Author Topic: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)  (Read 6093 times)

kreyc

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Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« on: April 06, 2015, 03:08:28 PM »
For years I've primarily used my Wells Fargo employee checking/savings accounts without question. I suspect I unquestioningly thought they were better because I was an employee. At any rate, looking around now I see Ally's 0.99% APY for savings and they seem to have a relatively high checking APY as well (both blow WF out of the water).

This is a prudence check, but can anyone tell me why I wouldn't switch to Ally (or would switch to something else)?

Thanks,

kreyc

greatrussian

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2015, 03:20:58 PM »
I have an account with Ally, and I like it. Main downside is that you're funding the purchase of cars and trucks people probably don't need.

SurlyTroll

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2015, 03:27:34 PM »
I do my checking and savings through Ally. Only problem I've had has been trying to get a hold of large (>$1000) amounts of cash at one time quickly. It took 5 days to withdraw enough for a $5000 cash used car purchase. Not a deal breaker.... just a hassle.

rjack

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2015, 03:38:16 PM »
I've been really happy with Ally checking, savings, and CDs. I do still keep a minimum balance in a local bank in case I need to make a really large deposit.

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2015, 04:08:27 PM »
Also use Ally for checking and savings. no complaints.

Ricky

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2015, 04:26:52 PM »
Nothing with it, just don't do your "investing" there. At least I assume that's what you're thinking hence the "talk me out of it".

kreyc

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2015, 06:18:33 PM »
Nothing with it, just don't do your "investing" there. At least I assume that's what you're thinking hence the "talk me out of it".

Thanks! Already investing elsewhere (e.g. vanguard). "Talk me out of it" was more about quickly learning about any downsides. Glad to hear that the only major downside is quickly moving >$1k. While potentially annoying, the difference in APY vs. what I have now will be worth it.

Thanks everyone.

Dodge

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2015, 07:06:16 PM »
Nothing with it, just don't do your "investing" there. At least I assume that's what you're thinking hence the "talk me out of it".

Thanks! Already investing elsewhere (e.g. vanguard). "Talk me out of it" was more about quickly learning about any downsides. Glad to hear that the only major downside is quickly moving >$1k. While potentially annoying, the difference in APY vs. what I have now will be worth it.

Thanks everyone.

Yes, the biggest downside is:

1.  Depositing cash
2.  Withdrawing large amounts of cash quickly

You can get around #1 by getting a local checking account with no minimum amount required, and no monthly fee.  Deposit the cash there, then transfer to Ally.  If you have a Walmart near you, the American Express BlueBird online account works for this (you can deposit cash at any Walmart).

You can get around #2 by withdrawing money from ATMs everyday until you've got the cash (as mentioned above).  You can also call Ally and they'll mail you a cashier's check.  Lastly, you can transfer the money to a local bank, and withdraw from there.

Personally, I don't deal in large amounts of cash, so I haven't had any trouble with my Ally bank account.  I love it!  I do all my banking there, which is convenient since transferring money between savings/checking is instant, and you can tell them to use your Savings account as a buffer for overdraft protection.  Makes it much easy to keep ALL my available cash over to savings, knowing that if a auto-pay bill is unexpectedly high, it'll just come from my savings (no charge).

I was never quite comfortable keeping a low balance in my checking account before this.

Good luck!

kreyc

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2015, 09:24:03 PM »
Makes it much easy to keep ALL my available cash over to savings, knowing that if a auto-pay bill is unexpectedly high, it'll just come from my savings (no charge).

I was never quite comfortable keeping a low balance in my checking account before this.

That sounds great. Right now my checking:saving account ratio is about 3:1 and I'd love to be able to invert that. I've never felt comfortable having a low balance in checking for the same reason. Bill pay is free on Ally, right?

Dodge

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2015, 10:28:07 PM »
Makes it much easy to keep ALL my available cash over to savings, knowing that if a auto-pay bill is unexpectedly high, it'll just come from my savings (no charge).

I was never quite comfortable keeping a low balance in my checking account before this.

That sounds great. Right now my checking:saving account ratio is about 3:1 and I'd love to be able to invert that. I've never felt comfortable having a low balance in checking for the same reason. Bill pay is free on Ally, right?

Yea, it's the best part of keeping my checking account and savings account in the same place.  I'm able to earn more, simply because more is in there.

Bill Pay is free.  Pretty much everything is free with Ally Bank's checking account, check their fee page.  When I was shopping around for other banks, their fee page was typically a multi-page PDF:

http://www.ally.com/bank/interest-checking-account/

Here it's 7 things.  If you don't do any of these 7 things, you won't be charged:



Free checks
No charge for using any ATM in the country
You can deposit personal checks with the phone app

Seriously, it's great.

kreyc

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2015, 10:45:04 PM »
Thanks, Dodge and everyone. Really appreciate the insights.

Argyle

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2015, 11:46:17 PM »
Here's why I abandoned Ally.  I was looking into moving an inherited IRA there.  The guy on the phone — he sounded like he was about 20 years old — insisted he knew what an inherited IRA was and that they could handle it fine.  But I kept saying, "For the required distributions..."  He'd say, "You don't need to take distributions until you're older."  I'd say, "No, this is an inherited IRA, I need to take distributions."  "Well, you can take them if you want, but you don't have to.  A penalty may apply."  I finally figured out he had no idea what he was talking about.  If they mishandle an inherited IRA, there can be big irreparable trouble, so I finally said, "Never mind, I don't want to open an account, close everything."  I had not transferred any money there.  He said everything was closed.  Nevertheless for the past six months I have been getting mailings from Ally: "Your account is in trouble!  You need to fund your account!"  "You have not declared a beneficiary for your account!"  "This is the second call to declare a beneficiary for your account!"  No phone call has any effect on this.

I conclude that Ally customer service is terrible, and I certainly won't be opening a new account there.

lise

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2015, 08:56:07 AM »

I conclude that Ally customer service is terrible, and I certainly won't be opening a new account there.

I've had great customer service with Ally.  I've only had to call them once to change my MMA account to a Online Savings account and the person knew what they were doing.  Other things I've been able to do online or via chat.  As another poster said - don't do your investing there but for day to day banking they are way better than Chase or HSBC (the only other two banks I've used here in the US). 

purplepear

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Re: Ally Online Savings Account (talk me out of it)
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2015, 09:19:30 AM »
I really love Ally for checking & savings accounts.

The biggest downside is depositing cash, so I supplement with an Amex Serve card that I just load with cash. From there, I can transfer the funds over to Ally, or just use my Serve card to pay my bills.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!