After being GMAC Bank first and then changing it’s name to Ally Bank, everyone’s no doubt seen the new advertisements that emphasizes no fine print. With the bank being connected with General Motors, the first thing I can think of is whether my money will be safe. Of course, I went to research further before my readers could be ripped off with this bank so this review represents my opinion of putting money with its savings account offering.
Sign up for an account by clicking here
Safety of Ally Bank
First things first, Ally Bank saving accounts and CDs are all FDIC insured so our money is safe for up to $250k per account. There are ways to increase the amount covered even further, but you would need to open individual, joint, and accounts under other entities such as a trust to get a higher limit. (Another way is to just open accounts across different banks, which might be easier.)
Products Offered from the Online Bank
Ally Bank offers 2 main products that we are really concerned about – an online savings account and a certificate of deposit with above average rates. The extremely good interest rates for this type of product and the bank being FDIC insured prompt me to open an account with them.
When I opened an account, it was also nice to see that I can actually open multiple savings accounts and certificate deposits all on one screen. No more submitting multiple applications and spending time filling the exact same form more than necessary.
Ally Bank is Another Excellent Option
There’s really many options out there to compete for our money, but it’s nice to see a bank with competitive rates with a simple interface. The name GMAC may spook you in opening an account, but the safety of the FDIC guarantee should provide comfort, especially since you are getting more interest by going with them.
After 2 years of originally reviewing this bank, I am still an Ally Bank customer. But before you decide, make sure that you read through some of the other user reviews below. Though most people only speak up when they have a problem, you can get an idea of the types of issues people have with their accounts.
- Ally Bank – Official Site
Other News You May Want to Know About the Ally Bank
Is GMAC Really GM?
Many people asked me about this already, and I actually had the same question myself. I always thought that GMAC Financial Services was part of General Motors but I was wrong. GMAC is actually a standalone banking operation that provides lending and banking services. The difference with GMAC to a traditional loan company is that instead of offering mortgages and home equities to consumers, GMAC offers loans and lending to GM and Chrysler dealers to finance their operations.
Ally Bank is just one of the online banks we reviewed on MoneyNing.com. Click here for the full list of high yield online savings accounts we have experience with.
{ read the comments below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Beware! This is the worst institution ever, be it a bank, supermarket, retail store, or any other establishment. They constantly lie about everything. When you’ve had enough and cancel your account, they continue to withhold your money. They claim it was sent, then apologize for not sending it but promise it will be sent soon. And again, they apologize and assure it will be sent, but the cycle continues.
They notified me that my account would close on March 7, 2024, without giving a reason. I called three times, and no one could explain why. So, on March 4, I requested they transfer my money to my new bank and close my account, providing them with the new bank’s routing number and my account number.
On March 8, not having received confirmation of the transfer, I called Ally. They confirmed they had not transferred the funds but issued a check on March 7 and mailed it on March 8. This was terrible as I live in a rural area with unreliable mail delivery. They said they could cancel the check and carry out a transfer if my account were still open, but now they could not.
Fast forward to March 15, I received an email stating they closed my account today. They could have transferred the money! When I called on March 16, I found out that the check hadn’t even been created. And now, they cannot electronically transfer the funds since my account is closed. The best I can hope for is to receive the check by April 4, one month after I requested the funds transfer.
I had the representative review the notes on my account, and yes, she confirmed that I was misled about the initial transfer, the closure date of my account, and when the check was created and mailed. Do I really think I will receive the check on April 4? They won’t fool me this time.
This is the worst company I have ever dealt with, by leaps and bounds, and my entire life. In my opinion, and based on my experience, they are little more than a scam organization. If you think of financing with an ally, my advice would be do not walk away, but run… Forrest Gump style, as far away as possible
FACTS – This too is the worst company I have ever had to deal with in 43 years of living.
It’s a detriment to ignore the negative reviews all over the web, and I highly advise anybody using them based of the small percentage of folks who say they had a good experience, especially those telling you to ignore the negative reviews. This company is bad energy and it’s not worth the risk. They stressed me beyond belief by essentially holding $1#,### dollars of mine (life savings) hostage shortly after opening a new account. Forced me to jump on a call and it took hours of my life away, and they asked me bizarre questions and made me feel like I was be interrogated by police officers. Was hard to reach someone who I felt somewhat comfortable talking with too, as I kept getting a call center in India (no disrespect to those hard working people obviously). This bank is not your ally. Many other banks who will not cause your blood pressure to boil over. I signed up before reading reviews (big mistake I made). After reading reviews, this practice of freezing your account access is more common than imagined. And the sheer number of complaints of them essentially stealing people’s money, are not uncommon. That’s scary. Luckily I was able to pull 99.9% of my money back to the original bank via ACH, but not without stress. As soon as my receiving bank saw the money, I get an email from Ally saying my account on their end was closed. I stressed for another week thinking that maybe the ACH would get messed up and the money would bounce back to a now nonexistent account. Thankfully, after one week, it seems to be safely back into my bank. I check daily now just to make sure (literal PTSD from this experience). All in all, this bank is bad energy all around. Run the other way. They still owe me about $110 (initial deposit), but I’m done with this entity. Hopefully they do me right and send that $110 as a check to my house. If not, I will just walk away and let that sit in the ether forever. I just want to move on from this experience. Ugh. Worst experience in my entire life.
I don’t know about their deposit accounts but Ally is still in the 19th century when it comes to loans. (For those of you wondering I do know the difference between the 19th century and the 1900s.) I recently purchased an RV that was financed through Ally Bank. It has now been 10 days since they received the cashiers check for the payoff but they have yet to process the lien release. Mind you it was bad enough that they wouldn’t accept a wire transfer for payoff, they take cashiers checks only. Not only is there significantly more risk with cashiers checks but it delays the process by a week unless you are willing to pay for overnight delivery, which we did. The upshot of this is that I will never, ever consider financing anything with Ally Bank they need to come into the 21st century.
I have been using Ally for a couple of years, and the service has been excellent.
Total convenience, although I do not do banking from cell phones, I can deposit all checks I get (50 k$ limit is very sufficient for online deposits for me), I can pay bills, transfer between accounts at Ally and any other bank, send $$ to people.
yep, there is a ‘however’:
about two weeks ago I got on one computer a browser warning that my Ally bank connection would not be secure.
The web site name on the certificate is not the name of the web site the browser was connecting to.
Sure thing, someone wants to steal all my money, right? I am so important that the world wants to get me to give up my banking passwords.
Oh no. Good to have a decades experienced and certified security and forensics expert in the house (that would be yours truly…).
Someone at Ally who does not know how the Internet works did change something very important: https://ally.com is redirected (it is called a 301 redirection) to https://www.ally.com .
While this is a normal thing to do with web sites that have a lot of different names, in this case there is a ‘gotcha’:
The Ally Bank https:// certificate has a couple of names on it, but not…
you guessed it: http://www.ally.bank is not on that certificate.
Ally is a Bank. There is a very high bar with respect to web site security, and in general IT security (I did some work for financial institutions …).
This lapse is a very important and big issue: all Ally Bank customers are forced to let down their security and accept now a certificate name mismatch.
Most browsers are set by default to accept this, or can easily made to accept it.
However: this is exactly how these ‘man in the middle’ attacks work: redirect to a site that just snarfs user IDs and passwords and returns some error page.
I do not bank with a browser set to insecure.
Here comes the really bad part:
I did call Ally Bank for this. I did also send a ‘secure message’.
I was hung up on after ‘looking for someone technical..’,
and there has so far been no email with ‘we sent you a secure message’.
Ally bank seems to be hiding, or knowing what is going on and wants not to change it, lack of capability?
It seems to me that at the moment it is a heavy risk to do any online business through http://www.ally.com (ally.com redirects to that) and all other connections to the same GMAC server that handles all the other things they have.
I do not go online with Ally Bank and this in place. Maybe once to transfer everything to a different online bank.
It seems, Ally Bank has no qualified staff to run a banking business (anymore… did they fire the last expert they had… did the last expert they had leave, i.e. can Ally Bank aka GMAC not retain expert staff?).
Going to report today to all relevant banking commissioners about Ally needing to be interdicted until they fix this gigantic security hole.
What other things are wrong, I ask myself: checking a certificate against a redirection is so basic like putting air in your tires before you go on a long trip.
we have had some of lifes curve balls thrown at us these past months an decided to let car go back to Ally. Does anyone know how to return a car back to Ally since there is no physical place for the bank?
My wife and I have had a high-interest savings account and a CD wuth Ally, owned by our revocable trust, for more than two years. We have used the Internet to transfer money into and out of the savings account with no problems whatsoever.
Should be given option to rate negative stars. Most unprofessional company I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with. They speak what can not be called English, make mistakes and don’t acknowledge or resolve them, just keep saying, “You make payment today?” They repeat scripted responses, cut you off mid-sentence and hang up on you. Dec payment due 10th. Paid in full by phone 5th. Letter 24th said I made partial payment, added late fee, and threatened to report to credit agencies. Called Jan 4, paid what they claimed was remaining balance for Dec. Because next payment due Jan 10, I paid that, too. Jan 16-letter stating I missed Jan payment and charged for late fee I already paid.
My car was totaled in an accident on march 11, 2020. My insurance company paid off the loan to Ally by March 27, 2020. I continue to receive bills from Ally, and the Filipino operators in “customer service” deny that Ally was paid and robotically ask for payments.
Had very bad experience with customer service (rude)would never apply for any loan under this name. I have always paid more on my truck since day one . My bill showed me a a payment 460.00 so made this payment now today received a call that I would be reported to credit bureau for 25.18 that I was past due. So made a payment over the phone to avoid any problems since their goal is just threat you with your credit score and still charged me 7.00 on top of that will be looking for another source of financing.
