Ally Bank Review
Posted by Best Bank Rates under [ Ally Bank Review ] on May 15, 2008GMAC Bank recently changed their name to Ally Bank, located at Ally.com. GMAC Bank is a subsidiary of GM, and it appears that this move is an attempt to distance itself from the bad press that GM has been receiving lately. GMACbank.com now points to Ally.com.
Ally Bank offers many of the same products as GMAC bank once did, including savings and money market accounts, and certificate of deposits. Here are the current rates for these products:
Current Ally Bank Rates
| Product | Bank Rate | Min Deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Ally Bank Savings | 0 | |
| Ally Money Market | 0 | |
| Ally No Penalty CD | 1 | |
| Ally 3 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 6 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 9 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 12 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 18 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 24 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 36 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 48 Month CD | 1 | |
| Ally 60 Month CD | 1 |
The AllyBank savings account features:
- APY yield
- No minimum balance
- No monthly fees
- Daily compounded interest
- Six withdrawals or transfers per billing cycle
For CDs, there are now very low minimum balance requirements, and apparently you can open a CD with $0. It seems to be more of a gimmick as it doesn’t really make sense to open a CD with less than $500.
AllyBank has a few new CD rates, including a 6 month CD at APY. Their 1 year and 2 year CDs have pretty competitive rates, at APY and APY. Both of these are current as of 2/15/2010. They also have a new 9 month No-Penalty CD, which states:
“You can withdraw your money 6 days after funding – and anytime thereafter – and you won’t be charged a fee. Just remember, if you do make an early withdrawal it must be for the full balance plus all interest earned.”
This is a good bonus for those who want to earn a decent return on their CD but don’t want an easy out in case better rates are available. The no penalty CD currently has a yield of .
The AllyBank money market account features:
- yield
- No monthly fees
- No minimum balance
- Free check card and 50 free checks
- Daily compounded interest
- Six withdrawals or transfers per billing cycle
AllyBank is still FDIC insured, so as long as you stay below the limits you should be fine. You can also get extra coverage up to 1.5 million by opening joint accounts, trust accounts etc. For example:
- Ally Bank Account 1: John Doe, $250,000
- Ally Bank Account 2: Mary Doe, $250,000
- Ally Bank Account 3: Joint Account, John and Mary Doe, $500,000
- Ally Bank Account 4: John Doe, In Trust For (ITF) Mary Doe, $250,000
- Ally Bank Account 5: Mary Doe, In Trust For (ITF) John Doe, $250,000
- Total: $1,500,000
This is a great way to ensure that all your money is protected. Visit Ally Bank for more information!
2.25% Money Market Bonus Rate at EverBank
APY Savings Account at Ally (2/15/2010)
1.26% APY with WTDirect Savings Account
5% Cashback Rewards with Discover More 
22 Comments on “Ally Bank Review”
I just opened a 9 month No penalty CD. Great rate and love the fact that I can pull my money out without a penalty.
DO NOT TRUST ALLY BANK!!!!!!
After making my initial deposit they took $12,000 out if my checking account without my authorization, making me $5000 overdrawn, with no money to pay bills, and told me that I did it and it would be 3 to 5 business days before I could get any of my money back into my account. I’m still waiting!
Thanks for the warning. Have you tried calling the customer support? I think this is a pretty serious issue that should be taken care of ASAP.
I opened both a Money Market account and a CD with Ally last week. The rep over the phone was very nice and answered all my questions. I had a theft alert on my credit and they didnt open my account right away. It took more time since I had to send in my drivers license, but at the same time….its for my protection. After i sent it, they called me back the next day with my account number. Its good to know they wont just open an account for anyone. less chance for idenity theft. They put the money in directly from my other bank and I was earning the next day. Really easy process. Plus! I love the rates!
The Ally Bank online experience is certainly the best out there. I can’t think of one thing I don’t like. I’m using them as my only bank since I use cash-back credit cards to pay for everything and autopay them direct from Ally. Fast transfers, free checks, Visa CheckCard, ATM rebates, no-penalty CDs, high interest, 24/7 support, no teaser rates. Now they even look cool. You certainly have to give them an A for effort.
