Weekly Roundup: Checking Out Ally Bank Edition
I’ve recently been investigating the offerings from Ally Bank, which is essentially a “rebranding” of GMAC Bank. From what I’ve heard, they are striving to be customer-friendly, and offer competitive rates on CDs and savings accounts. I’m also fond of their commercials – particularly the one below which features a little boy and his red truck.
I crack up every time I hear the boy say, “It’s a piece of junk. I want the red truck!” That’s the exact expression and tone I use when dealing with irritating banks and credit card companies that like to pull a “bait and switch” on customers.
The Fab Five*
- Pushing the Reset Button on Your Life
- Will People Change?
- The Lazy Way to Investment Success
- How to Organize and Host a Frugal Block Party
- Why Traditional Budgeting is Wrong
*I lost this entire roundup post at about 10:00pm last night, so rather than my usual comments at the end of each link, I’m just going to post them and get to bed. I’ll get back to regular programming, including a “Best of the Rest” collection next Thursday (or maybe include a part two this Sunday to make up for it).
Quick Hits
- Lending Club is hosting a webinar tomorrow titled “Make Your Cash Work Harder With Lending Club.” If you’ve ever been interested in investing at Lending Club you might want to check out the webinar.
- The Writer’s Coin was nice enough to include me in this week’s Carnival of Top Personal Finance Posts. Some stiff competition there!
Again, sorry about the technical SNAFU this week. It seems like every time I try to get one of the roundup posts done at the last minute something goes wrong. You’d think I would have learned my lesson by now! Hope everyone has a great week. Check back tomorrow for a mid-year checkup on my 2009 goals. Should be fun!
Thanks for linking to my post!
I hope you have better luck with Ally bank than I am. They are quick to answer the phone and the 2 times I have called they were as helpful as they could be. The problem is the back side policies are like they are still a car loan place and don’t understand the difference between “deposit” and loan.
My story
I called to open an online savings account. We went through the whole process of opening it. They checked my credit to verify who I am. How do I know they checked my credit you may ask. Because they were unable at this time to open an online savings account without further investigation….because I have filed 2 bankruptcies in the past! The only other option is that there is a bankruptcy tracking database somewhere. Because they were 2 different types and in 2 different states.
Yes I did file 2 bankruptcies, one in 1984 after a hail storm wiped out my farm. The other in 2004 due to my wifes illness. For the record I have never borrowed money from GMAC/Ally Bank. Also I have been able to borrow money since the first and the last bankruptcy. Actually in May I refinanced some vehicles and go the AA rate from my credit union. This brings several questions to mind.
How long does your credit report really go back? This first bankruptcy was 25 years ago!
Why does my credit report matter?
I am trying to deposit money. You can only take out what you put in!
Anyway; I am waiting on them to call me back to “work out the problem.” I have already been waiting 3 days for them to contact me.
After all this I may just stick with my 1.55% I am currently getting at the bank people love to hate…HSBC.
I will never do business with GMAC/Ally Bank again. They need more then a rebranding, they need some core operating procedures dramatically improved to keep repeat customers.
While I keep an eye out for the best rates for my money, I have seen little reason to leave my Credit Union or USAA. A decade latter and I am still pleased with them.
On my last car purchase I walked in, stated my approved rate from USAA, welcomed the dealership to try and beat it and said “No GMAC.” I now own the title to both my cars and plan on pre-paying the cost of my next vehicle to myself and hope to never have a car payment again.
Ally bank is a bunch of criminals!!!
My wife and I tried to open a CD account with them. After several back and forth phone calls and requests to establish our residence and mailing addresses (in addition to our original paperwork and copies of our drivers licenses they wanted utility bills and a copy of our PO Box receipt), we told them to return our money. Their customer service said they would send our original check back. They didn’t. We never had an account with them but they cashed our check. Our bank statement showed the check was paid.
When I called to ask why my check was cashed, no one could explain. They told me that they would send my complaint to an escalation team for immediate resolution and they would call me back with the results 2 days later. No one ever did. When I called them to find out the status of my check, I was told that my account was pending and that in 5 days or so, they would review the matter. After yelling at the CSR, I was put on hold and eventually told by the rep that she made a mistake, my check was already mailed. I would have it in 7-10 working days.
A few days later, Ally called me again. This time, I was told that I would have to prove that the check had been cashed in order to receive a refund. So basically, they never opened an account for me, they cashed my check, lied to me that they had already refunded my money, then called me and told me that I had to prove my check had been cashed to get a refund. This is after they acknowledged receiving the check and accidentally cashing it. They knew the check number and the amount but still no refund. Unbelievable.
In all, they’ve held my money hostage for a month. Someone either lost or stole my check and they won’t give my money back yet. Don’t give this company your business.