Ally Bank is a nightmare that doesn’t even deserve to be in business. The rudest and most unknowledgeable workers I have ever had the displeasure of speaking to. They will hold you money captive when they have no right to do so. They ask for ridiculous means of authorizing your account even though you have already jumped through numerous hoops. Who sends a “bank” a copy of their social security card. Like I want that floating around. I didn’t need to show that when I borrowed 50K for student loans…. but if I want to deposit a few grand in this shitty bank they need way too much. What next a DNA test and semen sample? I had much better experiences at CapitalOne 360 for online banking. They’re savings offer .75% so not much less than this scummy bank. Amazing how a bank can just freeze and essentially steal your money and you have almost zero means to get it back. Unbelievable.
I have been a customer since 2012 and really never had much of a problem with Ally until this past week. Their system had some glitches according to the reps I spoke with after my problem but their customer service also has glitches galore. I made a transfer and it failed so tried again and somehow despite my making a second one and also cancelling it out and receiving a verification email, their system debited my twice but made one transfer.
The nightmare began with my proactive phone call to ensure one transfer and one debit was all that took place. Person after person over a 5 day period including 2 supervisors and no less than 4 customer reps provided me incorrect info, false info, and possibly out and out lies. As of now despite the assurances by the last supervisor spoken with that my money would be returned last night it still is not in my account and she never called back as she promised to do. An email came from a person twice apprising me they tried to reach out to me and failed and I ought to call them ASAP. My phone has voice mail and caller ID, No calls came from Ally at all.
I even emailed the CEO and have not heard back but in fairness this email was sent yesterday late in the work day.
I do not understand the apparent collapse of their customer service and support but it is abundantly clear customers are not respected and appreciated and neither is the time and effort it takes a customer to RESOLVE their problems caused by their system. Since there are now other online banks paying significantly more interest (percentage wise as opposed to Ally’s rate) it is time to move out of Ally and into a more customer oriented bank
This company is incredibly stupid. I called to cash in my large CD. I got an email telling me they renewed it. Called back…they said it was a mistake and was taken care of. Just got 2 MORE EMAILS telling me it was renewed.
Guess I will have to call again…Be assured, I will never use them again.
I have a car payment of $483 and they chage another $300 a month in other fees, there bills never makesense I pay the amount due, and they call me 25 times a day even if I over pay and come up with an excuse for hundreds of dollars more u have now payed more in fees and still owe $19000 after 3 years of payments I don’t even know who complain to anymore there has to be a governmont or state branch to stop this, I am in need of a car and they have turned my credit upside down so much I have no options, I never had a problem when I could make payments at every other bank I had purchased a car through in previous years, this is a huge case of fraud if they applied my extea random fees my car would have been paid off long ago too bad I still have 4 years to go and 100,000k miles, hellllllp
Horrible bank in my experience with them. Who are they regulated by I want to report them.
I have never been so wronged by another bank with horrible
customer service. Use them at your own risk. I see so many
others have had a similar experience. I will never give them any business
ever again.
I’m so upset at Ally Bank that I have to write a review. After applying to open a CD account 6 weeks ago, I kept
getting information to send in new documents to prove my identity. This meant going to FedEx to fax what
they wanted. Today they called again and said they needed new information. After talking to the manager, I
decided not to go on with the application because it’s not worth the stress.
I don’t understand all the bureaucracy when they aren’t giving me any money, but I’m depositing money to their
bank.
I recommend American Express Savings highly, because it pays good interest (0,9%) with very good customer
service.
Their Customer service is so bad that they could save money by eliminating that department completely. Trying to get an honest answer is like skinning a snake for its fur while said snake is alive. If you need an auto loan go to a real brick and mortar or credit union not this boiler room outfit. Or go without. After reading the above comments about this bank be fore warned, it is you that they DO NOT care about.
Worst customer service and competence I have ever seen. If you have any other option I would not do any business with ally. Their IRA “specialist” are not informed (as nicely as I can put it). Wasted a lot of time on the phone with people who do not know what they are talking about but keep saying how sorry they are.
They do answer the phone when called but then that person does not know anything.
As other writers have said “don’t even think about trying to talk with a supervisor”.
Jon H
I was going to sign up with Ally Bank until I read reviews. After checking with the BBB it was apparent Ally is not a member. So I called Ally Bank and spoke with them about that. The person said they were with BBB and to check the legal link on their website which I did. There was nothing there about being a BBB member. So right off they lied to me or the person I spoke with did not know. They thing that really turned me off is you have to wait to access deposited checks in into your checking 3-5 business day or longer depending on the amount. Not for me. Apparently Ally Financial is a real nightmare to deal with. Thanks for the reviews.
Deposited over $300k, and they continue to return checks with different excuses, forget asking to speak to a supervisor as that takes hours (REALLY) to speak with one, IF THEY DON’T HANG UP. Expect to spend on average 1 hr ++++ to get anything done. They just keep saying how sorry they are, and NO results!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went to Ally because of little or no fees all online, instead, hours on the phone and tons of fees in return check fees……………..
I lease a car with this bank and paid on time every month for three years, I return the car in perfect condition. I was then advise that I would have to wait until the car is sold to have my deposit returned,it has been three months.
I keep calling and getting over seas customer service reps that you can not understand, they keep transferring you and making excuses of why they have not returned my money. This is a terrible company to lease from they do not want to return your deposit, even when you give back the vehicle in perfect condition.
I will never use this company again and suggest no one else does .
You will have to fight to get your money back
Ally bank appears to be a waist of time. My husband and I have been trying to set up an account for 3 weeks with Ally now and all we’ve had are issues. We didn’t receive anything confirming that we had set up an account, our documents were not being accepted through email, and when trying to upload the documents on the site it asks for an access code that the ally bank tech department doesn’t even know anything about. With having my wallet stolen about 4 months ago there’s additional security there also and they for some reason aren’t confirming my identity so that just adds to the crap. With all this hassle and after reading all the other reviews, we’ll go into a bank in town where we can actually see people and fix our issues immediately. Ally bank is not worth the hassle for the good interest rates.
STAY AWAY. I had an auto loan with them and a direct deposit of my monthly payments. I overpaid each month with a plan to pay off my vehicle 6 to 8 months early. Last summer, Ally lost my account information during a system update and never notified me. Three months later, when I realized that payments were not being sent/received, I was told by customer service that because I was ahead, they would not notify me until a payment was missed! (there goes my credit). I got that straightened out, but earlier this year while checking my account, I noticed that Ally had scheduled a two month suspension of my payments. Another call to Ally and I was told that since I was now two months ahead, that THEY had decided to give “break” until I caught up to THEIR payment schedule. By the way, during both incidents, even though I was ahead of my payments, Ally continued charging their daily interest/finance charges. Since it appeared that Ally could not support my “pay it off early” plan through higher than required monthly payments, I simply paid the loan off to end this frustrating relationship.
Horrible customer service. I applied for a savings account, they lost the paperwork, then, they close the application by mistake, and after a few weeks I had to call them to inquire about the status, so, again, I had the provide the same information, and then, a third time (after not hearing anything from them for 3-4 day), I called them to inquire agan, and they asked me again to email my driver’s license, so, I basically got fed up and told them to close the application. I opened an account with AMEX, easy and customer service friendly. Ally Bank is just a joke…not worth the trouble for a 0.05% higher rate then AMEX Savings Bank
For a basic savings account Ally is awesome. I only have an online savings account with Ally and I have never had an issue with them. Their rate is awesome and transferring money in and out of the account is east and straight forward. As I have never had any issue doing any of the basic needs I need this account to do, I have never needed to contact customer service. Their mobile app is also straightforward so it makes it easy to check on my account and transfer money to or from my checking account very easy.
Ally Bank is the worst! They will bend over backwards to set up an account but when you try to remove anything they put up so many barriers and require an inordinate amount of time for the process to clear that they actually make a concerted effort to block any removal transaction.
I leased an Cadillac ATS for my wife with ally. The lease was for 39 months and only had 25K miles of local driving. I had the car checked out by Classic Cadillac prior to turning it in at the end of my lease and everything was perfect. They commented on how great the car looked.
About 2 wks later I got a bill from ally for over $1000.00 for excessive wear on my tires. I called to inquire and was informed that their 3rd party company said the treads were lower than the amount in the contract. I disagreed with this assessment as I had the tires checked out prior to turning it in. Their customer service person said their was nothing they could do and said I should have replace the tires with less costly tires prior to turning it in. I said I would be willing to pay something but not this much and asked to see if they would reduce the amount as it was excessive. I spoke to two different representatives and they both said ally would not bend.
I am so disappointed in ally’s customer service department as they are NOT customer focused. They were rude and disrespectful. You could tell they were trained to treat customers this way which is really disappointing from a financial company.
There are plenty of financial choices so take my advice and NEVER use ally. In the financial world you never want to use a company that is unethical and have no integrity. Find a lender who wants to work with you instead of ally that only goal is to make money from you.
I’m surprised by all the comments saying Ally’s customer service is terrible. Their Live Chat option is extremely convenient and I’ve never received bad service. I’ve had to call Ally just a handful of times on the phone and the individuals who answer the phone seem, at least to me, to speak English as their first language… many of these comments are from 2014 and 2015, so maybe now in 2016 Ally’s customer service is U.S. based? Not sure.
I know I love the fact that they have interest earning checking accounts and great rates on their savings accounts… not to mention to extra fees like many other banks have.
Ally rep in Sewell Cadillac Houston, financed my CTS in 2013. No issues until they put an “other charge” on my bill. I called and after put on hold numerous times for the customer support rep to call her supervisor and ask questions they told me that someone from Ally will call you in 24-48 hrs with explanation. No calls or messages were received. Called again next month and repeated the whole process again with waiting games (40 min). After getting same response, I asked to talk to the supervisor. Super visor got online and told me the same thing that someone will call you in 24-48 hrs.
What a piece of crap customer service. Bad sound quality and feeble voices.
Disappointed!
Just tried to open an account online and it was refused (unable to verify information provided?) which is ridiculous because the personal information was correct and valid.