We have transferred a pretty good chuck of money into a GMAC (now Ally) savings account a couple of months ago. Seems seamless and the interest is 2.25% with full access if needed. The savings are accessible so why put money into lower or equal paying CDs? The electronic banking works well with our Wells Fargo regular banking accounts as far as transferring money in (we have not transferred out of Ally yet).WF has .05% interest on savings maybe as a joke?. For large sums, wiring the money in may be cheaper due to missed interest on float time while waiting for clearances from the bank (a problem with and probably tactic of Wells Fargo who seem to increasingly employ young people with scripted presentations that have tattoo and piercings as part of the decor…….obviously I am getting old and intolerant!. No problems with the brave new world of Internet banking (no bank building?). I would recommend Ally.
GMAC/Ally bank just dropped their rates.
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 don’t 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, what’s the meaning of customer service of the bank?
Although they have 7-24 call service, it won’t 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.
Ally bank is nothing but con artists who will try anything to steal your money!
My wife and I tried to open a CD account with them. After several back and forth phone calls and requests to establish our residence and mailing addresses (in addition to our original paperwork and copies of our drivers licenses they wanted utility bills and a copy of our PO Box receipt), we told them to return our money. Their customer service said they would send our original check back. They didn’t. We never had an account with them but they cashed our check. Our bank statement showed the check was paid.
When I called to ask why my check was cashed, no one could explain. They told me that they would send my complaint to an escalation team for immediate resolution and they would call me back with the results 2 days later. No one ever did. When I called them to find out the status of my check, I was told that my account was pending and that in 5 days or so, they would review the matter. After yelling at the CSR, I was put on hold and eventually told by the rep that she made a mistake, my check was already mailed. I would have it in 7-10 working days.
A few days later, Ally called me again. This time, I was told that I would have to prove that the check had been cashed in order to receive a refund. So basically, they never opened an account for me, they cashed my check, lied to me that they had already refunded my money, then called me and told me that I had to prove my check had been cashed to get a refund. This is after they acknowledged receiving the check and accidentally cashing it. They knew the check number and the amount but still no refund. Unbelievable.
In all, they’ve held my money hostage for a month. Someone either lost or stole my check and they won’t give my money back yet. Don’t give this company your business.
That does seem pretty rough. Hope things work out for you…
It is true that the customer service at ally bank is downright rude and jam packed with condesending illiterates. The rebranding was a complete mess. The could not accommodate logins greater than 20 characters even though GMAC had no problems with that. It took over a month for me to even access my account on ally’s website. This month I was notified by a debit on my account statement that I was being subjected to Backup Withholding Adjustments. Apparently I never signed new signature cards for ally bank, even though they were filed with GMAC. I was never notified of this requirement or the potential withholding. The CSR said that they sent the information in the welcome kit that I never received. What is interesting is that on line they do not show the debit, just in the written statement.
The CSR Manager when asked why this was the case, explained indeed it was shown, for if I added the interest to the previous balance I would note a discrepancy in the new balance and that discrepancy is the amount of the withholding. Outrageous.
I pulled my money – well asked that that be done – whether or not I ever get my check is yet to be seen. I was informed that I will get the 5 days interest from 7/5 – 7/13 – thats another one yet to be seen.
They also violated the law which says that a payee must be notified of the backup withholding; they never did. What irks me most that they have no interest in any customer service. I know that my measly $60k isn’t much to them, but they proved it by, in a sense saying that my account was not important to them, my business was not important, a good company would have contacted me by mail or email saying that my business is important and that if I didn’t send the signature cards I would be assessed with the withholding. But of course that never happened.
I have spent more time with these clowns over the phone than any other financial institution and it has never, ever been a pleasent experience. Now it is my one-man-crusade to tell everyone I can. I hope that others experiencing the same withholding due to ally’s ineptness will contact me at todd.gundlach@gmail.com – I plan to contact the IRS and the Massachusetts Attorney General on the withholding to see what happens. It is also worth the $20 to file a small claim, and who knows maybe it will snowball.
STAY AWAY FROM ALLY BANK, THEY ARE NO ALLY OF YOURS.
