“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.
“Great Banking, so far!”
My first experience with Ally was to open an online CD Thursday 10/08/09 via a funds transfer from my Wachovia checking. I've been tracking the transaction closely to see how long it would take for Ally to deposit the funds and to ensure the terms were accurate. It appears the deposit is pending today 10/13/09 with the terms and conditions being accurate. Since Monday was a bank holiday, I am very pleased with the transaction timing; so great banking so far! I'll continue to post updates.
“I love the Ads!”
I have to admit, I just loved the Ally Bank commercials and finally decided to open an account. Been very happy with the service and like the No Penalty CD a lot!
“Great bank with good customer service.”
I had small CDs with GMAC (Ally's predecessor) and since the rebranding, have added savings and MMA accounts. The customer service has always been great, with all questions save security issues answered by the first person who answered the phone.
They have a great ACH transfer system and good rates, though they have been pressured to lower them by the FDIC, lately.
“Consider My Comment Befroe You Enroll at ALLY”
I've been with ALLY (previously GMAC ) bank for a few years now. Good interest rates, easy to transfer money to linked accounts, friendly customer service, etc. But for me service has diminished greatly since the name change to ALLY.
In early August '09 I was speaking to customer service about a pending transfer, when the rep asked me about 2 identical debits from my account made within minutes of each other. A good catch by the rep because they weren't mine! At my request the debit card was cancelled and replaced with a new one as a precaution. My account was then locked from any outgoing withdrawals while the Fraud dept. investigated. I signed and returned a form denying responsibility for the charges ($140 total).
It is now late August and my account is still locked. Numerous calls to customer service have been fruitless. They aren't allowed to discuss my account, only the Fraud dept. can. I've been told twice now that I will get a call back within 48 hours. I'm now on hour 36 of the third promise of a call. I've talked to supervisiors, nothing. Not even they are allowed to speak with the super-secret Fraud dept.
So I have 10k I can't access and can't get any answers! My next call is to the State AG. First chance I get, I will close this online account. The feeling of helplessness when something goes wrong is not worth the interest earned!
Beware this bank !!!
“Bait and Switch.”
In my opinion...
Their commercials and marketing all says something like "No gimmicks! No Promo Rates! No Hidden Fees!" etc.
They keep dropping their rates. No "Promo" rates my butt. Maybe they have covered themselves with fine print, but I am no fool. I took all my money ($XX,XXX+) and put it back into ING Direct where atleast I know someone is not trying to fool me.
“Recommended”
I can't find much bad to say about this bank. I've been with them since they were GMAC. The switch over went fairly smoothly, at least from my perspective... although they could have given their current customers a bit more warning ahead of time, but it all worked out fine. The site is very user-friendly. I can easily transfer funds to and from external accounts. I only use this for savings so I don't know if they have online bill payments or how useful it is. But for my purposes this has been a good bank to stash my savings. Kinda sucks they dropped their interest rate, but it's still a decent rate compared to what other banks are offering. Overall I'd recommend it.
“Good so far!”
The transfers are pretty fast and the customer service is good... I'm happy so far.
“Enough is enough!”
I have been with Ally (GMAC) for 3 years. I had no problem with GMAC before.
Recently I spend 2 months in Ally and still can not open a new account, this experience is very frustrated. The customer representatives have inconsistent answers. One day they call you with one answer, and please donât feel surprised for the call from them in the following days with another answer; I fax the documents to them, and they can not find/locate the fax. I am tired with several rounds of this kind of inconsistence.
My question is:
If representatives can NOT provide standard guidance/answer, whatâs the meaning of customer service of the bank?
Although they have 7-24 call service, it wonât help if they can NOT solve your problem. (In fact, it wastes your time!)
I am searching for another bank with relative high rates. Enough is enough.
“I am proud to be an ally customer !”
Due to the failure of Wamu and many other banks, and also due to the current recession, cd rates and savings rates have gone down fairly fast. But this bank, Ally, has made things better for depositors. Since they closed all their branches, cutting costs of maintenance,supplies and etc, they have the b est rates in America, literlly. All the money that i have saved i have put them in this "piggy safe bank".
Bank with Ally, you will be glad!!!