I set up a account with them because I had a large check come in that I didn’t know what I was going to do with yet. So I followed there instructions for taking a picture and depositing it. Later that day they rejected it bc it included my husband ‘s name, even though he signed it. So my only option they claimed was to mail this now signed 20k check to them. After doing that I receive a email stating it was deposited. I go to look in my account but I’m locked out. I call only to find out on a Friday evening sorry we can’t tell you anything about your account, only another department can and they are only in M-F 8-5. They wouldn’t tell me where my money was, why it was locked…nothing. This is not a bank I would trust with your funds. I will be moving money as soon as they find it. I was never scared of a bank without a physical location until now. This one should not be trusted
i had a tax refund check for over $7000 they told me to mail it the same way as yourself it took several days to clear but when it finally did clear they kept locking me out requesting different things i tried to get all the money out i have $3596 in the account and the supervisor now tells me they are closing my account and confiscating my funds i asked on what grounds and they say they cant identify me with the documents i provided i offered a fingerprint scan and they wont accept anything did you ever recover your funds? if so how did you do it?
I have had a great experience! I set my account up quickly and easily! Transferring money is super easy too!
I had been a happy Ally customer for years. Then I started noticing problems with online BillPay in recent months:
1. I scheduled a credit card bill to be paid for the “full amount due” 5 days before the due date. I thought this would mean my “statement balance” (not an option) for the card on its last closing date (about $500), but was surprised to find that Ally sent the credit card the total account balance on the credit card as of the day the payment was scheduled, including new charges since my last statement date (about $900 total). Bizarre, so I stopped using that “full amount due” option and just put in the only other option “minimum amount due” but I still have to schedule a payment to pay my card in full each month…which doesn’t save me any time.
2. Then, I had a recurring payment setup with an ebill for a Bank of America auto loan well before a bill was generated. The Ally billpay site said I had a minimum payment scheduled for 5 days before the due date. But when the due date came around, no payment was sent. The website still said recurring payments were set up for 5 days before the due date and the ebill from BoA was there on Ally’s billpay with its due date in red. I caught it by chance 6 days late and got a payment in instantly thru my separate BoA checking, and thus far, had no late fees.
I asked Ally about it on their online chat, with both a representative and then her supervisor. They said they saw that I had it scheduled but had no explanation for why it didn’t get paid. They agreed that was troubling and that they’d look into it. I asked them for a letter saying that I had scheduled things appropriately and that there was a glitch in their system that they are looking into — just in case BoA gave me any problems or fees. They said they would send a letter in the mail.
A quick online search about problems with Ally billpay would show that I am not alone, and that autopayment have been a problem for a lot of people.
While waiting for the letter, I stopped using recurring autopayments and just did scheduled payments where I told Ally explicitly what to pay instead of depending on their ebill system to figure it out.
Then, when the letter came, the Ally rep simply said the payment was never scheduled. She said they had no record of any payment ever being scheduled until DAYS after my Ally Help Chat. I have screen shots from the day of the chat showing the billpay site informing me that I had a recurring payment scheduled for the account 5 days before the due date — a screen shot from DAYS before they CLAIM I finally scheduled a payment. I also have a screen shot from my Ally Help Chat where the Ally rep said he saw the payment was scheduled to be there by the due date — another screen shot from DAYS before they CLAIM I finally scheduled a payment where they admit a payment was scheduled but mysteriously not sent.
Terrifyingly, the letter stated they had no record of any payment being scheduled. I would feel ok if they had sent a letter saying what they said in the chat: “We see you scheduled this payment appropriately. Our new 3rd party system has been glitchy, and for unknown reasons this payment you scheduled was not sent. We are looking into the problem.”I would have felt better if they had said “We are working to make the system reliable again. We guarantee our billpay services, and we will reimburse you for late fees we are responsible for and will help you with other problems related to the late payment.”
One of the most basic expectations for a bank is that it be accountable. Instead, they either lost or lied about their records. The internal inconsistency suggests lying. Either way, terrifying that they can’t be trusted, considering how much of my money they hold…so I’m in the process of taking my money elsewhere.
They have increased their overdraft fee from $9.00 to $25.00 – FYI.
Amy
They use Fax in 2016 and they do NOT know how to work with it.
I just moved from CA to NY so I need to register my car. I asked Ally on 1/13/2016 to send me power of attorney so I can register my car.
(1st) It’s hard to believe but in 2016 they still don’t use email to send documents. The only way you can have your documents are fax or mail and it takes them 48 hours to process request and for any reason if they were not able to send it out, you have to request again and wait 48 hours again.
(2nd) you would NOT believe me but they don’t know how to use fax machine. Every time I asked them for power of attorney in past 6 days they fax me a page and it write on it
“Please open the attached documents. Type pdf, multi-page”
I called Ally more than 8 times and tell them you should open the pdf file first then fax it But they just keep fax me the same page.
A job that should takes less than a day took more then 6 days and still waiting for the fax.
Great Job Ally
I originally signed up with Ally because they had a low overdraft fee of $9, but no less than a week after I switched over, they upped it to $25, which was the same as where I had just come from. And then I recently found out that if you’ve overdrafted more than a couple times, they put five day holds on all of your checks! Absolutely unacceptable. I left them the moment I found out about that.
Hopefully, Capital One 360 will be more accommodating.
this it the worst “Bank” ever!!!! took out a auto loan and since week one have had nothing but issues… many hours on the phone and frustrations. Literally worst decision I ever made. horrible customer service, not one person gives you same answer.
Never Ever use them !!!!
Which is worse; Ally Bank or this anagram I made up for Ally Bank?
Ally
Loves
Losing
Your *money
HILARIOUS! You are so right.
I was just about to open an account…. was going to submit my application and everything. then I found this site. Ally Bank seem to have an issue with there reputation. Bank of America; here I come.
Things were going pretty good with Ally until an unfortunate string of events occurred. I was a victim of fraud (I take full responsibility). Ally, as “standard procedure,” put a block on my account. Meaning I could not get money out, put money in, transfer money to my soon due credit card, write any checks, or use bill pay. This is understandable, but what’s NOT understandable is the fact that it took 5 days to get anyone on the phone to talk to me and resolve the issue. If you ever have to deal with Maureen, the lady in charge of money loss and fraud prevention, the experience will be terrible. Maureen calls me back a few days after talking to one of her associates who finally cleared my account for use and tells me that I am a risk. When asked why she stated “that information cannot be disclosed. We will have to cancel your account and you cannot open a new one.” So just be warned that if fraud or a scam ever happens to you, they will not have your back. They will NOT help you, will NOT make you feel that your money is safe, and they will NOT treat you with respect. They will drop you for no state-able reason as a customer. When I looked at the reviews I thought these extraneous circumstances that caused this bank to be terrible would not happen to me. Turns out it did, and I severely regret opening a checking account with them. Look elsewhere.
What is the point of having a JOINT ACCOUNT if your spouse cannot change the address. Their customer service as well as their supervisor did not help. The crazy thing is they sent a check to the old address instead of using the new address that my husband changed it to, so now the check will take even longer! DO NOT USE THIS BANK!!! THEY WILL OUT HOLDS ON YOUR ACCOUNT IF YOU HAVE OVERDRAFTED ONCE EVEN IF YOU HAVE OVERDRAFT PROTECTION, THEY MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO DO TRANSFERS FROM BANK TO BANK AND THEY WILL CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT IF BOTH ACCOUNT HOLDERS DO NOT DO A CHANGE OF ADDRESS WITHOUT DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO CONTACT YOU AND FINALLY THEY WILL SEND YOUR MONEY TO AN ADDRESS THAT YOU NO LONGER USE EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE GIVEN A NEW ADDRESS BY ONE OF THE JOINT ACCOUNT HOLDERS!!!
Ally Bank is a fraud. Do not do business with this fraudulent company. I have reported them to the Federal Trade Commission(FTC) and the FTC got back to me and told me to report Ally Bank to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which I did. I applied online to Ally Bank because they did actively advertise a .99% savings rate compounded daily. I was approved and granted a checking and savings account. They did the EFT from my original checking accounts. Then they banned me access to my accounts and told me I was a fraud. It took some calling but finally they told me they did that because they couldn’t check my credit, they never asked permission to check my credit at all during the application process. I told them I froze my credit reports after I was a victim of ID theft in a data breach. They told me I had to prove to them who I say I am. They already have my social security number, birth date, driver license number, my address, phone, and email so what else am I supposed to give them? I told them if I truly failed the application process they should not have proceeded with giving me accounts and transferring my money from my original checking to their checking and savings but they did anyway. They have refused to give me my money back. They then mailed me a signature card in the mail which I signed and returned and they sent me an email saying they received it back. They sent me checks and a MasterCard debit card. I have not activated it and I have not used any checks. I’m speaking with the CFPB later today. They closed my case about Ally earlier but I contacted the CFPB again after that and told them Ally Bank lied to the CFPB as Ally Bank refuses to have contact with me and refuses to return my funds. So the CFPB told me to talk with them and that is going to happen later today. I also wrote my Congress representative and explained Ally’s banking fraud to him and asked to have the IRS audit Ally Bank to see how many other people they do this to. I’m planning on filing suit against Ally Bank in November 2015. They do not have a leg to stand on. They granted me accounts and transferred money. They told me I failed the credit check after. Then they told me I’m fraudulent and kept my money. I should never have been approved for accounts if I did really fail the credit check and Ally Bank broke the law by taking funds out of my original checking because according to them I failed the application process but they took my money anyway and will not return it. Ally Bank is a fraud and they will loose the law suit. This whole mess is documented and it is all in my favor.
I had the same thing happen to me they are trying to keep $3596 of my money
I just had maddening and disgusting experience with Ally, but not to the level of yours. They made mistakes with my auto loan payments and will neither acknowledge or resolve them. Without disclosing personal details, of course, I would love to know if you had resolution via CFPB or any other agency. I want to do something about them, too. I am currently refinancing with another lender. Thanks for your input.
