Ally raises savings APY to 1.15%

[Rosie]

It's not a glitch. They wait 10 days on purpose to make sure you get the highest rate in case there is a rate increase.

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[audreyh1]

Wow - nice to see Synchrony at 1.45%. I use that as cash for my brokerage account.

 

[tulak]

Wow - nice to see Synchrony at 1.45%. I use that as cash for my brokerage account.

This is nice. I was thinking about moving cash from Synchrony to American Express to get an extra 0.5%. Glad I procrastinated.

 

[audreyh1]

This is nice. I was thinking about moving cash from Synchrony to American Express to get an extra 0.5%. Glad I procrastinated.

I have both. I use American Express Bank to hold cash for annual spending and set aside funds for estimated/projected taxes.

 

[Rosie]

Hmmmm - well I guess that’s what we’ll see for the 11 month - a switch to 1.75% on day 11.

I opened my last 11-mo CD on Dec 31 -- this is the one that was initally listed as 1.60%.

It's now day 11. I just logged into my account, and hooray, it now shows 1.75%.

Thanks to all of you who posted above about the 10 day period, you kept me from calling Ally and waiting on hold.

 

[simple girl]

I set up for $5K to be sent to Ally and just now returned from vacation (with limited cell/data service) to find out that TWO $5K deductions were made from my checking account on 1/4/18. They did leave me a voicemail YESTERDAY but didn't specify the issue, so I didn't realize there was anything significantly wrong.

I just called to figure out what happened and was told it was their mistake and they will send the $5000 back to my account, but it won't happen until Monday. I find this really ridiculous - and scary that they accessed my accounts improperly and can't fix it immediately.

I am NOT happy. They did not offer me anything except an apology, but upon further complaints offered to have someone higher up call me back. They surely could make this $ be wired to me immediately. Surely, no?

I wanted to warn you all to watch your statements closely!

 

[jazz4cash]

I set up for $5K to be sent to Ally and just now returned from vacation (with limited cell/data service) to find out that TWO $5K deductions were made from my checking account on 1/4/18. They did leave me a voicemail YESTERDAY but didn't specify the issue, so I didn't realize there was anything significantly wrong.



I just called to figure out what happened and was told it was their mistake and they will send the $5000 back to my account, but it won't happen until Monday. I find this really ridiculous - and scary that they accessed my accounts improperly and can't fix it immediately.



I am NOT happy. They did not offer me anything except an apology, but upon further complaints offered to have someone higher up call me back. They surely could make this $ be wired to me immediately. Surely, no?



I wanted to warn you all to watch your statements closely!

I'm a bit confused. Was the payment initiated at Ally or your bank? I agree it's kinda scary either way.

 

[audreyh1]

I opened my last 11-mo CD on Dec 31 -- this is the one that was initally listed as 1.60%.

It's now day 11. I just logged into my account, and hooray, it now shows 1.75%.

Thanks to all of you who posted above about the 10 day period, you kept me from calling Ally and waiting on hold.

Yeah! I need to go check mine today.

OK - yes, mine now show 1.75% That's a relief. I guess good to know for future reference.

If Ally keeps doing these good deals on short-term no penalty CDs I'll open a checking account there so that I can move things in larger chunks and not be limited in terms of debits per statement period.

 

[simple girl]

I'm a bit confused. Was the payment initiated at Ally or your bank? I agree it's kinda scary either way.

I gave Ally all of the information required for them to initiate the transfer from my bank. So it was initiated and controlled by Ally.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Yeah! I need to go check mine today.

OK - yes, mine now show 1.75% That's a relief. I guess good to know for future reference.

If Ally keeps doing these good deals on short-term no penalty CDs I'll open a checking account there so that I can move things in larger chunks and not be limited in terms of debits per statement period.

