Comments on: GMAC Bank Is Now Ally Bank

By: Katharyn

Katharyn — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:26:32 +0000

@Christopher: If you had seen this chart last December you would have done like I did and locked everything into long-term CDs…. this chart has show the project rates plummeting from 4% last fall… http://mortgage-x.com/general/indexes/codi_rate_forecast.asp

@Gary S: I totally concur!! I have had accounts at ING, and my credit union (Pen Fed) and these banks TRULY understand the world of and speed of electrons!!!
ALLY however…. would not ACH my withdrawal because I was cashing into one of my CDs early (can you say “emergency”?), and then after offering to Wire Txfr for a fee, they called me back and said, ‘Can’t do that either. We’ll mail you a check.’ Here I am today, 12 days after requesting, 10 days after they mailed… and I still don’t have the check.
Upon calling with a need to address this… O.M.G.!!! You would think that they needed me to take a polygraph… Then they could not address it AT ALL because I did not have the woman’s name who called me back to say “can’t do” (because as it turns out, they COULD have!)… and since they don’t know who to reprimand, they have to escalate it up THREE freakin’ levels of bureaucracy (WTF?) BEFORE they could ’see what they could do’…and THAT of course won’t happen before NEXT Friday… when I am sure (pray to God) to finally have my check anyway.

THIS is customer service???? Holy crap!! Great rates COST YOU!!!

ING… I’m comin’ home!!

By: Christopher U.

Christopher U. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:11:22 +0000

Did anyone else notice a change in the savings rate? It is at 2.05% APY now. I swear it used to be higher… Closer to 3%…

By: Eleanor

Eleanor — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:06:59 +0000

The Most important challenge GM faces is to win back the trust of the tax payers. Giving away billions of tax payer money is not going to go under good sights of the consumers

By: Gary Stuart

Gary Stuart — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:22:29 +0000

The problem I have with the rediculous “3 to 5 days to process an ACH transaction” is that we live in a world of electronic communications. Funds are no longer popped in a paper envelope to another bank through the US Mail (which by the way, even paper-based Priority Mail takes only 2 days, but I digress).

In the meantime, banks earn even more interest on your funds while their in ‘float’ between banks.

So regarding ACH transfers, the longer the banks take to move your money from bank to bank, the longer they make interest off of your money. So your delay is their profit (cha-ching).

By: Raymond

Raymond — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:02:42 +0000

Hi James,

I’ve been a GMAC Banking customer for some time now. Now that they’ve converted themselves into Ally Bank, I haven’t noticed any real negative changes. They’ve kept most of their high interest rates intact and have added on better customer service features. I’m saying this as an actual customer. Even when the new Ally Bank was still GMAC, it offered some of the best yields out there, and continues offering pretty impressive rates till this day.

But as an aggressive interest rate chaser for my passive savings account, I’ve always sought out the highest rates whenever possible. I don’t mind the so-called riskier banks either – so long as they are fully FDIC insured. Even in the worse case scenario with a run on the bank or a big time bank collapse, the FDIC has always ensured very remarkably peaceful turn arounds. There is usually very little lag time transitioning to the newly FDIC managed bank in the event of a bank failure – thus I’m not overtly concerned.

Online banks such as Ally and GMAC are merely interest rate cash cows for me. I don’t use them to handle my daily checking account needs, but merely to help me earn the maximum rates I can on my short term savings and CD’s.

However, I am curious to see if the FDIC will succeed in forcing rates down. I suspect TARP funded banks like Ally will argue that they need to offer these high rates to capture the deposits they need to grow their capital base.

By: James

James — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:18:37 +0000

I wouldn’t touch those guys with a ten foot pole. The FDIC is pressuring banks with less capital to lower their rate so as not to impact the overall market for interest rates. Also, GM is now fully under the control of the US Government. There will almost certainly be interventions in the policies of Ally Bank because of this.

Bottom line, look out for substandard rates and corporate confusion.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:58:06 +0000

Ally Bank pulls a harmless soft credit check when you open a CD classic or no penalty fee CD account. But Ally runs a hard credit check when you apply for an online savings account for the overdraft feature. I haven’t confirmed this for certain but that’s what I’ve read and have been told. Someone may want to look into this. But regardless, Ally’s high rates may be worth the FICO credit score hit in my opinion. I know I personally didn’t care as I just opened a high savings account with them!

By: Jefferson Sweetney

Jefferson Sweetney — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:27:09 +0000

What’s the deal with needing an instant ACH transfer turn around anyway? If your money is in a high yield savings account, the assumption is that it’s there for high interest rate earning purposes…not for short term emergency fund needs. If you are worried about short term cash needs, keep the money in your brick and mortar retail bank and inside of your easily accessible checking account – not in an online only savings account, and most especially not in a bank like Ally that is only accessible online.

Ally Bank and all of the other online Direct-style banks are best suited for high interest savings purposes…not for short term cash accounts where funds may be needed in a matter of hours. The 3-5 business days requirement for ACH shouldn’t be that big of a deal for most

By: Gary Stuart

Gary Stuart — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:20:16 +0000

Please keep in mind that in an emergency, access to your funds may be 3 to 5 business days away from the time that you actually NEED it. I contacted Ally to find out, in an emergency, how long it would take to transfer money from my Ally account to my commerical bank account with Bank of America. I was told “ACH’s take anywhere from 3 to 5 business days to complete.” When I think of ‘emergency,’ I’m not expecting to have to wait that long to access my money. Of course, they offered that I could implement a wire, but even then they said there would be associated fees — both at Ally Bank AND at your own bank — on the receiving end. So even though it will be faster, there is a high price to be paid. (Kiss your high interest earnings goodbye.).

Their representative offered a partial workaround: also open a money market account, and get a Visa check cashing card. This card can then be used to access money in your money market. But FIRST you’d have to go online and transfer it between account. Also (and here’s the ‘but’), customers are only able to withdraw $500 a day. So if you need $501, this won’t be the answer either. (Also consider associated ATM fees on both ends of the transactions. Again, kiss your interest earnings goodbye if you really need your money FAST.).

Depending on how much interest you expect to earn, it might be best to keep your money local (not online), and accessible. Otherwise, you won’t realize the mistake you made until you REALLY need to access your funds NOW.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:09:38 +0000

GMAC Bank was a pretty great bank back when I was an account holder and Ally Bank figures to be equally appealing as well. I haven’t checked my GMAC online account for a long time since I bailed after all of the new banking troubles GM Motors was having -but might try checking it out now with all the new rate updates.

As for the FDIC coverage assurance…yeah it is great and makes us all fee secure, but the fact we have to keep talking about FDIC and governmental protections to make us feel better about our banking system still makes me uneasy. Scary new world we’re in.