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GMAC Bank Raises Money Market Savings to 5.25%

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With all the buzz lately with the new E-LOAN savings account, GMAC Bank may have decided to create some of its own buzz with a large rate increase on its money market savings account. The rate increased from 5.00% to 5.25% APY. The last money market rate hike at GMAC was on July 28th when it went from 5.05% to 5.10% APY. This didn't last long. The next week it fell back to 5.00% APY and has remained there until today. Hopefully, this 5.25% won't drop any time soon.

Although E-LOAN's savings account has a higher rate, there are some advantages with GMAC Bank's Money Market Savings account. The biggest advantage in my opinion is that it offers limited check writing. You can write up to 3 checks per month from this account (and the first 50 checks are free). The other big advantage is GMAC's bank-to-bank transfer system. You can easily established links to many external accounts online. Transfers done through GMAC are fast.

For those who are just deciding to get into online banking, GMAC Bank would be a good choice. In addition to check writing, they deliver monthly paper statements in the mail. So it will look a lot like the accounts that you currently have with brick-and-mortar banks.

Please, refer to my GMAC Money Market Account review post for more information. In addition to listing the benefits and downsides to the money market account, I describe my experiences with opening this account. A reader had asked if I had any new pros or cons about this account after 6 months. The only negative that I can think of is that their money market and CD rates have fallen behind in the last few months. But as I describe in that post, GMAC does have a history of competitve rates, and as today shows, they haven't dropped out of the high yield game.

There were also changes in GMAC Bank's CD rates. Short term CD rates went up significantly. However, some of the long term CD rates dropped again. GMAC Bank now has a very inverted yield curve with a money market rate that's higher than the 5-year CD rate. Below shows how the yields have changed in the last few weeks:

:
Term 9/15 APY 9/22 APY 9/29 APY 10/06 APY
3 month 4.95% 4.95% 4.95% 5.25%
6 month 5.00% 5.00% 4.95% 5.30%
9 month 5.30% 5.30% 5.20% 5.30%
12 month 5.35% 5.35% 5.25% 5.30%
18 month 5.30% 5.30% 5.20% 5.30%
2 years 5.30% 5.35% 5.20% 5.15%
3 years 5.30% 5.30% 5.20% 5.15%
4 years 5.30% 5.30% 5.20% 5.15%
5 years 5.35% 5.35% 5.20% 5.20%

For more information on opening a GMAC Bank CD, please refer to this post.

Thanks to the reader who mentioned this rate update in the finding deals post.
Comments
NCN
  |     |   Comment #1
Bank Deals,
A quick note of thanks for keeping up with all of these rates. I'm seriously thinking of moving most of my money from ING, if they don't get with the program soon.

Your site totally rocks,
NCN

This comment is part of my "100 Comments Series" over at No Credit Needed
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #2
I was the reader who asked if you had any new pros/cons GMAC. Thanks for such a great, and fast, response! I am new to online savings/money markets, been researching online for a couple weeks -- the returns are so significantly higher than my brick-and-mortar banks that I think it worth taking the plunge to diversify some funds to the virtual world. Your blog is a great help. I will be referring several friends to it!

I initiated a GMAC account set-up today. It was easy, my only real surprise being that the initial deposit has been dated to take place further in the future than I'd expected, only by a few days.

At present it lists the applicable APR as 5.02 (APY 5.15), but it shows my balance as $0 so I assume that once the initial deposit actually gets there the tiered higher rate will come into effect.

Even 5.02 is looking good to me!

Thanks again!
shraz
  |     |   Comment #3
one small comment when you put all the rates for GMAC or others can you make the font size bigger? It is quite small (probably cuz it is courier font)
Luu
  |     |   Comment #4
Just a note here: the account details summary still showing 4.88%.