I have dealt with Ally Bank(the bank side not the auto loan side) for a number of years and have been pleased with both CD’s and MM account. As long as you link the MM account to your regular bank account you can move funds as necessary up to 6 times per month. The CS has always been helpful and all speak American english. Unfortunately I may have made a mistake when I just purchased a new Chevy and was offered an additional $1000 rebate from GM if I financed through Ally Financial(auto loans). I assumed my experience would be the same. So far nothing but nightmares. First of all, all of their CS is in the Phillipines and even though they speak “english” I can’t understand them half the time. I don’t have some phobia about foreigners but when I need CS, I need to be able to communicate with them. I did set up “auto pay” with the deduction coming from my Ally MM account. After a terrible start to that it is finally working. I only took the financing option for a short time to get the $1000 rebate but after reading all the posts above about financing and paying off the loan I am afraid of what I will face when I try to pay of the loan shortly. I am hopeful that since my payments are “auto pay” tied to my Ally Bank MM account that hopefully it will happen without incident. With my experience with CS so far that may be wishful thinking.
I leased a car thru ally for 3 years ,the last month got behind on my payment so called them had a agreement to send the payment moneygram.The day I was to send it ,walked out and my car was gone repoed it .Called ally asked them if i could have my vehicle back they said yes after I send them the payment plus late charges ,repo fees and storage fees .
The lease was done in a week the vehicle was to be returned,they couldnt wait a week for it to be returned that ally financial for you . Everytime you talk to them you get a different person plus they never have a strraight answer for you .There should be something you could do or someone you could talk to about them ripping people off.
It sounds like I am not the only client who knows how rude and crude Ally employees are. Ally and it’s employees suck.
Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, after reading the comments through the first 30, I would like to inform you of some things:
1. Ally Bank and Ally financial (Auto Loans) are separate in management at the mid range level and do not share facilities nor information directly.
2. The bank customer service centers are in the US or Canada. (Ally Auto service representatives sound like they are from out side the US)
3. The IRA issues are due to IRS paper trails and not being able to see you in person, also if you are unaware of the necessary forms, procedures and rules concerning IRA’s and how to handle them…..well it is your money and you should either hire someone who does know, or not have them. Bank agents are not money managers, they just money money at your request.
4. An online bank requires more security because of lack of face to face contact.
5. Accounts that take to long to open, (under review) or denied are because the information you provide is inaccurate or you have bad credit, or you have a credit freeze because your paranoid.
6. The customer is always right even when they are wrong.
7. It is your money, you are responsible for what you do with it.
8. If Ally makes a mistake, as humans do, they bend over backward to fix the issue properly, not as you direct, policy, procedures and rules are in place to fix issues that do happen. (Again, an online bank takes longer to resolve some issues because of the legal necessity to procure signed documents and or correspond by mail, fax, and or sometimes email….remember, you are not the only customer….you do wait in a virtual line.
9. Bank where you are happy, leave where you are not happy, and try to remember….while banks do make mistakes….customers are always right, even when they are wrong.
1. Yes that is true. But both are equally mismanaged which is directed by the leadership. The “Ally Bank” and “Ally Financial” groups cannot communicate internally or with each other effectively.
2. May be true, but The Ally Auto service reps I dealt with were in the States.
3. The banking institutions at the very least should be able to help the customers understand the options. Banks are considered in the know by the public. There are many customers, if not most, that don’t know anything about IRA’s and the bank that provides this service should make the rules clear prior to starting the account. The banks I have accounts with even discuss this in detail with their customers. The service reps ask questions like, “do you have any questions?” and then intelligently answer the questions or direct them to someone who does.
4. Again, clearly state the rules for money access in a bullet point doc. Putting it in the legal agreement is pointless. I’ll give you one of the contracts I write for my clients and then ask you what the rules are. Then I will give you my summary doc and ask the same questions. I’m sure you will be more informed the second time.
5. Get a grip. If there is missing or inaccurate info, credit issues, or paranoia; that means the info HAS BEEN REVIEWED! Contact the client and let them know in a timely manner. I figured that would be common sense.
6. That is not a policy Ally Bank embraces. Read past the first 30 complaints.
7. True. However, as you would with any competent professional service, the customer relies on the institution to assist them through the quagmire of policies and regulations. I know it’s hard to remember when you are in the business, but, your are dealing with the GENERAL PUBLIC.
8. Again, this is NOT an Ally Bank policy. Again, read past the first 30. One person of the many that I dealt with was genuinely helpful. ONE PERSON! Donna did the best she could to get my paperwork completed.
9. It’s hard to leave when the incompetent bank will not give you your funds because – _________, provide the proper paperwork for transfer or modification of an account/lease, or even remember that you are actually a customer!
I received a letter after all the dust settled, had my plates and registration, and I was finally able to legally drive my car (after 5 weeks) that indicated the paperwork was in process and would be sent to the Secretary of State. It was laughable.
Ken, you sound like an intelligent person. This is one of the many sites criticizing Ally Bank. This company has deeply ingrained problems that cannot be directed at customer knowledge or attitude conditions. The purpose of sites like this is to expose these issues. It goes without saying a person should “Bank where you are happy, leave where you are not happy”. This information helps people make an informed decision. If I had found this prior to my issues, I would not have accepted the least agreement. Finally, as a result of this experience and the knowledge obtained, I will not accept any contracts with Ally Bank. I have warned my many clients nation wide against using this bank and direct them to this and the other sites for review.
This has to be one of the worst bank in the country. Customer service people are disrespectful and don’t know what they are doing. I just traded a car I had finaced with Ally. Big mistake. I have no respect for Ally and didn’t want my new car to be financed with Ally but dealership did it anyhow. If I refinance it before 4th payment Galeana won’t get that commission.
I tried to open a MM account with this bank and we were given such a runaround that we didn’t even fund it and hopefully it will close in 30 days like the supervisor told me. They couldnt give us an accurate answer to a simple question (3 people, 3 different answers). When we said we want to close the account, we were transferred to a supervisor who only wanred to talk down to me and “put it in terms i would understand.” As a retired bank president and FDIC section chief, we did not need to have the fundamentals of deposit accounts explained to us She then explained allys archaic system, which convinced us even more to close rhe account. She told us not to verify the trial deposits…then Ally proceeded to take the 31cents back out of our account for the trial deposit. Cheap or what?
Ose
This is rich! Those people had no idea who they were talking to. They assume everyone is either stupid and willing to put up with their incompetence, or will just give up due to frustration. Wish I’d read your review before I became involved with them. Am taking my business elsewhere. Thank you so much for your enlightening review.
ONE STAR NOW. Used to be 5 stars. The best part of banking with Ally (and the only reason I switched to them) is that they (used to) reimburse all US ATM fees at the end of the statement cycle. No more driving around looking for your bank’s ATMs or trying to find specific stupid gas stations and grocery stores which had your bank’s ATM network. Got notified today that this will end in 30 days, with a new arbitrary reimbursement cap of $10 per statement cycle (that’s only about 2 and a half ATM withdrawals per month). For those who, like me, are looking to switch, consider USAA which reimburses up to $15 per month, or Charles Schwab checking, which reimburses all ATM fees.
This is by far the WORST, financial institution I ever dealt with. The customer service is useless and poorly trained considering that they handling customers’ finances. They act like (ambulance chasers) paralegals and or attornies presenting poor arugements. They are not able to answer direct questions like politicans !!!! They talk over you instead of using their active listening skills. True the customer is not always right but how does one determine that fact if you are listening to what is being conveyed???
RUN, RUN AWAY FAST!!!! Horrible customer service! Did I say HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE? So bad that after three years of absolute misery, we chose to refinance our 2011 GMC truck with another institute. GUESS WHAT! ….Ally Financial has no record of our pay off check of over 12,300.00 that was issued to them and signed for by one of their payment processing centers on the 9th of June, 2015. Today is June 16th and they called wanting to know why we were late with our monthly payment! They don’t know where our money is even though it was signed for and submitted to Ally Financial on June 9th. Again, …. RUN RUN AWAY FAST!
I have been with Ally bank for 1 year and I have been pleased with the service. I have a standard interest checking account. I have only transferred money to and from my brick-and-mortar bank, nothing fancy. I enjoy the high interest rates and I just let the money accumulate little by little. I have used the bank card that comes along with it and have never had a problem. As one reviewer said previously, people must remember that this is an on-line bank. I recommend that you use it more like a savings account to build up a savings and gain good interest. No offense, but I would never trust an on-line bank to the point where I would set up CD’s, finance a vehicle, or open an IRA with them! No wonder people are having a tough time with these bigger issues – you must use common sense in these areas. You are better off leaving your big-business to the people with whom you can have a face-to-face conversation.
Good luck getting your money out! It’s all good until you actually want your money.
She told you already she transferred to and from the account without an issue, that means she was able to get the money out already! Stop scaring people, this is a FDIC institution.
Avoid this bank. They place protracted holds on deposits, their app requires that you try multiple devices to attempt to make a deposit, they will hang up on you if so much as complain (ask Johnny and Jordan Parks in customer service and Cindy and Andrew Roberts in tech support – I am sure not their real names). Problems are all your fault and if you don’t have the precise equipment, background, and lighting, tough luck making a deposit. They really don’t care and if you leave their bank, not a problem – good riddance. What a wonderful experience trying to get help from these Bozos.
UPDATE: I contacted Ally today to cancel my application and to destroy my sensitive information. Guess what? They lost my application! Wow . . .so glad I didn’t open an account with this incompetent and scandalous company! And since they ARE part of GMAC (just renamed to Ally) I have come to the conclusion that this bank is a bunch of marketing BS hiding behind the name “Ally” to get you to think they’re on your side. But when you understand that this organization received one of the biggest bailouts in American history, you also understand that you are handing your money over to a bunch of crooks. Stay away!