That's what I did Audrey. I am keeping .01 in it until I need to use it as a transfer vehicle. If you have frozen your credit, you will have to do a global lift with Transunion. I was able to do this on line-painless- and no cost. The only thing that I find irritating about Ally is the time it takes to transfer from my local bank to Ally. Other on line banks that I have used generally transfer faster. I dislike the fact that large chunks of money don't show up in either account for up to three days.


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[43210]

^ Ally transfers are overnight for most banks.

 

[Golden sunsets]

^ Ally transfers are overnight for most banks.

Certainly not mine and my bank is Bank of America. In fact when I have set up the transfers (on the Ally website), I am informed the day that the money will be removed from BOA, say the next day, a Thursday, and the day it will appear in the Ally account, eg the following Monday. This is one of the reasons that my CD's, savings and checking took so long to fund.


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[audreyh1]

That's what I did Audrey. I am keeping .01 in it until I need to use it as a transfer vehicle. If you have frozen your credit, you will have to do a global lift with Transunion. I was able to do this on line-painless- and no cost. The only thing that I find irritating about Ally is the time it takes to transfer from my local bank to Ally. Other on line banks that I have used generally transfer faster. I dislike the fact that large chunks of money don't show up in either account for up to three days.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

I usually initiate the transfer from my brokerage and it’s pretty fast although sometimes Ally seems to be a day slower than American Express Bank which is always very fast.

But in the case of buying CDs I would be transferring from Ally savings to the checking and they treat that as instantaneous.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I usually initiate the transfer from my brokerage and it’s pretty fast although sometimes Ally seems to be a day slower than American Express Bank which is always very fast.

But in the case of buying CDs I would be transferring from Ally savings to the checking and they treat that as instantaneous.

Well this is a bit of a mystery I'm trying to solve. I said above that it can take 3 days. Actually after thinking about this I went onto the Ally page and attempted a transfer again from my checking. It actually told me that it would take 6 days. A transfer made today, the 11th would hit my account at Ally on the 17th, next Wednesday. As I said this is the only thing that I find annoying about Ally. So I've just set up the ability to transfer FROM my bricks and mortar bank rather than from Ally. My bank requires a trial deposit prior to officially setting up transfer ability. Once I've done that, I will find out how long the transfer takes if done from my end. A helpful discussion. I always learn something from this forum!

 

[adrift]

I went onto the Ally page and attempted a transfer again from my checking. It actually told me that it would take 6 days.

I typically find ALLY transfers quite fast. However, today I asked to grab money from a CD that matured today at a credit union. I got the same 6 day delay. This is in part because of the 3 day banking weekend coming up. Instead, I scheduled it to grab on the 16th and it'll arrive on the 18th.

In response to your post, I tested how long a transfer would take from my normal online bank. It would be available tomorrow. I suspect ALLY is not the slow link here.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I typically find ALLY transfers quite fast. However, today I asked to grab money from a CD that matured today at a credit union. I got the same 6 day delay. This is in part because of the 3 day banking weekend coming up. Instead, I scheduled it to grab on the 16th and it'll arrive on the 18th.

In response to your post, I tested how long a transfer would take from my normal online bank. It would be available tomorrow. I suspect ALLY is not the slow link here.

Thanks for that info. We'll see if it is Ally or not. Once my trial deposits establish the link from my bricks and mortar bank, I'll try a deposit and see how long it takes. Even though we are coming up on a 3 day weekend, I would think that the funds should be available by next Tuesday, rather than Wednesday.

 

[43210]

^ Ally transfers are overnight for most banks.

Certainly not mine and my bank is Bank of America. In fact when I have set up the transfers (on the Ally website), I am informed the day that the money will be removed from BOA, say the next day, a Thursday, and the day it will appear in the Ally account, eg the following Monday. This is one of the reasons that my CD's, savings and checking took so long to fund.


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For me transfers between Ally and BoA are overnight (in both directions). I initiate from Ally and its always free.