Hopefully they will update that soon.
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #5
The transfer was dated
further in the future than
you expected because
Monday is a bank holiday
(Columbus Day).
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #6
Ah, of course, how could I forget Columbus Day? Thanks for the prompt.
Banking Guy
  |     |   Comment #7
shraz, Unfortunately, the font was fixed based on the standard template. But I'll see if this can be changed. It may take me awhile though.
tom
  |     |   Comment #8
Is there still a hard-inquiry?
Banking Guy
  |     |   Comment #9
Looks like GMAC may have changed the hard inquiry into a soft inquiry (according to this FW thread) I'll have to do some more investigating.
Tommy
  |     |   Comment #10
GMAC locked my account for "unknown" reasons. There are a few very bad things about the lock:

1. GMAC does not tell me of the lock. I found it out by myself when I try to setup a transfer.

2. I called several GMAC CSRs and supervisor. No one could tell why my acct was restricted.

3. They all refused to transfer or give me a phone number of their "Operation" dept which restricted my acct.

I am VERY frustrated.
Banking Guy
  |     |   Comment #11
Sorry to read about this lock problem. That is very disturbing. Please keep us updated on how you get this resolved.
Kevin
  |     |   Comment #12
I'm new to online savings/money markets too and appreciate all the posts on this board.

I sent an email to GMAC about the credit pull for opening a money market account and got this response(quite quickly I might add)...

"Thank you for contacting GMAC Bank. The credit check
would be a soft hit on your credit report."

I was thinking about going to Amtrust Direct, but I take it GMAC might be a better place to start. Is it better going with a MMA or a savings account?
Banking Guy
  |     |   Comment #13
Kevin, thanks for the info. I answered your question in the other post.
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #14
GMAC locked my account for "unknown" reasons as well. My account got locked out last Friday, they ask me to fax in some address verification info, but still have not unlocked my account. I can not login to my account at all, as soon as I can get access I am transfering all my money out of it and closing the dam thing.

VERY frustrated as well.
tommy
  |     |   Comment #15
Yes, as "anonymous" said above, I was asked for the same thing (utility bills). I fax'ed TWICE in 2 different days. They just do nothing!

I called and one CSR noted that many people's accts are locked, not only me.

I would accept they locked acct for security reasons. But I would NOT accept their NO communication at all and refusing communications!

Also they just lied about calling me once they got the the fax. They NEVER call me at all after I faxed TWICE!
Angelo
  |     |   Comment #16
Tommy, I got the same answer. I have talked to 3 CSR's and they said the same thing about not knowing the cause of the Blocks. I talked with one today and they said "IT SHOULD NOT TAKE MORE THAN A WEEK", heck I have already been waiting 5 days. I agree if it was something with security that would be different. They told me the same thing about calling me back as well and never have, I have had to call them each time for a "Non-Progress" report!
Banking Guy
  |     |   Comment #17
Looks like this account locking issue may be an issue for all online banks.

It's clear that these banks need to improve their process for handling this issue. I wonder if the bad CSR issue is due to them being overloaded or is it just bad procedures. Seems like CSRs are doing a very bad job at communications.

Please keep us updated on your progress of getting back access.
Angelo
  |     |   Comment #18
GMAC Finally called me last night and my account is now working. They said the problem was related to a software update which locked out a lot of users.
Tommy
  |     |   Comment #19
I found a way to get to a really high level person (which the CSR refused) and had my problem solved.

It is good to have a working bank account:)
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #20
Hi, Banking Guy. I suspect that you may already know this from either your own research or from other informants, but as of December 15, GMAC Bank has lowered the rate on their Money Market savings accounts to 5.20% APY. Still a decent rate, I suppose, but this latest rate drop also comes only two weeks after they decreased the APY rate on these same accounts from 5.30% to 5.25%, so it's certainly disappointing.
Banking Guy
  |     |   Comment #21
Thanks for the update on the lower rate. I noted it in the Dec 16th weekly summary. It is disappointing. Hope they can at least maintain the 5.20%.
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #22
I am young and broke and havecrappy credit, I am trying become more responsible with my money, aggresively paying off debt and looking to open a MMA with a good yield, that also allows for acess when I need the money- to bad GMAC won't allow me to open an account because my credit score is to low. WTF.
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #23
Another thing to keep in mind about GMAC is their mail in deposit system is awful. Deposits are mailed to a PO Box in Philadelphia, I live in suburban Philly, and it still takes several days for them to receive deposits.

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