Ally $500 Bonus Offer

[euro]

Sure. I'll try to make it as short as I can. Opened a 2nd account at Ally and was promised a loyalty bonus. When I could see the account online, the loyalty bonus wasn't applied. Called many times and was then told I wasn't eligible for the loyalty bonus with no specific reason disclosed. After numerous phone calls escalated to supervisors, they told me they would go back through the recorded lines to verify that's what I was told and they would call me back. Of course, they never called me back. So after more calls to them, they admitted that I was told I would get the loyalty bonus and they would apply it. After another 2 weeks, it wasn't applied, so I told them to just close all my accounts immediately and ACH or wire the proceeds to my credit union. They said they would close the accounts and wire the proceeds to my credit union, but it never happened. Finally, I got the Office of Comptroller of Currency involved and it was escalated to executive management where they then went ahead and closed the account as I requested, but failed to credit all the interest due, even though I had discussed the amount of interest due with executive management and we had agreed on the amount. I was just glad to be done with them at that point and will never go back. You can never talk to the same person twice, and they never call you back as they promise. I'm not sure if they are totally incompetent or unethical or both. Too much wasted time experiencing a clearly broken internal system talking with people who clearly have no authority to solve rather mundane issues. Life is too short to deal with Ally ever again.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, that is pretty bad - I don't blame you for being done with them. Interestingly, I have never had any issue with them at all for at least 10-15 years. But I only have a few savings account transactions and the odd CD each year.

Jinx: let's see how my $500 bonus works out. I'll know in January.

 

[PatrickA5]

Just got an email from Ally saying the MM/savings rate was increasing to 2.35%. I was kind of afraid they would delay these increases due to the bonus they're paying out. Glad to see that's not the case.

 

[audreyh1]

Yep, I figured the interest rate would keep increasing during this period. It’s quite a narrow window for qualifying for their bonus offer, so they have to keep their rates competitive regardless.

 

[aja8888]

Just got an email from Ally saying the MM/savings rate was increasing to 2.35%. I was kind of afraid they would delay these increases due to the bonus they're paying out. Glad to see that's not the case.

Personally, I think they are in panic mode as I'll bet tons of cash left the place once rates started going up.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Personally, I think they are in panic mode as I'll bet tons of cash left the place once rates started going up.

I know a ton of my cash left them.

 

[aja8888]

I know a ton of my cash left them.

I moved a big load to Schwab in September and then moved $50K back for a few months.

 

[Amethyst]

VRMXX is at 2.89%.

Just got an email from Ally saying the MM/savings rate was increasing to 2.35%. I was kind of afraid they would delay these increases due to the bonus they're paying out. Glad to see that's not the case.

 

[rayvt]

Just got an email from Ally saying the MM/savings rate was increasing to 2.35%. I was kind of afraid they would delay these increases due to the bonus they're paying out. Glad to see that's not the case.

Well, they are dragging their feet on increasing the rate. The other places I have accounts at have bnen boosting their rates more frequently.

CIT Online is now at 3.00%. UFB Direct is 2.61%

 

[boont]

Almost free money

As I understand it, banks need to keep a certain ratio of cash to other obligations to get the best rates from the Fed. So sometimes they will offer deals to increase their ratio.

So both my wife and myself deposited $50,000 new cash each in new Citi Bank accounts. Each got $750 dollars after it sat their for three months. That at the time, six months or so ago, was great return on an annual basis.

 

[Sunset]

I could put $25K towards this. Or put $25K towards I-Bond gifting for 2024 delivery. Have not done the math. Decisions, decisions...

I would do the gifts, right now to catch the 9.6% and then the ~6.4% (avg of 8%) . I consider gifts for 2023 & 2024 to be a great choice when including the 9.6% & 6.4% rates.

Remember the Ally deal while great is really just 1% bonus on top of normal 2.35% rate (on $25K the bonus is $250) Compare that to 8% on $25K is $2,000

 

[audreyh1]

1% bonus is over 2.5 to 3 months on top of the regular savings rate. 8% is over a year. You can’t compare without annualizing.

 

[Sunset]

1% bonus is over 2.5 to 3 months on top of the regular savings rate. 8% is over a year. You can’t compare without annualizing.

The opportunity to get the I-bond at 9.6% rate will be gone in ~10 days, if it wasn't gone so soon I'd say do both.
The problem with annualizing the 1% bonus is while it's a great rate it's pretty short.

Ally: $25K x .0235 + bonus $250 over a year is: $587.50 + 250 = $837.50
I-bond: $25K x .096 (x 1/2 yr) + $25K x .064 (x 1/2 yr) = $1,200 + $800 = $2,000

Note, I didn't factor compounding but both do it and it would slightly magnify the advantage the I-bond has.

 

[PatrickA5]

VRMXX is at 2.89%.

Most of my cash is in FZDXX which is 3.01% My 50K at Ally will be moving back out as soon as the offer is complete.