Money in Ally is FDIC insured, just like any other bank. if they fail you or went bankrupt, the Feds will give you your money up to $250,000
After doing lengthy research, I finally today decided to open a MM account with Ally. When I filled out the on-line application, the entire thing froze and wouldn’t move forward. I had to exit out and fill out the ENTIRE APPLICATION a second time and the same thing happened! The page froze. This is definitely not an issue with my computer but, rather, with Ally Bank’s on-line application. This also doesn’t bode well for transacting business with an INTERNET ONLY bank. But despite the internet problem, I still decided to pursue my application with Ally via a telephone application.
30 minutes later the application was almost complete until I hit another glitch. Apparently, my particular application is subject to “further review” which could take an additional 3 business days! Then after that I will have to authorize an ACH out of my existing MM account to the new Ally bank account, which will cost me another 3+ business days!
So in order to open an account with Ally (despite how easy they claim this process is) you need to allow the better part of two weeks to actually get the account approved and fully funded (unless, of course, you are one of the unfortunate few who are instantly approved). This is unacceptable!
I then did some further research into why my application would be held and that’s when I found all of the bad reviews about this bank. One of the most frightening things I’ve read is that this bank apparently freezes people’s accounts with no clear reason as to why. That’s too scary for me. Of course, some of these people who are complaining could be incompetent fools who don’t understand basic banking and have done things to cause Ally to freeze their account OR they could be regular people who have done nothing wrong. Either way, I’m not taking a chance by giving Ally the bulk of my savings.
Between the misrepresentation of the “easy application process” and the unnecessary delay in opening this account, I have decided to take my business elsewhere. I have gone with a local credit union that does not offer the interest that Ally does (no brick & mortar bank can compete with them on this level) and had my money placed in a brand-new account in about 30 minutes . . .not TWO WEEKS like Ally would take!
UPDATE:
“Then after that I will have to authorize an ACH out of my existing…..”
Actually, you don’t need to do any ACH transfers. I open my account with $0.00 (no minimum to open) and at a very later point I decided to move some of my money.
AN UN-TRAINED MONKEY could do a better job than Ally’s customer service. No title for new GMC thanks to Ally’s “Customer Care” which is in the Philippines (you know, between China and Indonesia; next to Vietnam!) Isn’t “Customer Care” an appropriate name! Ally’s agent said I would get my title and a refund for overpayment in 4 days. Four days later Ally’s Samantha Cooper sends me a two-sentence letter that read, “This is to inform you that Ally does not hold the title to the above described vehicle.” Leaving me wondering: Why? Where is my title? What about my refund? Ally confirmed my refund was sent to the wrong address, and DMV confirmed that Ally gave them the wrong address to send the title resulting in my original title being destroyed.
Seems to me that any reasonable person (or entity called “Customer Care”) that got returned mail would do a little simple research, like check to see if it was sent to the same address the buyer gave on the original contract. I provided the correct address. Isn’t it funny how all fourteen invoices get sent to the correct address? But my title and refund get sent to an address that is not on the contract?
I should not have to wait in line at DMV and pay for a duplicate title for a new GMC. I want the original title, not a duplicate. I paid Ally in full. I provided the correct information on the contract. It is out of my control when Ally’s people can’t read an address on a simple contract that they prepared.
I applied for a checking and savings, twice. First I applied with my married name and was told my identity could not be verified. I was told to apply with my maiden name, and I did that. I got a second letter (again) stating my identity could not be verified. I ordered the credit report from the system they use, Chex, to check wth was happening. On the report it clearly listed both names on the front page, at the top, and all anyone had to do was literally read the report. Called back, talked to customer service, was transferred around, and finally told someone not to transfer me and to explain why I was being rejected. Elizabeth, my last cs rep was nice, but totally useless. She couldn’t get the application forwarded to someone who could help and spent all of 3 min talking to the people who could help me before saying I would need to apply again but this time over the phone with my MARRIED name, the one I originally used! I said I wanted them to use the first application I had on file, for which I still had the reference #. She said I’d have to reapply and that essentially that was it. I decided to take my money elsewhere because if they were giving me the run around during the application process BEFORE they even had my money, then I can’t imagine how bad it would be once I had cash in their control.
Otherwise they seem like a decent bank…you know, if you don’t ever need their help.
After reading comments and after I personally open 2 savings accounts in Ally, here is what to do and what to not do:
To do:
– Open a saving account
– Open a checking account
– Get your money in and out from your account
– Trust their advertised APY
Not to:
– Get an auto loan
– Close your brick and mortar checking account- you still need that as a way to get cash inside Ally quickly and easily
– Withdrawing over 6 times / mo from saving account “it is allowed at a cost, but may cost you later loosing your account”
– Go overdraft
Yea this sounds about right. I have 1 checking and 1 savings account with Ally and have never had any problems with them, got about 100k in both accounts and I’ve had no issues. Not sure I would get a loan through an online bank no matter what bank it was.
100K in cash is a bit high! better to invest $80 in stocks and bonds to get protected from annual inflation. Keep only what is considered as an emergency in form of cash.
i was going to put 50k in …should i put that in bonds instead?
I opened my Ally savings and checking back in 2011 and up to now i had no real complaints. deposits via mobile device were fine, interaction with cs was fine, overall all was well until they upgraded their applications and website.
the mobile device continuously errors out and unable to use on my note4, and the website is a joke, moving screen to screen (account page to bill pay screen) takes over 3 minutes and that is not counting trying to actually pay a bill.
when called to inquire they advised that their IT team are “working” on the issue but that has been over 4 months more or less.
either way i am moving my account to another bank. there is a credit union that might fit the bill.
personally opinion but good luck to everyone else.
I have been a customer even before they changed name to ALLY –
I have had great service – never any problems – would like to find
another Bank I could rely on as well.
Have been with Ally since they became Ally. No problems until recently. The really messed up a CD renewal.
I was very upset, they thought it was humorous. Of course, it wasn’t their money. I will start looking for other options.
We had Ally vehicle loan paid it off and had the hardest time getting the release of lien. Transferred multiple times to individuals who could hardly speak english. They couldn’t tell you when or if the release had been process 19 days after payoff.
RIDICULOUS….will never do business with them again. HORRIBLE customer service….
I have had an Ally Money Market account for awhile now. Rates are great and the website is easy to use. Haven’t had any issue transfering funds to the bank and am looking at opening CD accounts with them, too. I want to move all my funds to an online bank, but I’m a little concerned by all the negative feedback here.
Lisa, I am familiar with Ally, I have read through the customer comments. Most of the issues that I have read are initiated by the customers inability to understand and follow simple instructions or they are dealing with ally financial(auto loans) a separate entity.) I have been with them for 6 months and the only issue I see is you can’t deposit or withdrawal cash….except using an ATM. You sound like a pleasant and patient person, you shouldn’t have any issues…. Online banking is not for pushy, impatient people.
Ken, it’s obvious you are a frustrated banker, maybe employed by Ally. I have had nothing but problems with Ally Bank from the moment I was forced to deal with them. I agree, there are some people here that do not understand some of the banks procedures. However, there are many more people who have had to deal with the incompetent customer service. That condition exists regardless of the intelligence of the customer. Ally is about to loose GM as one of their largest leasing accounts due to customer complaints if they haven’t already.
When it comes to peoples money, you should expect pushy and impatient people. It’s money. It is the institutions responsibility, regardless of whether they are brick and mortar or online, to create a common interface that is customer friendly and consistent. The customer should not have to be educated in US bank policy to understand how to use their accounts or what is permitted regarding access to their funds. This should be outline clearly in a summary document, not in a 25 page legalese novel printed on parchment in font size 4.
It is the institutions responsibility to hire competent employees and train them. Each time I called to find the status of the paperwork, a different customer service rep answered and gave the same answer; “I don’t know when it will be completed”. When I asked to talk to a supervisor; “we don’t do that here” and “they will not be able to help you either”. Really? This is customer service? In reality, it’s customer avoidance. The management does not train or inform the service reps, that is abundantly clear. Or worse, the leadership does train the reps to be elusive and non-committal.
It wouldn’t surprise me that within a couple of years, Ally Bank will be acquired by another bank that actually has customer service. Unfortunately, the acronym management will only profit from this, so no lesson will be learned.
We have a 5th wheel financed with Ally. We contacted them in Nov. about having someone assume the payments. They indicated there would be no problem. They did send an Application for Transfer of Equity to us. We finally got someone who wanted to take up the payments and we faxed the application to them. To date their customer service people cannot tell us what is going on in the process. Each time I call I get a different answer. These people do not know what they are doing. When I ask to speak to a manage they tell me that they cannot forward my call. No manager available and other excuses. There is no phone number to call and speak to anyone else about this matter. My husband has had a heart attack and now has been diagnosed with Cancer since we made this purchase and we need to have this matter resolved. We are under enough stress without having to deal with something like this.
I opened a checking and savings account with Ally on Monday, and today (Wednesday) I am closing them because I am already fed up with dealing with this banks’ mistakes!
I was transferring my balance from another bank to Ally and Ally ran the transfers twice! This resulted in me being overdrawn at my other bank by $14,000!!!!! When I called they told me it was my fault because the form I filled out to open the Ally account asked me what my opening balance would be, I wrote $14,000 so they automatically transferred that money as soon as I linked an external bank account to my Ally account. They never asked me permission and never even told me they were doing this transfer! Meanwhile, I thought I needed to transfer the opening balance over so I set up a one time transfer, resulting in the money being withdrawn twice from my old bank account. Beware, they will transfer your money from other banks without asking your permission!!!!
I am immediately switching back to my old bank.
