What Same-Day ACH Debit Means for You
Credit Unions on the Hunt for Small Banks
After the Equifax Debacle, Does Your Bank Have Your Back?
Is Your Credit Union a Part of the Shared Branch Network?
Ally Bank's New Account Center with New System for Transferring Funds
When you log into your Ally Bank account, you will likely notice many changes. Readers mentioned these changes yesterday in this forum thread. The menus are a little different. I did an online chat with an Ally CSR this morning, and the CSR stated that over the weekend they had a system-wide upgrade, and that some functions are still updating. The most important change appears to be the new system for bank-to-bank ACH transfers. In the past, Ally had their own custom system for making bank-to-bank transfers. The new system uses Cashedge. I asked the CSR why Ally made this change. Here's the reply I received:
Turnaround time is now a little quicker; our old system would take 3-5 business days for electronic transfers. The new system now takes 2-3 business days.
I am a little skeptical of this reply. For those who had accounts at HSBC and FNBO Direct, you will likely have bad memories of Cashedge since the service was slow with transfers taking at least 3 days to complete with 2 days in which the funds were not earning interest. It appears Ally's transfers may be a little quicker. Ally's documentation is showing a 2-day delay. If the transfer is initiated by 7:30pm ET, it's showing that the source account will be debited before the start-of-business on the next business day. One business day after that, the destination account will then be credited before the start-of-business day. In terms of holds, the documentation states that "Ally deposits are generally available for withdrawal within 2 business days."
For example, if you initiate a transfer at Ally before 7:30PM ET on Monday:
- Source account should be debited before the start-of-business on Tuesday
- Destination account should be credited before start-of-business on Wednesday
You'll want to avoid initiating transfers on Thursdays and Fridays since the transfer delay will include the weekend days. For example, if you initiate a transfer before 7:30pm ET on Thursday:
- Source account should be debited before the start-of-business on Friday
- Destination account should be credited before start-of-business on Monday
I'm testing this out now. I've initiated both an inbound and outbound transfer within my Ally account.
Update 10/20/2010: Here are the results of the transfers that I initiated at Ally Bank. I initiated an inbound and outbound transfer at Ally on Sunday night.
For the ACH outbound transfer from Ally to my Capital One Checking:
- Debited on Tuesday at Ally
- Credited on Wednesday at Capital One
For the ACH inbound transfer from Chase checking to Ally:
- Debited on Tuesday at Chase
- Credited on Wednesday at Ally
- Amount credited is shown as available on Wednesday at Ally
In addition to the new Cashedge service, the menus to initiate transfers are a little different. As was stated in the forum thread, the look and feel of the website is different. It does seem to take a few more clicks to initiate a transfer.
While I made the transfers, I noticed the documentation which describes the transfer limits. Their service will show you the remaining amount that can be transferred for today and for the month.
The documentation showed that the outbound limits are $150,000 per day and $600,000 per month. The inbound limits are $250,000 per day and $1,000,000 per month. This documentation appears embedded in the Cashedge service, so I don't think I can provide a link to it.
If you notice other changes or if you have opinions on these changes, please leave a comment.
My frequent ACHs from or to Ally have rarely taken more than 2 days, and frequently happened same day or next day. I have always kept track of the delay, and certain destination banks would always ACH immediately, and others take the maximum time.
That Ally would a statement that is factually false compared to my records is quite interesting.
I added 2 new external accounts to Ally on Sunday (10/17) after it upgraded the system and it sent 2 trial ach deposits to each my external accounts. When I logged into my external accounts this morning (Monday), the trial deposits were all posted there. In my past experience with the old system, it would normally take 2 business days before it shows up in my external account.
1. Email alerts of deposits has never worked.
2. RSS feed of rates never appeared in Google Reader or Bloglines.
3. Lack of simple mobile solution, whether mobile website or mobile app to check balances at minimum.
These problems have always existed, are still broken and are simple to fix. But they don't seem to want to throw resources at it.
Has anyone else complained about these issues?
I have routinely gotten overnight ACH transfers with other banks or credit unions.
Keep getting error We could not set cookies or find a session for you. Please contact customer service for further assistance.
Anyone else having this problem ?
Make sure you are not blocking third-party cookies.
The solution is to either use a different browser for those banking transactions, or continue using Firefox but use it with a free and safe add-on called "IE Tab", which allows Firefox to mimic using Internet Explorer while remaining within Firefox. In Firefox, you can toggle back and forth between regular Firefox and IE tab browsing...and also can set particular web sites to always default to viewing via IE Tab...
Formerly, ACH transfers would show up in your account summary with some detail, i.e. "10/14/2010 ACH Transfer to Bank of America Checking XXXXX1234" or something like that.
Now, since they're using a third-party to move the funds, I get the lovely description of "10/18/2010 ALLY BANK $TRANSFER" which doesn't mean crap and doesn't help me figure out where the funds went.
I sent Ally an email and told them I am seriously considering dumping them if they don't fix this.
