Online Bank Reviews

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.

First, I have been with USAA for 38 years. I have never missed a payment on my insurance (personal home, 2 rental homes, and apartment complex, an ocean boat, my Malibu ski boat, two trailers), I financed my C6 Corvette (paid off), C5, TransAm with no late or missed payments for 20 years. My home equity is paid off, no late payments. My health insurance, never late. But because I had to short sell one home due to George W. crashing the economy, they won't work with me at all on my credit card line, and increase my apartment complex insurance by 50% a few months ago. DO NOT USE USAA!!! My Chase account looked at the situation and fixed all credit limits. DON'T USE USAA!

change bank for there 1% just went down to 0.90

To summarize, this bank is run by IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I was an ING customer for years. I never had a problem with them ever. I was very happy......but then Capital One decided to buy them out and hand the business over to the three stooges.

Okay, so the main page changed a little. Online bill pay seemed to work like it always has. I got a new credit card in the mail with their name on it and yet my ING card still had another two years to go. The site kept pestering me about activating their card, so I did. A week later, I went to use that card, DECLINED. I pulled out my old ING card and that was declined as well. The lady behind the counter is looking at me like I'm some sort of criminal. Luckily I had another credit card from a different bank. I went home and called Capital One and told them my problem. They put me on hold at least 10 minutes and told me some non-sense about the card being compromised. Then they told me they can re-activate the card I have. I asked when it will be usable and she told me around 4:30 that day. The next day I used the card to get gas, DECLINED. Now I'm pissed! I emailed the bank because I would have lost it talking to them. Now they claim the card has to be replaced. They send me another, I go to activate it and it states the number on the card is wrong. I tried several times until it said the maximum number of tries has been exceeded, please contact the bank. Well, I'm done with them. Now I'm looking for another bank.

Stay away from this bank, they will waste your time and piss you off so much!

This is THE MOST COMPLICATED bank to deal with I have ever encountered, making a mockery of their name. They are the epitome of all the jumping-through-hoops that they claim to be the opposite of.

After waiting many weeks, I finally was allowed to apply. Now they are insisting that I must send them many documents, NOTARIZED, by POSTAL MAIL ONLY. It would take me many hours and much expense to get that done, and who knows whether they would then deign to accept me.

This is all based on some reason that their customer service guy says they don't know; only the so-called "partner bank" does. Totally ridiculous. My advice: Open an online account at a bank like Sallie Mae or American Express, and hook it up to Mint. Done in ten minutes. All the same services, plus about 1% interest instead of nothing, and paper checks for the times when you really need them. And joint accounts! How primitive that Simple can't do even that basic level of service.

Just for fun, here's the text of their demand. Welcome back to the 20th Century:

"Please send [by postal mail; no fax or email] us clear, notarized copies of each of the following items:

Proof of Identification (for example: current, unexpired driver's license, U.S. military ID card, or passport)

Proof of Date of Birth (for example: current, unexpired driver's license, U.S. military ID card, or passport)

Proof of Social Security Number (for example: U.S. tax form, such as a Form W-2 or recent annual return (only need one page, reflecting your SSN); or Social Security card)

Proof of Residence (for example: current, unexpired driver's license or vehicle registration card; lease agreement; or utility bill or bank statement generated within the past 30 days)

Signed Request to Open an Account (handwritten or typed statement signed by you confirming that you are applying for an account with us)"

If you're thinking a Simple card will simplify- think again. Just got charged $75 for gas until the actual $20 payment clears. What a joke. If this is the behavior filling up on gas, then who knows what other transactions you're going to get bend over for because of Simple. I'm dumping this card immediately. Simple is a joke.

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.

I just wish they were open weekends and evenings (I'm on the West Coast). That's no big deal though, just plan ahead.

They've been very good, no mistakes, super nice and competent customer service reps. And their rate doesn't go up and down every other day like so many online banks.

I used this link https://home.capitalone360.com/referafriend?save=ZP2dn5yo1F that I found in a post below and signed up for 3 accounts that should equal $75 in bonus cash. My reviews are as follows. I have had these accounts for several weeks and am very happy with them

1.) Money Debit Account for Teens: This is the main account I signed up for.. This account is eligible for $25 bonus. I signed up for this account for my son who recently started working at a restaurant that offered direct deposit. His employer is able to use this account for that. Both myself and my son have our own DIFFERENT log in credentials for this account. That feature makes this account worth $1,000,000!

2.) Checking Account: I signed up for a checking account for myself. This I am using this account as my "fun" money. The money i deposit in this account is being used to fund family outings like movies, and vacations. Having an account just for that is a great help with my budget. When I transfer money to the account it is usually available in 2 - 3 days. If I use their check deposit feature it is available next day.

3.) Savings: I mainly signed up for this account because of the easy bonus. I haven't really used it for anything but earning the bonus. I plan on using it to save for my vacation next year.

Customer Service: I have never contacted. Cannot comment on CS

Overall this is a great bank. It is not a replacement for my hometown bank and I would never replace them. I don't know how long I will keep these accounts but until I find a better option for my son I will have this account for a while.