I’ve been an AB member for almost a year now and overall I really like my experience with them. Granted, I only have a savings and checking account, but nonetheless, I’ve been happy with my online banking. I mostly use my savings account because of the awesome interest rate which compares to no other bank, including mine with Regions. My heart goes out to everyone that has major issues with them; I guess for me, it’s just kind of hard to believe because I’ve only dealt with them a couple times, but every single time, I’ve gotten very nice customer service reps on the phone who were able to resolve my issue. I have, however, used the phone app once and I did have trouble logging in, but 98% of the time I do my online banking through my computer anyways, so I’m doing okay without the app. Other than that, I like banking with Ally Bank. =)
I have had several different accounts with AB for more than a year because their rates are excellent. I use my computer & phone app easily. The customer service folks are very patient with this old lady (who is sometimes easily confused). I have accounts in other banks just to avoid having all my eggs in 1 basket. So far, so good. Just lucky, I guess.
I have tenants and carry a loan on some property I sold. I made the mistake of trying to set up accounts so my tenants and the guy who owes me money can pay me online. What a mistake. My tenants got so pissed off trying to use Ally that they just mail me a paper check. PopMoney seems to have lost the last payment that was made on my loan. Ally will not do transfers from one Ally customer account to another . .. you have go through PopMoney. If PopMoney loses the money there’s no obvious way to resolve disputes, and if you are the person who is supposed to be receiving the money that got lost, you’re stuck. DO NOT USE ALLY IF YOU EXPECT TO GET PAID ONLINE.
I’ve also had the problem of support for my mobile phone getting cut off. That’s trivial compared to problems in receipt of payments.
So far it’s a very easy process switching to Ally. I’ve read some of the horror stories, but I am only do a Savings account to take care of the nice interest rates. I’m keeping my regular Chase account to do my day to day financials. I hope I never have to talk to them on the phone though! Sounds like a nightmare.
I tried to open an online savings account with them. I called in advance to see if the credit freeze I keep active at all times would be an issue, and if so which bureau I would need to temporarily unfreeze. The person on the phone had no idea what I was talking about and said it would be fine.
4 days later they call and say I would have to lift the freeze, so I do ($10) and they run their check again. NOW they say that since my credit report doesn’t have a phone number listed, they would need a copy of my driver’s license in order to open the account.
Of course, they have no branches anywhere since they are online only. But for some reason they also have no online functionality to let me upload a scanned image of it … they only support mail and fax. So welcome to an online only bank with 1970’s only technology.
I told them to cancel the application and opened an account with Barclay’s instead. Opening the Barclays account worked online with no issues and took 5 minutes.
Ally Bank is the worst.
I was able to email the DL and SS card to them with no issues! they just advised that it would be more safe for me to send a fax or mail, but i chose the email and within 2 days of applying my account was open.
My brother-in-law had financed a car through Ally Bank. He moved in with us while he was treated at Sloan Kettering Hospital in NYC. Unfortunately , he lost his fight with cancer. I contacted Ally Bank to let them know that his car was at our house and he had passed away. My wife and I spoke with over 10 people over the next 4 months, and not one expressed any sympathy our loss, and it was obvious they could care less. Our experience with Ally Bank could not have been worse had they tried to torture us. I understand why GM has dropped them as the default financing arm for their car dealerships. The stated reason was poor customer service. We can confirm that.
I would not recommend using Ally Bank.
I’ve had excellent service from Ally Bank for an interest-bearing checking account until very recently. Their rates are good, and I like the ATM fee refunds from other banks. Transferring to other accounts is easy, and the support staff have always resolved my issues quickly. However, sometime in December 2014, they made some security upgrades to their web site, and now, I can no longer log in to my Ally account via the mobile apps on Iphone or Android, and even logging in with a desktop computer is hit or miss depending on what type of network I’m connecting through; VPNs and Wifi tend not to work too well. The tech support person explained that it had something to do with the incoming port number changing each time the site is accessed, but no solution has been found yet, and my account keeps getting locked out.
Thanks to all for saving me the hassles. I got excited when I saw their ads/claims. I applied for a checking acct online….with a promise of 3 day turn around…ok…..heard nothing then got a letter ten days later saying I was denied an account. Seriously?! Denied a checking account? Reason: ‘Unable to verify your identity’. OMG I have a 40 year history of excellent credit. That pretty much told me all I needed to know.
That sounds similiar to an experience I had at Citizens Bank. I had recently moved.. and the bank wasn’t able to confirm my new address from my credit file. If you submit a utility bill, or another form of residency proof you should be fine. Alternatively, you could try opening up an account at Capital One 360. I’ve had a savings account with Capital One 360 (since it was ING) and I’ve never been charged any fees. And, Capital One 360 offers similar savings rates when compared to Ally.
I have been banking with Ally bank for right at two years now… And I am soon to close my accounts and refrain from ANY further dealings with Ally!! And I have many reasons for doing so, mainly because Ally bank does not understand that my money is mine. It is not up to Ally Bank to dictate or tell me how I can or cannot spend my money. On more than one occasion Ally Bank has pains me into corners costing me jobs and other financial gains. Even after extensive phone calls trying to come to a compromise for the situation an ally remained uncompromising, reciting policies and procedures and all this other stuff that kept me from getting my money anytime really reasonable manner… Ally Bank reminds me of our Obama administration but I have no rights and they will dictate to me how they see fit. Ally Bank sucks fat cock…
This is the worst finance organzation I have ever dealt with. I tried to get a simple payoff letter. That took 60 darn days!!! no fax no e mail no service Snail Mail only. Then they sent me a piece of junk that the Secretary of State would not accept!!!! Now I am dealing with them again .. no fax, no e mail. we will MAIL it to you. good bye. Terrible Terrible Terrible .. never again tk.
My boyfriend and I have had a checking and savings account through Ally for a few years, and we just can’t take it anymore. We’ve gone back with Suntrust and are in the process of switching over our funds and direct deposits, which Ally is not making easy for us.
They are SLOW at everything. We used to have Bank of America, and their application for mobile deposits was great and the money was available the next business day. With Ally, we almost always have to wait several days. And now, as a punishment for overdrafting our checking a couple times in the past year (we had overdraft protection from our savings but I guess Ally still takes it personal) Ally is holding any check we deposit randsom for 5 business days. Since I am switching, I had changed my direct deposit info through work, and because the process takes a while, my work sent me a paper check until direct deposit into my new account was ready. We used the app to deposit it into our Ally account (since we didn’t have debit cards yet for our Suntrust account), and it is showing that check included in our balance… however, our “available balance” does not include the check. There’s a note that the check is being held due to “excessive overdrafts.” (two… in a year… that were paid from my own savings account!) Now for a week we don’t have access to MY PAYCHECK! This is one of the most BS practices I’ve ever heard of and it’s infuriating.
Also, the savings account we used to have through Ally was suddently closed without warning because we were transferring money too often throughout the month. We had both our paychecks set up to put 10% into savings, and if we wanted to make a large purchase that month or splurge on something, we would transfer from savings. Apparently there is a limit on the number of transactions you can make from a savings account (all banks may have this?) and because we exceeded that limit, we were fined… and because it happened again months later, Ally closed the account and gave no notice. One day we logged on and the account just said CLOSED. We had to call to find out why. They eventually mailed a check for what was in the account when it was closed (that you have to use the app to deposit so they can hold it randsom!), and both my and my boyfriend’s direct deposits got screwed up and 10% of our paychecks went who knows where… I think mine was added to my next paycheck and he got a paper check in the mail weeks later.
For being an online bank, Ally sure does have a lot of technical issues. I use their Popmoney service to pay rent, and it takes about 5 business days to process the payment… not impressive. Sometimes this service isn’t working, and we have to make other arrangements with the landlord because who knows when Ally will fix it. Then occassionally their online banking site and the mobile application will have an error message when you try to log in saying they are having technical issues with their online banking services and to check back later. But you’re an online bank Ally… if you’re having issues with your online services, you’re JUST HAVING ISSUES. It’s not like there’s a branch your customers can go to to make transfers or check their balances. This saturday their site had that message for most of the day. Rediculous. They want to punish you with fees and inconveniences for your mistakes but just give you an “oops, sorry” for theirs.
Another HUGE problem with this bank is that without branches, you can’t deposit cash if you ever need to, and you can’t deposit certain kind of checks through the app. You have to MAIL these checks to Ally and then wait for them to process… My boyfriend got an insurance payment check for his car that was totaled and we needed to start looking for a new one so he could get to work. Before we even tried the app he called to make sure it would work so we didn’t get stuck waiting for a deposit that was never going to happen. The customer service rep said we’d have to mail the check to Ally for it to be deposited… almost two weeks later we finally had the money in our account. Likewise, if you are ever paid in cash for something, or receive gift money, there’s no way for you to use that money to pay online bills(without going to Amscot), shop online, add it to savings, etc. When we were with BOA and I was making tip money I could pop it into an ATM and it would be available in my account immediately. You’re just screwed with Ally, unless you have someone you can give the money to who will write you a check, and then you want to wait 5 business days to access it.
Ally is just a really crappy bank. It starts out seeming really convenient and nice because of the low fees(other banks still have lower fees), but it’s just not worth it. There are far too many inconvenient things about it and the way they treat you like a child who can’t manage your money responsibly so they have to punish you… it just doesn’t give you any warm, fuzzy feelings for them. I’m so glad we’re switching. I have some student loan money I’m expecting to be deposited from my grad school soon, and I’m looking forward to what a fiasco it will be to transfer that to my new bank.
Do yourself a favor, and even if you don’t think you’ll ever need a physical branch for your banking, go with a bank that has one anyways. It’s so easy for Ally to treat its customers like shit because they never have to see any of them face-to-face. They’re not people, they’re just customer numbers. There is value in having an in-person customer service option. It may seem like this value is lost in the age of technology, but I’ve learned the hard way never to take it for granted.
I don’t think you understand the nature of an online only bank properly.
First, your complain that Ally bank has no branch? Do you know what an online only bank mean?
Second, there are lots of scams and frauds on the net. For an online only bank, you can’t blame it for being extremely cautious. Over drafting your account indicates that you might have money shortage issue. The risk of receiving bogus checks is increased from the bank’s perspective. 5 business day on hold is a reasonable measure to manage the risk. In fact, 5 business days is not long enough to make the bank risk free. Probably it’s 60 days. You may ask why Ally bank has the strictest policies. Because they heve never met you and will never meet you. Will you trust a person you have never met the same way like a person you met him/her at least once?