According to the CSR, IS is working on the issue and do not know when it will be fixed.
In the mean time, I have to contact Ally directly to transfer funds. This is really bad!!
Old system: deposit would be available at Ally the next day; thus that courtesy is gone.
Stay tuned.
The issue appears to be I have to allow "Thrid-party cookies" in oder for "transfer funds" to work after the upgrade.
Check out excellent articles about types of "cookies" on WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html
Inbound --deducted from another bank on 10/20/2010, not show up in Ally yet
Outboud--deducted from Ally bank on 10/20/2010, not show up in another bank yet
Don't really know how slow it is, will see in the next couple days.
Pull (From Bank B --> Ally): Set up on 10/18/10 (Monday) as immediate;fund deducted on 10/19 from Bank B; arrived at Ally on 10/20 (Wed.). Thus there is no courtesy credit on the next day any more.
Push (From Ally --> Bank B): Set up on 10/18/10 (Monday) as scheduled for 10/19/10; deducted on 10/20 from Ally; arrived at Bank B on 10/21 (Thursday). Since there is no immediate deduction any more, might as well do it Monday as immediate and arriving on Wednesday.
Overall, it is a 2-day process and one-day loss of interest both ways. The Ally --> Alliant seems to be faster with no loss of interest as Craig10x indicated at FWF.
My current thought is that the double-dip (i.e., weekend float) for the pull (Bank B --> Ally) may no longer be possible (due to the loss of courtesy next-day credit). If one does a Thursday immediate push, the fund will be taken out from Bank B on Friday; while it will not arrive at Ally until the following Monday (resulting in loss of interest over weekend). Any thoughts?
That's nice to know, but still, why do *I* now have to take the extra step, wasting my own time to write a description of my transfer, when Ally's system used to do it for me automatically? It's STILL a downgrade.
It take 3 days ro push funds our of Ally, sad days are coming.
See test results above by 51hh. It takes 2 days to push or pull funds.
Quade: Thank you for chatting with me today. How can I help?
CraigPD: Can you tell my why your transfer policy has changed?
I've been a customer for a couple years and previously any ACH
to a linked account was accomplished the next day if set up before
6 PM. This new 2-3 lead time is a farce. ACH transfers occur virtually
immediately. Please register my dissatisfaction with whoever changed
this policy and let them know that it is a very customer-unfriendly
move.
Quade: Hello Mr. PD, I'd be happy to note your dissatisfaction and
address that. How's your day going otherwise?
CraigPD: Alright other than this issue. Why, can you tell me,
did they change this? Alot of other less ethical banks have been
pulling this ploy for some time but I considered Ally above such
underhandedness. It's a pure scam to profit from multiple days of
float. Not at all what I've come to expect from them.
Quade: All ACH (electronic) transfers are held for 48 business hours
while they're verified by the National Automated Clearing House
Association. Our old system use to good will post deposits to your
Ally account before they were fully completed. They used to take 3 to
5 business days to complete. While the good will posting was eliminated
the ACH transfer process is now faster because of the change.
CraigPD: That has not been my experience in the past two years.
ACHs may be subject to revision or correction if something was executed
erroreously but they occur immediately on a 24 hour basis if not multiple
times during the day.
Quade: Were these deposits to your Ally account?
CraigPD: Outgoing transfers were received the next day though they may
not have been posted as such by some linked banks. When Ally pulled
funds it was always posted the next day.
Quade: I'm sorry but for outgoing ACH transfers under the old system
the funds left immediately then took 3 to 5 business days to complete
at your external bank account. For incoming ACH transfers we did the
goodwill posting in 1 business day but the pulling of funds might not happen
for 2 business days after the funds were pulled. Not only am I a customer
service associate but I'm also a customer and followed this process closely
on a personal level.
CraigPD: No, that's incorrect. For instance, on 8/20 (Friday) I transferred
funds from Ally savings to a Chase checking account. It posted Monday 8/23,
not in 2-3 business days. And Chase is the poster child of customer abuse.
So even considering the intervening weekend which isn't included in the
"New Lead Time", it arrived in two days, or one day excluding the weekend.
Now making an identical transfer it's going to take from Monday until Thursday.
I don't consider that an improvement. I call it a degradation of a day.
Quade: I understand were your coming from Mr. PD and our turnaround
times are general. The change to the new system will overall improve the
efficiency of the ACH transfer process but may not be true in all scenarios.
CraigPD: Thank you for a hint of honesty. In this instance I am losing
3 days of interest in a transfer that previously would occur "the next
business day". I don't mean to belabor the issue but when you register
my complaint to the appropriate party please note that some people
don't appreciate or accept broad statements of improvements or
benefits to the customer when in fact it is the opposite - a loss of
service that is actually occurring. Better to be straightforward than to
employ such broad gloss-over tactics.
Quade: You're welcome for my honesty. I will definitely
register your complaint to the appropriate party Mr. PD.
CraigPD: I appreciate that. OK, have good day and hope you don't
deal with another customer like me until tomorrow ;)