Ally Bank Review
Posted by Best Bank Rates under [ CD Rates ] 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
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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!
$200 Bonus, 5% Cashback - Chase Freedom 
APY Savings Account at Ally (12/9/11)
28 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.
I think Ally is an amazing bank. I have been a customer for two years and have really appreciated the really good service this bank provides. I was with ING before that and switched and am really glad I did. Customer service has always been great and I like the website as well. I just signed up for a checking account and am waiting for my debit/ATM card to arrive so I can quit worrying about paying ATM fees to other banks.
This May, I recently have been hit with one of Ally’s computer gliches. I had opened an initial account about one month ago and because it was going well, I decided to open another account with them.
Then the huge problem arose!
Ally bank has a feature that if you verify an account with the same test deposit numbers than it automatically initiates a transfer from an external bank into your other account.
For example,
1. Account # 1- You open your account with $1000.00 and you have verified your test deposits.
2. Account # 2- You decide to open another account and use the same test deposits but this time only want to open your new account with $100.00,
Then
3. A transfer of 1000.00 will initiate to account # 1.
Leaving you with no solution and alot of overdraft fees from the external bank account.
Ally bank made it clear that they don’t have a gliche in their system, and I informed them that if I wanted to transfer $1000.00 from my external account into my Ally bank account then I would have specifically did just that. But this was not the case. Instead you use the same test deposits of $0.45 and $0.22 and this is what happens.
Has anyone else incurred this type of problem because I do not believe that I am the only one.
For professional purposes, Ally bank should have at least tried to care about this gliche or the customer but that was surely not the case. They were dumbfounded!
What else can I say, I’ve been duped by this bank, hmmm no surprise there I guess.
I opened 2 checking accounts with Ally bank about 45 days ago. At tat time I made a SIMPLE request. I wanted (2) Debit Cards 1 for each account they said it would take up to 10 business days. I also specifically told them NOT to send me a paper checkbook.
Well 3 weeks later and I didnt get any debit cards, but I got other correspondence from Ally during that time so it’s obv. the mail is working properly.
I call back about not receiving the cards and the customer service rep FLAT OUT LIES and says that they show the (2) debit cards were sent out. I KNOW 100% THAT WAS NOT TRUE (I will explain why later)
I am cordial anyway to the rep. and he says they will send out another 2 debit cards. I made double sure to explain (1) card per each account.
Now 5 days later I receive (1) debit card and 3 days after that I receive the pin #. It was about 10 days and I wondered where the 2nd debit card was. Judging by my previous experience with Ally a few weeks earlier, I was pretty sure they never sent out the 2nd one.
I proceed to call customer service back again and explain to them that I only got 1 card and not 2. The customer service rep. checks and says they only sent me out 1 card but its “hooked up” to both accounts. This is CLEARLY NOT what I requested so I calmly explained that I wanted another debit card to be hooked up with the 2nd account and they said it will be yet ANOTHER 5-10 days. This is the third time already.
So now today what do I receive in my mailbox? (2) sets of checkbooks from Ally bank dated the day after the last time I called. I never requested checks, in fact I mentioned clearly a few times do not send me paper checks. So what the idiot customer service rep did was send be sets of checkbooks instead of the debit card I wanted.
So I call back again today, (4th time Ive had to call these morons) over at Ally and ask why did I get 2 checkbooks that I never ordered, and specifically told them numerous times to NOT send me checks. Why did I receive checkbooks instead of a debit card? I was sure at this point they never sent out the 2nd card not they sent checkbooks instead.
This customer service rep this time JUST FLAT OUT TELLS ABOUT 10 FULL FLEDGED LIES. Starting with – “there was no money in the account so that’s why the card never got sent” uh excuse me I said but there was money in both accounts when originally requested. I only took out the money because Ally kept screwing up my simple request for (2) debit cards – 1 for each account.
After knowing that she got caught in a lie the cust. service rep. said “Oh, the second time I ordered cards there was no money in the account” TRUE but I only took the money out of both accounts because they screwed up. But why would they send me 1 debit card anyway if they had that policy in effect. Which means that it doesnt matter if money was in the account or not, she was just trying to cover up for the fact that they never sent out 2.
I then went on to request another debit card for my 2nd account which does have a zero balance. (I took all the money out because they kept messing up)and she said they wont send me a card when the account balance is ZERO. ANOTHER LIE!!!! Then how did I get the 1st card idiot?
She just kept making tings up off the top of her head and every LIE/Point she tried to make was quickly disputed. Every point I made was valid and Im very sure they keep a record so she had no ground to dispute anything I said so she juat had to resort to making up lies.
In hindsight, after I talked to the last rep. I realized the other reps I had talked to in the past were making up facts, because they all said different things.
Summary – 1 month wait to get my 1st debit card from Ally. Its been 45 days from my 1st request and I havent received my 2nd debit card.
Ally bank reps. LIE LIE LIE
ABSOLUTELY THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE RECEIVED FROM ANYONE IN ANY INDUSTRY EVER!!!!
Reply
I took a loan from Ally on my Dodge to get a lower price and pay it off early. It has been a nightmare to try and pay the bill. All the phone calls for the car loan are outsourced and when I have tried to pay it off I get sent to several departments and have to tell my story over to each person. It has been so frustrating. No one is consistent with the regulations within the departments. I have asked to speak to a branch in America or a corporate number, but they are not allowed to give it to me. They have been promising a refund for a payment for the last three months and I have to call weekly and have them constantly tell me it will be sent out in 3-5 business days. I wish I could have someone in corporate listen to the hours of conversation that has occurred. Their add says, “I love my bank”, well, “I HATE THIS BANK!”
At the heart of the success or failure of any organization is the IT Department. In the case of Ally it is a failure. Having spent many years in IT development the Ally website reveals very poor management of the IT department. It is obvious from my attempts to login to my account that the most elementary tasks of logging in to the site have not been tested properly.
After entering personal information and receiving a message that says I “The username and password combination is invalid” I have to question just how much testing was done to programs that drive the website. If your account information cannot be found with the information from your paper bill then Ally bank has big information management problems.
If an organization cannot manage the very basic login task it scares me that they are able to do more complex accounting and management of a account.
Being the case I will never purchase a car again that uses ALLY bank financing.
Ally Bank is the best. I wanted to open another account account but they were giving me a headache so right now I use it all the time!