Stupid Ally bank question

[badatmath]

Okay, I was going to sign up but stopped when I saw it said I was consenting for them to call me by providing my phone number and they would not let me omit it.

How many calls are we talking? For what purpose? I assume some sort of advertising. . . .

Thanks, color me paranoid, but it has really been a bad day (month, year).


(Yes, other banks have my number NONE call me). . .

 

[badatmath]

Follow up question: it says to send a check I need to make it payable to me, presumably also then signed by me, and signed on the back by me. This seems very odd.

I made my last check to a bank I had an account out to them, with an account number to deposit it to. . . .

 

[badatmath]

Yes, embarrassed to even ask this stuff. /sigh.

 

[Sunset]

You can do a direct deposit from another bank to Ally.
You don't need to send a check, if you are going to fund it directly from another account.
When first setting up an account, it does take days, since you could be anybody in the world, telling them to take $$$ from some account you don't own.
They have never phoned me.

 

[badatmath]

Thanks. I have had my other banks 20 and 28 years.

 

[Another Reader]

I had problems with Ally years ago when they first became popular maybe 10 years ago. They never seemed to be able to identify me, even when I had open accounts with them. Every new CD was a struggle. After a while, things smoothed out.

There were phone conversations back then - they called me.

 

[Debinnov a]

I've had an account for years and I don't think they have ever called me. Now, they are getting into more than savings and CD accounts, so that could result in more sales calls. I would think one request for NO more sales calls would work.

 

[SecondCor521]

Follow up question: it says to send a check I need to make it payable to me, presumably also then signed by me, and signed on the back by me. This seems very odd.

This is the normal if very old-fashioned way to make a deposit into a new account if you have an existing checking account elsewhere. I find it dated but not odd.

 

[njhowie]

I had problems with Ally years ago when they first became popular maybe 10 years ago. They never seemed to be able to identify me, even when I had open accounts with them. Every new CD was a struggle. After a while, things smoothed out.

There were phone conversations back then - they called me.

This happens to me all the time - because I have a freeze on my credit reports. It is ridiculous that there are banks which go to the credit agencies for doing this. There is no reason for it. If they want to do identification, they can always ask for drivers license, passport, and they are always asking for social security number. When opening a CD or any other type of savings/deposit type account, there is absolutely no reason to run a credit check.

Once, my own bank, which I have been a customer for over 25 years did this. I was simply adding a savings account within the online account I was already logged in to. They rejected because they could not do a credit check - again, I was logged in to my existing account and doing the online app. Online chat to customer service told me the only way to resolve was to go in to the branch with identification to open the account. 5 minutes later the account was opened and money transferred from that bank to another - which apparently did not need to run the credit check.

 

[aja8888]

I have used Ally since they came to being. Never a call initiated by them. I suppose it's for them contacting you if there is a problem or a hack to your account?

I have done with them, with NOT ONE PROBLEM OR HICCUP:

1. Savings account
2. Checking account
3. Several CD's
4. Two mortgages and payoffs
5. Two wire transfers of 100,000's of thousands
6. Many bank to bank funds transfers.

Go for it.

 

[audreyh1]

Never been called. I set up an online transfer to do the initial funding.

 

[mrfeh]

I've never received a call from them. Been a customer for 5+ years.

 

[Dtail]

You can do a direct deposit from another bank to Ally.
You don't need to send a check, if you are going to fund it directly from another account.
When first setting up an account, it does take days, since you could be anybody in the world, telling them to take $$$ from some account you don't own.
They have never phoned me.

+1 exactly my experiences with Ally.

 

[bobandsherry]

This is just giving them authorization to call you IF there is ever a need. As others have mentioned, been with them for over 10 years, never a call from them.

 

[mickeyd]

Until recently I was an Ally bank online customer. I do not recall them calling me over the last several years. I recently closed my account as their interest rate fell far behind my PMMF (1.90% vs 1.60%) and looked like it was never going to catch up.


I never had any unfavorable issues with that bank.

 

[Walt34]

The banks always want a phone number to my knowledge in case there are any issues, such as an unusually large check, and they want to make sure you wrote it and that it's not a stolen/forged check. I'd have no issues with that.

The only time my CU called me in 30+ years was because I had written a check for a utility bill with different amounts in the two dollar amount fields. So they pay the amount to the payee written in script. I was writing checks for several utilities at once and transposed the amounts on one of them.

No bank has ever called me wanting to sell something.