I believe you can have only 6 transactions per month for saving accounts of all banks. It’s regulation that all banks have to follow. Ally bank does not create that rule.
Looks like you want to have the easy access like conventional banks and great rate and low fees that online only banks offer. It simply doesn’t exist.
The 6 transaction rule is an Ally policy, you fool! I know because I have a MM account at one bank that allows only 3 transactions. I have another MM account with another bank that has NO LIMITS on the number of transactions! Get your facts straight.
From wiki, “Reserve Requirements for Depository Institutions (12 C.F.R. 204, Regulation D) is a Federal Reserve Board regulation that limits the number of preauthorized withdrawals and transfers from a savings account or money market account. The regulation applies to all United States banking institutions offering such accounts.”
“In consumer banking, “Regulation D” often refers to §204.2(d)(2) of the regulation, which places a limit of six withdrawals or outgoing transfers per month from savings or money market accounts via several transaction methods.”
I believe the 3 transaction limit by your bank is described here.
“The regulation was amended in 2009 to allow greater freedom for the depositor: beforehand, the limit was six withdrawals per month if the funds remained within the same institution (e.g., transfer to checking), but was only three drafts where the funds left the institution (e.g., check, ACH, or card based purchase).”
In case you can’t do a good google search, here’s the PDF file link from government website.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/supmanual/cch/int_depos.pdf
As for no limit account, may be you can report non-compliance and see if you get reward.
Thanks for the clarification. I honestly didn’t know . . .it seems that ACH transfers and transfers from one account to another are limited as the number of checks you can write but that ATM withdrawals are not part of this limit? I tried getting clarification on that and the information seems to be inconsistent on that point.
As far needing to do more than 6 withdrawals a month, personally I think this defeats the purpose of having a money market account so that threshold is a moot point for me.
It’s called Regulation D, which places a limit on telephone, and online withdrawals from savings, and MM savings. It’s a federal regulation, not an online regulation. I suggest you get your facts straight.
The whole six transactions of a month thing is a Federal law. It’s not an Ally policy. Also, it’s counterproductive to try to compare Ally to a brick and mortar bank. I suggest you extensively research the financial institution you decide to use before making the switch.
It’s not necessary to write an essay. It’s more productive to be succinct and coherent. I’m sure the customer service people reps loved dealing with you.
It’s not Federal law. It’s a bank policy. I have similar accounts at other institutions and the number of allowed transactions varies by bank.
I’m thinking the differences have to do with the specific type of account. I have a checking account elsewhere that has no limit on activity. But it pays little or no interest, now .o1%. I am pretty sure all this has to do with Federal Regulations.
Ally bank is horrible if you want need to make purchases internationally or try to transfer money overseas. They do not transfer outside of the USA. They do not provide 3D secure debit cards for international purchases. They decline purchases attempted from outside the US, such as trying to book a hotel on Agoda. That cost me hundreds of dollars extra for a hotel room. They block almost every attempt to use Western Union to transfer money with my debit card to my fiance in Thailand in order to pay for the wedding. And their interest rates are well below what they advertise. This bank is useless for anyone who needs to make transactions outside the US. And their customer service has a severe IQ deficiency. Avoid.
Absolute mistake of the century. huge huge mistake i made opening a bank here. all cs reps are without any knowledge. website doesn’t have sufficient information. no one know anything. took 2 months to open a bank account. constantly being told things that are not true. all my bill payments are late. i have no access to transferred money.
well time to move on. there is a reason why traditional banks will always remain the bank of choice
shame on ally bank.
i am preparing to sue
Ally told me it would close my account if I did not provide a physical street address. I value my privacy, and I have a post office box which receives all my mail. This is a common practice in the United States and has been so for a very long time. Anyway, I told Ally to go ahead and close the account. There was no attempt to transfer me to an account recovery specialist, no understanding of privacy; it was goodbye to the customer, full stop. This is a despicable bank. That must be the reason why so much official effort is being made online and elsewhere to portray Ally as “number one,” as if this bank is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It isn’t. To Ally, the customer is an adversary.
It’s called the patriot act. Next time read the banks deposit agreement.
Don, they shouldn’t have set up the account. PO Box is pretty obvious on the application.
I have been one of the happy Ally bank customers for years but I feel compelled to leave negative comment here.
The mobile app (Android version) sucks big after major redesign in October 2014. It’s indeed horribly buggy. It doesn’t allow you to login. Even you found a way to work around to it, you could not deposit any checks. In all, this app looks like that it was designed by inexperienced developers and tested by inexperienced QA guys. It’s totally unacceptable for an online only bank. About half month later they published an update which was supposed to fix these major bugs. But only partial of the issues were fixed. A good portion of people still can not deposit and login issue still persists so far (11/18/2014). I could barely manage to suffer for half month of no mobile bank service and somewhat login inconvenience so far. But I can not imagine how people survive without the ability to deposit any single check for more than 1 and half months. Oh yes, you can deposit with a computer but not everyone has a scanner. And yes, they do allow you to mail checks to them with free prepaid envelopes. But the mail time delays fund availibility more.
For those who have doubts about what I say, check Ally Bank app review here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ally.MobileBanking . Maybe some will see this comment long after, scroll back to see reviews starting from beginning of October 2014.
No mobile bank service for some people for one and half month and still counting. Good job, Ally.
Ally has been giving me problems for a while but I’ve had one last issue this week that has made me decide to go somewhere else.
First of all, the mobile app is horribly buggy and crashes or doesn’t work the majority of the time. I have to force quit out of it and restart pretty much every time I want to even log it to check my balance. Considering that the mobile app is the only way to get money into your account unless you want to physically mail in your checks this makes every deposit a huge hassle.
Even once you get the check deposited it takes upwards of a full week for that money to be available because apparently all operations at Ally, a completely online bank, stop once it’s past 5 pm on the East Coast. I can deposit a check at 2 pm on a Wednesday where I live and it won’t even show up as submitted until Thursday and then it’s not approved until Friday night. But since nothing happens at Ally on the weekends, even though that check shows up as approved, you can’t use it until Monday or later if it happens to be a three day weekend.
All this is normal for them even if you don’t let something bad happen, which brings me to this weeks incident. A week ago a tried to use my card and it was declined. I didn’t think much of it because the card is kinda old and the magnetic stripe is worn, so I just used cash. A week later when I tried to deposit a check I saw my account was over drafted because of transactions at a gas station in Canada. I’ve never been to Canada. When I called customer service they were nice and understanding and refunded my money, but I guess they never felt the need to call or even email me about the fact that they had deactivated my card almost a week earlier.
So even though they were understanding, they put a hold on the check I deposited for “excessive overdrafts” and now it will be an extra five business days before I can use that money. The only overdraft I’ve ever had was because someone besides me spent my money.
In general Ally is sloppy and unprofessional. It’s their policy to deactivate your card for fraudulent charges, not tell you about it until you call them, and then to punish you for overdrafting your account.
Stay far, far away from this bank. They will cause endless headaches for you.
If some one wants expert view about running a blog then i advise him/her to pay
a visit this web site, Keep up the pleasant work.
“WOW” just saw an promo by ALLY, that said GRIN and SHARE, trust ALLY!!!!!!!@#x??..awhhhh…(I think it should be GRIN,and BARE…!!!) Last week paid off my vehicle (Months / Year early!!);PD extra amount each month also) with ALLY / GMAC..OK ……; so I called them today(customer service this am,OCT20,2014)to check status on my title….READY for THIS !!!! I WAS ADVISED THAT;
I HAD PAID WITH “unauthorized funds”(paid through online Chase “THE WHOLE NOTE PERIOD,SAME THING…same way)and that the check was being “HELD” for approved funds for TEN (10) days!!!!!, and that I had OVER PAID by 20 cents!!!!, and they would be cutting me a check in this time. NEXT TIME…need a Better “ALLY”…I will go somewhere else…..My money has been from that same account in the tune of est.$34k for my vehicle, and all of a SUDDEN for est $400 balance(1/2 much as a payment) my funds are NOT ACCEPTABLE?????? “WOW”…. all of a sudden the GOOD GUY customer is the “ENEMY”, Not an “ALLY”…GET IT….”WOW”….
I had a pickup financed with Ally bank. Made all my payments like I was supposed to. when the contract was up instead of sending me the title, they sent a tow truck yesterday to repo my truck. The driver illegally came onto my private property and entered my vehicle without my permission and removed the keys. I know my rights and knew he was wrong, I told him he illegally took my keys and he was trespassing and i asked him to return my keys and leave or I would call the sheriff. He refused and turned violent. Extremely violent. As he tore out my driveway he ran into me with his truck. I ended up in the hospital over this. My 7 year old daughter could have lost her mother because of this bank. They are no better than the thugs on the street. I am a 5 foot tall 106 pound woman that was home alone. I was terrified for my life. This man did not ever attempt to slow down and would have killed me with no remorse. But I am happy to say I am ok and that low life scum didn’t get my truck. Only my keys. So now I get to be scared that he is going to come back and do God knows what. Nobody deserves what this bank has done to me.
I am currently financing my 2013 purchase of a FIAT 500 auto with Ally and have not had any problems.
Have you tried to close the loan or lease yet? Then the problems will begin.
We decided we would buy a vehicle from one of Ally’s customers. (It was financed through Ally.) I will only say that it has been 20 days and we are STILL WAITING for Ally to process the cashier’s check that was sent to them for payoff!! Yes! I said CASHIER’S CHECK! My banker said she has Never seen anything like this! Needless to say, we have called Ally bank so much to check and see if the check has processed that they know my husband by name!! This tops it all though…… Ally’s own customer service agent said today that she WOULD NEVER USE THIS BANK for ANYTHING!! That is sad! When a bank’s own employees say its bad then you know it’s bad service! It goes without saying that the fellow we are buying the car from (James) said he will NEVER use this bank again! If you are reading this…..RUN FROM THESE PEOPLE!! DONT USE ALLY BANK! They do not have their stuff together.