It is true that the customer service at ally bank is downright rude and jam packed with condesending illiterates. The rebranding was a complete mess. The could not accommodate logins greater than 20 characters even though GMAC had no problems with that. It took over a month for me to even access my account on ally’s website. This month I was notified by a debit on my account statement that I was being subjected to Backup Withholding Adjustments. Apparently I never signed new signature cards for ally bank, even though they were filed with GMAC. I was never notified of this requirement or the potential withholding. The CSR said that they sent the information in the welcome kit that I never received. What is interesting is that on line they do not show the debit, just in the written statement.
The CSR Manager when asked why this was the case, explained indeed it was shown, for if I added the interest to the previous balance I would note a discrepancy in the new balance and that discrepancy is the amount of the withholding. Outrageous.
I pulled my money – well asked that that be done – whether or not I ever get my check is yet to be seen. I was informed that I will get the 5 days interest from 7/5 – 7/13 – thats another one yet to be seen.
They also violated the law which says that a payee must be notified of the backup withholding; they never did. What irks me most that they have no interest in any customer service. I know that my measly $60k isn’t much to them, but they proved it by, in a sense saying that my account was not important to them, my business was not important, a good company would have contacted me by mail or email saying that my business is important and that if I didn’t send the signature cards I would be assessed with the withholding. But of course that never happened.
I have spent more time with these clowns over the phone than any other financial institution and it has never, ever been a pleasent experience. Now it is my one-man-crusade to tell everyone I can. I hope that others experiencing the same withholding due to ally’s ineptness will contact me at todd.gundlach@gmail.com – I plan to contact the IRS and the Massachusetts Attorney General on the withholding to see what happens. It is also worth the $20 to file a small claim, and who knows maybe it will snowball.
STAY AWAY FROM ALLY BANK, THEY ARE NO ALLY OF YOURS.
Avoid at all costs. Their Customer service is only good when you’re appying
I recently had a problem with Ally Bank where I accidentally transferred 10,000 twice into my Bank of America account. Customer service was quick and prompt and they were able to resolve it within a few days. I would recommend Ally Bank.
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 !!!
Very unsatisfied with Ally. I scheduled ACH transfer and it initiated. Next day it returned to original Ally account as a deposit, Ally could not explain why. Ally agreed to Bank Wire the amount to destination account but required a form. They emailed form I completed form and my local institution faxed it to them including extra forms to help Ally to complete transfer. The Bank Wire failed to complete. This all occurred on a Friday before Labor Day weekend. I had this and other transactions scheduled for this day as a way to pool funds into a CD before the Holiday, four banking institutions were involved only Ally failed me and twice. Ally can’t explain what happened with the ACH transfer but with the Bank Wire the excuse was employee training. Ally has caused loss of interest income and much aggravation. I will be moving away from Ally and recommend all to avoid this institution.
Stay away from Ally Bank. Their website does not accurately reflect transactions and they want real paperwork when you sign up
Been a customer for a couple of years and love this Bank! I was just on hold at a large national bank and it took me over 45 minutes to get to a live person. That’s when you have to love the almost instant pick up you get at Ally customer service and they have great rates on top of that!
After being a customer for 6 months, Ally Bank is the only direct bank I am using and have transferred all my money over to them. They have really good rates combined with really good customer service. Thanks to their no minimums, I opened multiple online savings account for specific goals and can transfer money to them automatically to meet my goals. I think the other banks need to learn from Ally! You certainly have one very satisfied customer.
THIS BANK IRRESPONSIBLY HURT MY CREDIT. I WILL BE CLOSING MY ACCOUNT.
A lot of mixed reviews about this bank. Not a good sighn! Don’t even bother investing your money with this bank. I’m not even a customer but it seems like that have pissed a lot of people off. Take a little cut in interest and bank with ING Direct. They have great customer service and their tranfers are quick. Plus their checking account offers a free line of credit for overdraft protection at a good rate.
Ally is really not up on pleasing their customers. Make a lot of stupid mistakes. First they started withholding taxes on my cd’s for no reason, next they quit sending my monthly interest which I use for income, when they do send my interest it is very SLOWLY!! Last month it took eleven days.