Author Topic: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??  (Read 4764 times)

live4soccer7

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Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« on: February 05, 2016, 05:47:20 PM »
I have a little over $100K that I simply have in a savings account at a local bank that is earning .03% interest. I have signed up for an Ally account as they have a 1% interest rate on their savings accounts. I have the money in liquid form right now because I'm buying another house soon and will need access to it at that time. I wouldn't use their bill pay or anything like that. It literally would just sit there in the account until I need it. I may make a deposit or withdrawl occassionally to move money around, but that's about it.

Any opinions?? Am I shooting myself in the foot by transferring that money there?

MrsDinero

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2016, 05:53:28 PM »
I have the same set up since 2014.  I use Ally for only savings and nothing else.  I have never had a problem and enjoy the 1% interest rate. 

I recently transferred some money to my other bank with my checking account and it took about 3-4 days but it was a seamless process.

Another Reader

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2016, 05:55:48 PM »
It takes a couple of business days to transfer the money back and forth.  Ally has a checking account option that allows you to move the money and write a check, which might be helpful for the EMD on the new property.

Ally is paying 1.00 percent.  GE Capital and Synchrony pay 1.05 percent, but do not have checking account options.

Up to date info on rates and accounts can be found at www.depositaccounts.com.

neil

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2016, 06:06:34 PM »
I think some have considered Ally is considered "slow" (3-4 days instead of 2-3? not sure) but if you need instant money, you're going to want a brick and mortar bank that provides such features.  Ally (and other online banks) can afford to pass 1% interest because they don't have any of this overhead.

I have Ally now, but I had ING for about a decade and I was fine with the understanding that money was going to take time to transfer.  Ally has checking options as well - I cannot speak for them, but if you need immediate access I am pretty sure this can handle your needs as well.

MrDelane

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2016, 06:47:09 PM »
I've used Ally's savings account for years.  I've never had a problem and would definitely recommend them (as long as you can deal with the limitation of waiting a couple of days to transfer your money).

They have an online savings account with 1% interest, and a money market account with .85% interest.
The savings account doesn't give you the option of checks, but the money market account does.

If you really need checks but don't want to lose out on the .15% difference, you can do what I did.
Open both accounts.  Then you can transfer ALL your money into the savings account.  They don't seem to have any issue with me having zero dollars in the money market account.  The beauty of this is that the transfers between Ally accounts are instantaneous.

When I need to write a check (to pay property taxes, for example), I simply transfer that amount of money into the money market account and can immediately write a check.

« Last Edit: February 05, 2016, 06:49:18 PM by MrDelane »

katsiki

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2016, 07:25:19 PM »
If speed is a concern (doesn't sound like it), you might consider Alliant CU.  Their savings rate is 0.995%.  ACH transfer to/from Alliant is very fast. 

You can even get an ATM card for it which seems somewhat unique.


http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/high-yield-savings#features


live4soccer7

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2016, 07:32:56 PM »
WOW. thanks everyone for the quick replies on that. I think I'll simply transfer the money over. I have an emergency fund and a little additional funds at my local bank still, so being able to get at it quicker than 2-3 or 3-4 days shouldn't be too big of an issue. I'd rather have it build the interest over there than nothing where it sits now.

I also appreciate the alternate options as well as the link to rates that are available.

Zoot Allures

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2016, 08:17:17 PM »
I like Ally. Good website, easy transfers, never had any problems. But since I only keep $5k in cash savings, I decided to move it to NetSpend, where you get 5% interest up to $5k.

live4soccer7

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2016, 11:09:02 PM »
Dang, can't beat that. I'll keep that in mind for the future.

an1m3n00b

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Re: Opinion on Ally bank for savings only??
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2016, 06:21:16 AM »
I'd say do it. Been with them a few years, and never had any issues. Their rates are excellent (1% for savings, 0.1% checking) and they don't charge any fees. They even reimburse the fees other banks charge for atm use. From a purely ethical standpoint though you may wish to do some digging: Ally used to be known as GMAC, and received bailout (TARP) loans in 2008. Not sure if they've paid them off or not yet. If you decide to go with them for checking be aware that once you have cash you have to spend it; ATMs won't let you deposit cash, only withdraw. I personally just use my debit card for everything anyways- it keeps me more accountable when I see an itemized list, rather than my money simply disappearing without a trace $5-10 at a time.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!