I have only been with Ally for a few months, but I found it to be quite simple to use. I have a savings account only at this time, and make simple account transfers when I have money left over from my monthly budget. To date, I have no problems with Ally !
Customer service is non-existent. I made a typo on a payment rendering it $45 short and rather than inform me they just put a ding in my credit and reported the entire payment 30 days late. When I called to complain I got someone in India that just kept reading me their policy from a computer screen and couldn’t even seem to understand my complaint. Do not do business with these people.
I have been a customer for a couple of years now. I have a savings account and a few CD accounts. I have not had a problem with them, but their customer service is very strange. After 5+ questions to verify my identity they finally ask you what you want. Then they seem to be carrying on multiple conversations at once as they pause alot and ask you the same questions over and over. I have trouble not screaming at them to ask them if the have some kind of problem remembering my answers. I ask for a simple change and it’s like I’m at a car dealership and they have to go verify it with their manager. As we speak I have been put on hold twice so the lady can verify the changes or do whatever. Maybe I don’t have enough money in my account and they are using some kind of crazy algorithm to decide how they carry on a conversation and how many conversations they can run simultaneously. I have told them what I thought a couple of times. Luckily I only call them a few times a year.
Beware of this bank. Please read the reviews here and on many many other webpages. There are hundreds of pissed off customers. This bank is a nightmare. I tried for over a month to open an account with them, but finally gave up after getting lost in a sea of paperwork and incompetence. the customer service people are polite and friendly, but the system is broken and they were endlessly asking me to jump through hoops. many many people report having wasted huge amounts of time trying to enroll, or actually enrolling and finding it frustrating and super difficult to deposit or access their money. Having read the reviews, I am now glad they never opened my account. Bullet dodged.
Thank you for the warning, many people are not prudent enough to read reviews prior to depositing their life-saving into an unknown bank like ALLY. I was thinking about depositing a large amount because of their rating but now, I have second thought. I might just stick to the traditional banks, where I know I can get a hold of my money.
Most pissed off customers are not smart enough to truly know the nature of online only banks. I had large deposit with them and withdrew it for my house donwpayment. The amount is over 150k, no issue at all. To enjoy high rates and low or no fees without headache, you have to make things simple. After all, it’s an online bank. They have never seen you and they will never see you. How do they know the one on the other side of phone, fax, cellphone, computer is not a hacker, scammer, money aunderer, identity theft? You can’t blame them for being over cautious.
I applied for a checking and savings, twice. First I applied with my married name and was told my identity could not be verified. I was told to apply with my maiden name, and I did that. I got a second letter (again) stating my identity could not be verified. I ordered the credit report from the system they use, Chex, to check wth was happening. On the report it clearly listed both names on the front page, at the top, and all anyone had to do was literally read the report. Called back, talked to customer service, was transferred around, and finally told someone not to transfer me and to explain why I was being rejected. Elizabeth, my last cs rep was nice, but totally useless. She couldn’t get the application forwarded to someone who could help and spent all of 3 min talking to the people who could help me before saying I would need to apply again but this time over the phone with my MARRIED name, the one I originally used! I said I wanted them to use the first application I had on file, for which I still had the reference #. She said I’d have to reapply and that essentially that was it. I decided to take my money elsewhere because it’s not caution–it’s incompetence.
Benny – I too had a sizable amount of money in CDs with them. When they matured and I needed the money for another investment, they held me up for about a week and a half with all kinds of crazy excuses before I finally got my money. They lie just to get the free use of your money.
Hello fellow investor! After reading all the bad reviews I am feeling a bit sketchy about doing a CD with Ally Bank. Now, did you receive the promise interest rates on your CD ? I hope they can at least keep their promise on that.
Thanks,
Hope to learn from your experience.
I agree. I have had no problems with them at all. Apparently there are a lot of morons negatively commenting on them who have no idea how to deal with an online bank.
I agree and appreciate the thoroughness from Ally. I have had the best experience so far with them compared to any bank that I have used and that includes Wells, US Bank, B of A. Ally for me has been the easiest to deal with. And it is all online so I don’t have to waste my time going into a branch just to wait for help.
I was lured by the rates and left due to ineptness.
I asked to set up 4 regular IRA CD accounts, can’t do them all in one like competitors, with one account having all 4 CDs in them. Also set up a savings account. Been in IT since the early 80’s and an online investor since the 90’s = no problems.
I then got a huge “welcome package” of every conceivable form Keogh, SEP, Roth, savings, checking, etc. in the mail. Really, I have to wait for this mess, why not provide it online? None of the forms were prefilled with info. already supplied – hmmm, another firm I ultimately went to sent only the needed forms and prefilled.
So, I looked around found a better rate. BUT, by then my $ were already in the Ally savings account. I began moving it out. This $ amt. is more than my yearly gross salary. Well, when I went to remove the last bit out ~$80k, they had the wrong available amount on the transfer page – it did not include a previous transfer – really, other online financial institutes show you what is available including pending transactions.
When they saw their error, they stopped the ACH transaction. Ok, you’re mistake. But, I want my $ out. Contacted them. Your $ will be back in your account by Monday afternoon. They contacted me Monday afternoon. Nice person. But, your funds are not there yet…. They will be there after tonight’s batch program runs – uhh, ok.
Tuesday AM, Ally contacts me 30 minutes late. $ are there, set up the transfer. So far I could have just scheduled this on line had they had an accurate date to begin with.
Tuesday PM, get an e-mail from Ally, well, you first have to fill out this form……
In summary, Ally is clueless on only supplying what is needed, on supplying prefilled forms when information has already supplied – not biggies, just not competitive. The biggies, can’t display how much $ in the account including pending outbound transfers (what is available), and can’t tell you when an ACH is going to happen with any accuracy. 3 phone conversations and none mentioned this form to remove $ – Sad.
My rec., go somewhere else for banking. I actually found slightly higher rates and, actually more important to me, a on line bank that has their processes in place. I still use my other financial org. for stocks, etc. but will never use Ally again.
Don
If you still have the email you received, I would love to get it. All the correspondence I have had with this bank is through their Customer Service Reps. I don’t know what country they have sourced out to, but these people can barely speak English and absolutely are NO HELP whatsoever.
They have outsourced to the Philipines and they really are clueless. I had direct deposit on my car loan so I would never be late, well they lost my info after a few payments. I got a letter 3 monthes later stating I was 90 days late on my car loan . They ruined my credit and told me I owed something like$90 USD in late fees, I told them in great detail that it was their error and I did not owe anything, after the grueling process of trying to get them to understand me, she simply said ” ok so Mr. David we need to collect your late….blah blah blah. I refused to pay it and I never got the title when the loan was paid off, its a mess!
Sounds very familiar. They are clueless and when a supervisor (so I was told) comes on the line with me he interrupted every single sentence I tried to speak. He kept repeating the same BS over and over and over. I gad contacted Ally regarding an insurance payoff. I was told the bill was automated and that the account was satisfied. Low and behold I get another bill the following month..of course, for more money….daily late fees. I immediately paid the balance they showed me was due…and I could see what it was. But, I asked for a waiver on the late fees….hahaha. This is where the supposed supervisor and I got in to a pissing match. I do not feel I owe the late fees and he very rudely told me it is my responsibility to pay the additional amount. If I refuse it hurts my credit…if I pay what I do not owe they win. They know they have us between a rock and a hard place. Bastards
Everything is coming up roses with this bank until it’s time to take your money out. I had several CD’s and when I decided to move the money into another investment, even though the CDs had matured I got the run-around and all kinds of crazy excuses before I finally got my money back, all without interest from the maturity date. The longer they can hold up the return of your funds, the more money they make on your money. They’re pathetic. I’ll never do business with them again.
What is the name of the other bank you use which has better processes and higher rates? I am trying to look into other banks other than Ally.
Electronic transfers to/from Ally are very easy.
But try rolling over your IRA CDs to another financial institution and it is a completely different story.
I have done this several times over the years. No one wants to let the funds go of course, but Ally is the slowest,
least efficient. Not sure what this bank hopes to gain by being obstructionist, as now I intend to remove all IRA
accounts, instead of some.
I have had an Ally account for over two years and I am totally satisfied with their service and web page interface. Transfers between Ally or other banking institutions is straight forward and very easy to understand. I love the higher rates they pay on their I interest earning accounts, and that they pay any and all fees connected to any transaction at other banks. The ability to take a picture of a check for deposit is a Big Plus as well.
I read some of the complaints by other raters on this site and just scratch my head. I don’t see how their issues occurred. But, oh well to each their own. I highly recommend Ally as a No Fee, No BS bank.
This is the worst place to take a lease for a car, they have an inefficient customer support, they don’t want to help you once you are there!!! Get out of this bank!!!
They are so bad, that GM had dropped them as their ‘go to’ bank for leasing. Ally was so bad people were not buying GM cars because of the affiliation between GM and Ally. This is not an opinion, GM said this when they dropped Ally.
i agree this is the worst place! i would make a payment then they would turn around and slap a late fee and state that they did not receive the payment!! when i have documentation stating i made a payment!! they never want to help you with anything, and they never note their system like they say the would!
how true i just paid my truck with a loan from another bank.
Tony, I was just wondering how Ally was to work for?
They are O K if you live in a poverty stricken country ( their customer service is based in the Phillapines) and you need to pick up a few extra PHP Pesos. You don’t need to learn English except “we are really sorry for your inconvienence”
They have excellent 24/7/365 telephone customer service that is no-accent English, and they recently picked up the phone after only a few seconds during a Saturday night call from me. I only use them for savings, so can’t comment on loans from them. And it is spelled “Philippines” David.
← Previous Comments