 

[jazz4cash]

Ally has a 30 month IRA CD at 2.15 available through 3.31.18.
I just transferred funds from Ally to buy the NFCU 32 mo IRA CD@ 2.75 apy

 

[MBSC]

According to the following, Ally Bank recurring transfers take 3 business days and one-time transfers from "qualifying non-Ally Bank accounts" can generally be completed in one business day.

https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/2016/10/ally-banks-deposit-agreement-changes-day-transfers.html

The actual Ally Bank Deposit Agreement mentions that new accounts may not immediately qualify for one day transfers (page 10): https://www.ally.com/docs/bank/deposit-agreement

This blog post provides more specific details on "qualifying".

"To qualify for the 1 day transfer At Ally Bank, you have to do at least one $250 transfer in and out of the external account and then it goes into effect 2 months after that is done…so ALL your transfer accounts can qualify for 1 day transfers if you follow that rule..."

 

[audreyh1]

Well this is a bit of a mystery I'm trying to solve. I said above that it can take 3 days. Actually after thinking about this I went onto the Ally page and attempted a transfer again from my checking. It actually told me that it would take 6 days. A transfer made today, the 11th would hit my account at Ally on the 17th, next Wednesday. As I said this is the only thing that I find annoying about Ally. So I've just set up the ability to transfer FROM my bricks and mortar bank rather than from Ally. My bank requires a trial deposit prior to officially setting up transfer ability. Once I've done that, I will find out how long the transfer takes if done from my end. A helpful discussion. I always learn something from this forum!

My brokerage can do the transfer the same day I initiate it as long as it’s before 4pm Eastern, and I usually get an acknowledgement email early the next morning from American Express Bank that the funds have been deposited. So I usually expect a one day turn or maybe two. It helps if the source of the funds is the one that initiates the transaction for ACH transfers.

 

[Sunset]

...

But in the case of buying CDs I would be transferring from Ally savings to the checking and they treat that as instantaneous.

I bought my Ally CD's directly from my Ally savings account. I don't have an Ally checking account.

 

[audreyh1]

I bought my Ally CD's directly from my Ally savings account. I don't have an Ally checking account.

Yes, I did that too, but then I was limited to buying 6 CDs in a month and couldn’t complete my purchases. I had upgraded several no penalty CDs trading through the savings account and ran into the 6 withdrawals per statement cycle limit. That’s why having a checking account would be useful because it doesn’t have that withdrawal limit. Each CD purchase is considered a withdrawal.

Penalties can be severe for exceeding this 6 withdrawal limit on savings accounts imposed by Regulation D. Fortunately Ally notified me as soon as I reached the limit, but then I had to figure out how to fund the remaining purchases from a different source. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_D_(FRB)

 

[rayvt]

I dislike the fact that large chunks of money don't show up in either account for up to three days.

These days all my transfers are completed overnight. They always warn "May take three days", but the money is always there the next day. 5 digits transfers.

No more free-riding on the float.

 

[Golden sunsets]

"To qualify for the 1 day transfer At Ally Bank, you have to do at least one $250 transfer in and out of the external account and then it goes into effect 2 months after that is done…so ALL your transfer accounts can qualify for 1 day transfers if you follow that rule..."

Thanks MBSC. I received the welcome package that undoubtedly contained this info and have yet to read the fine print. Just to make sure I am interpreting this last bit correctly, I've already transferred more than $250 into an Ally savings account from my BOA checking account. If I now transfer at least $250 back to the same BOA checking account, I will have met the rule and in 60 days I will no longer experience the extended delay?


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[MBSC]

Thanks MBSC. I received the welcome package that undoubtedly contained this info and have yet to read the fine print. Just to make sure I am interpreting this last bit correctly, I've already transferred more than $250 into an Ally savings account from my BOA checking account. If I now transfer at least $250 back to the same BOA checking account, I will have met the rule and in 60 days I will no longer experience the extended delay?

You are correct if you use Ally to push $250 back to the same BOA account.

FYI...

Ally Bank Savings Account up to 1.35%
Ally Bank 12 month CD - 1.85%
Ally Bank 18 month CD - 1.95%