account had this feature, so I know it can be done.