 

[PatrickA5]

As I understand it, banks need to keep a certain ratio of cash to other obligations to get the best rates from the Fed. So sometimes they will offer deals to increase their ratio.

So both my wife and myself deposited $50,000 new cash each in new Citi Bank accounts. Each got $750 dollars after it sat their for three months. That at the time, six months or so ago, was great return on an annual basis.

I did the Citi bank bonus run last year. I guess it was worth it, but I hate dealing with Citi. Took forever for the bonus to show up.

Chase, on the other hand, has been great. I just did the $300 bonus for opening a checking account and the money was in my account 2 days after the required direct deposit showed up.

This is my first Ally bonus. We'll see how they do.

 

[Dash man]

Ally just extended the deadline to move the cash for the bonus program to November 4.

 

[Drake3287]

Ally just extended the deadline to move the cash for the bonus program to November 4.

You can almost thank me for that! I opened an account on Oct. 15th and transferred $50k into it. Come Wednesday the 19th, neither Ally or my other bank had any record of a pending transfer.

Spent hours trying to get ahold of Ally to find out what happened. Wait time on the phone or chat line was literally hours. They finally replied back that they had no record of my original deposit/transfer and asked that I do it over again.

Ended up sending Ally customer service a nice message telling them what I thought of their customer service. Next day I got that same email about extending the bonus date. Apparently I'm not the only one who's account they screwed up.

Be interesting to see if they reimburse me for the 2 days of lost interest! Won't hold my breath.

 

[aja8888]

It's amazing the response they got to this spacial offer. i assume when it's over, tons of money will be exiting just as fast. I know my $50 K will be leaving.

 

[Drake3287]

The interesting thing is, they've had these bonus offers before which resulted in thousands of new accounts. They should have staffed up as needed. There's a few businesses that need to have quick, adequate customer service, financial institutions are just one of them.

 

[audreyh1]

You can almost thank me for that! I opened an account on Oct. 15th and transferred $50k into it. Come Wednesday the 19th, neither Ally or my other bank had any record of a pending transfer.

Spent hours trying to get ahold of Ally to find out what happened. Wait time on the phone or chat line was literally hours. They finally replied back that they had no record of my original deposit/transfer and asked that I do it over again.

Ended up sending Ally customer service a nice message telling them what I thought of their customer service. Next day I got that same email about extending the bonus date. Apparently I'm not the only one who's account they screwed up.

Be interesting to see if they reimburse me for the 2 days of lost interest! Won't hold my breath.

Did you initiate the transfer from Ally?

I’m initiating from my brokerage, and I’ve done transfers to Ally before from my brokerage with no problems at all. I’m hoping this is no different.

 

[MJ]

IMO, this Ally bonus is a bit of a scam. As some have said, I use Ally as my hub to pay all my bills and also have my pensions deposited there. Unless you have a balance that you don't need plus the 50K, they are locking up a lot more the $50K, in my case $80K. On top of this, their written explanation of the promo is so confusing (probably intentional) that, a supervisor I spoke to wasn't certain about the money restrictions.

 

[audreyh1]

It is a bit tricky. I had more funds there than I realized from closing out no penalty CDs as rates started shooting up. But I don’t need these funds until Jan - at least they don’t tie up your funds for very long. The last promo was just like this, and I got the expected bonus.

I don’t use Ally for checking which is a blessing when they pull one of these promos.

 

[Golden sunsets]

IMO, this Ally bonus is a bit of a scam. As some have said, I use Ally as my hub to pay all my bills and also have my pensions deposited there. Unless you have a balance that you don't need plus the 50K, they are locking up a lot more the $50K, in my case $80K. On top of this, their written explanation of the promo is so confusing (probably intentional) that, a supervisor I spoke to wasn't certain about the money restrictions.

I agree that the definition of the promo is very confusing. I called to ask a simple question. If the "registered bonus"account with the 50k that came in from an outside source has no activity during the required holding period do funds that come into and out of any other Ally accounts affect the bonus and I was told no. In my case we have a savings account at Ally that has an associated monthly debit from an outside lendor to make a car payment. So I don't see that I'm locking up any other funds.

Sent from my SM-T510 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[audreyh1]

You are locking up the funds you already had at Ally on 10/12/22.

Otherwise as long as funds for bills arrive before the bills are paid, it won’t affect the bonus.

 

[Drake3287]

Did you initiate the transfer from Ally?

Yes! It simply got "lost" in the process somehow. And you know what, if I had an Ally loan payment that was 'lost" or delayed by 2 or 3 days you can bet I'd be charged a late fee. Sort of a one way street with responsibility.

As for the bonus program itself, I don't find it confusing as long as you read the fine print like you should anyway. Basically open a new account with new money and you're fine. No different than most bank bonus programs. I currently already have a separate CD.

 

[Amethyst]

Hunh...I just checked Fidelity, and FZDXX says the 7-day yield is 2.91%. That's slightly higher than VG, but not sure where you see 3.01%?

Most of my cash is in FZDXX which is 3.01% My 50K at Ally will be moving back out as soon as the offer is complete.