Comments on: Ally Bank Review: Savings Account and No Penalty CD Rates

By: joe black

joe black — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:50:43 +0000

I own a lot of GMAC Smart Notes , and all I can say is I’m glad as hell the government is backing GMAC . It gives them a chance to claw their way back and I think they eventually will . While it may take many years even a decade or two , it’s better that the alternative . I own some 7% notes and some 9% notes , and they’ve never failed to pay even one interest payment . Truth be told those notes are supporting about half my monthly expenses (retired) . One thing all these people who say they want these organization to go under don’t realize is , Great Depressions aren’t a lot of fun . Eventually the bulk of these loans will be paid back to the government / taxpayer . Had the government not stepped in when they did , things would be 3 to 4 times worse than they are . This is what the people who are clamoring for the bankruptcies of these companies don’t understand . We will get out of this , BE PATIENT !

TheReaper!

By: Bob

Bob — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:59:22 +0000

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.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:32:47 +0000

Thank you for all of the information. I’m looking for a savings account to open with my fiance, and ally seems like our best bet as of right now. I was impressed with their website, and it all seemed too good to be true, so i sought out further information. I am 99% convinced that we will go with Ally bank, although I did not know they were formerly GMAC. But that could be a good thing, considering they want to completely dissociate themselves from their former reputation. We’re going to wait a few more months, so we’ll see if these high interest rates continue until 2010.

By: Noel

Noel — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:52:33 +0000

In the past I have received phishing emails from “Bank of America”, “ING”, and others, but these emails aren’t from the bank itself. Its from someone in another country, trying to find out your account information so they can gain access. Its just a shame that people fall for this, especially since the sender’s email is usually so fake! If you’re really worried, call the bank directly and ask, but don’t respond to the fake emails!

By: Raymond

Raymond — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:30:48 +0000

Robert,

Can you elaborate? Alleging that Ally Bank is a phisher of identities seems to be somewhat odd. The company is an otherwise legitimate bank. What interest would they have in stealing the identities of its customers? Do you work for a competing bank or something?

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:56:49 +0000

WARNING!

Ally.com is a complete scam! They spam mail scams to phish your real identity. Do not surf there web site or open any email from ally.com

By: Neil Katz

Neil Katz — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:43:25 +0000

I opened a 9 month no penalty CD yesterday. Everything was done on the web, although I will be getting a signature card that I have to return. I did call the customer service a couple of times for clarification of a couple of questions – they picked up right away and were very responsive.

The No Penalty feature is the real reason that I went to Ally, as I will need the money in less than 9 months and could not find a competitive rate for the amount that I deposited. When I did find a rate that was close, the minimum deposit was higher that the amount that I wanted to invest.

As long as the FDIC guarantees the deposit, I have no problem staying with Ally.

By: GMACAllyCustomer

GMACAllyCustomer — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:17:46 +0000

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.

By: Pilm

Pilm — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:59:13 +0000

Why is it the federal gov’t can manipulate interest rates but they don’t do a thing about wasteful spending at these companies getting bailout funds? The priority should be to reward those willing to invest money in these suspect banks while preventing waste and forcing banks to stiffen lending requirements. Of course the fed’s want lax lending requirements so we can re-bubble the economy, and they can’t rail against wasteful spending at banks since they are leaders in being wasteful.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:02:03 +0000

Looks like the party’s coming to an end with the bank rates. Ally Bank has lowered the interest deals on the savings accounts and CD rates. High yield rates my ass. Guess the FDIC and government pressure finally got to the bank formerly known as GMAC. Ally Bank will probably wind up like all of the other banks out there…hawking average rates but calling them high yielders.

By: CashAholic

CashAholic — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:23:22 +0000

Excellent information. I will utilize it when I have money to invest. I do wish I could get more than 2% on savings though. It seems a pittance for the time and paperwork involved.

By: BankShopper

BankShopper — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:48:22 +0000

As a long time Ally/GMAC customer, I can only say that they have delivered great products at very good rates for savers for a long time. So TARP has very little to do with it since the rates were great before we even heard about words like TARP!
All I can say is that if Banks can charge 29% on credit card loans and 8 to 10% on regular loans, surely they can pay savers 2% on savings account. I just don’t understand why the other Banks can’t try to emulate them rather than complain about Ally. I guess it will take more congressional hearings to make them change their ways like the credit card ones that just took place.

By: BigG

BigG — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:45:01 +0000

As an interest rate as well-Ally Bank aka GMAC has always been a diamond in the rough in terms of interest rate yields. Somehow they’ve managed to always keep rates high. But the party isn’t going to last forever and rates will eventually have to come back down to earth as they are all being forced to.

Marko is correct when he says the FDIC is going to force the rates down. These banks and credit unions receiving bank bailout money shouldn’t be allowed to offer higher than normal market rates, even if it’s to attract more capital and new deposit funds. It would be like Citigroup or Bank of America using their bailout money to offer higher wages or compensation bonuses for their CEO’s and executives. It would not seem right in this current climate.

By: marko

marko — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:57:21 +0000

I’ve had a gmac online savings account for some time. I never had to deal with customer service so I don’t know too much about it but they’ve never done me any wrong. Their interest rates are pretty high but I doubt they can keep it like that forever. The FDIC is cracking down on the rates since these banks are federal bailout money recipients and will ultimately have to answer to the Fed. Ally Bank won’t be able to keep rates high forever.

The name change sounds a bit over the top in my opinion. Ally? Ally Bank? We used to be affiliated with the subprime mortgage-loan-stiffed GM car maker – at the center of the credit crisis…and now we’re your friend, buddy, and ally? Come on…they can do better than that. Geez why not just rename GMAC into Buddy Bank. We are your buddy!

By: Dane

Dane — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:11:50 +0000

GMAC Bank, Ally, WaMu, IndyMac…they’re all the same TARP’ed up banks that’s sucking up taxpayer dollars and federal bailout cash – and for what? Why not spend all of this money on an economic stimulus package that actually works such as lower taxes for EVERYONE or a second stimulus check issuance for consumers to jump start their lives. Fix and replace this unemployment crisis Obama! Tired of all of these banks getting the free money and us getting stiffed. All they spend it on is higher banking account savings rates for customers so they can make more money for themselves. It’s not fair!