Ally Bank's New Account Center with New System for Transferring Funds

i thought processing time was not about how swift their system was but how much float time they wanted to make money off our money

Concerning the limits, in addition to the daily and monthly that you noted above the outbound limit for any rolling seven day period is $300,000.

A CSR said one other change made over the weekend was that you now can download wire-transfer forms from the website; previously, you had to call/email Ally, which then would e-mail the form to you.

That quote from Ally has never been my experience:  "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."

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.

 

 

 

In my experience, the statement is true.

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.

 

Any other changes?

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?

This upgrade also apparently caused debit cards to be unregistered for many customers. I had no access to my accounts and had to contact Ally directly to re-register all cards on my account. Interested to know how widespread that was.

There is no justification for it to ever be anything more than overnight. That is the time frame for the ACH, as long as it is into the ACH by the end of the day, and anything more is intentional delay by the banks or the processing agent. It does not take two or three days to do such processing, more like a minute.

I have routinely gotten overnight ACH transfers with other banks or credit unions.

My pin didn't work this mornning, I had to call for a reset.

According another CSR - new Transfer system NOT compatible with Firefox.

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 ?

Yes, I have the same error message.

Ally also updated their deposit agreement on 10/16/10.  There was mention of eCheck deposit which is their remote deposit of checks via scanner.

Anonymous #10 and #11:

Make sure you are not blocking third-party cookies.

Previously Ally ACH transfers were next day (when scheduled): if you scheduled a Tuesday transfer, the funds would be deducted on Tuesday and deposited to the external bank on Wednesday.  Now they are adding an extra day, so your funds will be deposited on Thursday.  Same story with incoming transfers.  Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday are your only 2-day transfer options. 

Does anyone know if I request a transfer OUT of Ally to an external account, if the funds are debitted immediately from my Ally account?  That really irked me as I wouldn't be able to change it after it was submitted.  I've been asking them to allow it to be pending until the evening time which would allow for a retraction if necessary.

Re the people having problems with using Firefox, a fair number of different banking web site crop up with that same cookies message when using Firefox, and in my experience, no amount of fiddling with your Firefox cookie settings usually will fix the problem.

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...

 

As if the other problems with the change weren't bad enough, here's another one I just discovered.

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.

I noticed when funds are transferred into Ally Bank the transfer amount was not posted on the day I requested the transfer, but rather on the day that Ally Bank received the funds.  The deposit amount used to show up on the day that the request was made and interest was started then.  Now I will not earn interest on the money until the funds actually hit the bank.

And the fund leaving Ally was not deducted rigth away, as it used to be...

I will be using WTdirect as my Hub Account since their external transfer is quicker. Furthermore they are offering nice bonus.
 

i have had other accounts with Cashedge. There was long hold times on transfers. I did a tranfer of money into Ally on Monday morning. It is now Tuesday night and the money has been taken out of my checking account and says in process at Ally. The money has not been transfered to my Ally account as of yet. I guess i will be leaving Ally bank.

 

Pretty sure that WT is three days (like HSBC & FNBO) unless they offer you next day transfers.  We could use a general list of ACH transfer policies: time, limits, potential fees, max. number of linked accounts.

The lack of a bank description for transactions is what made everbanks new "upgrade" useless, now ally ?

I'm not able to do "transfer funds" either in FireFox or IE after the "upgrade!"

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!!

Test of deposit into Ally from another bank: Done on 10/18, deposit available at Ally on 10/20; not deducted from another bank yet.

Old system: deposit would be available at Ally the next day; thus that courtesy is gone.

Stay tuned.

Follow-up on #24,

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

 Several readers mentioned that there was no useful bank description of the transfer.  I just did a transfer and I was offered the option of writing my own description.

Transfer around evening on 10/18/2010. AS of 10/20/2010 1:00PM PST

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.

 

What the hell has happened to Ally over the last two months? I've been with them for a couple of years and they have really gone downhill since August. It first started with breaking the ability to open new CD accounts from Firefox. The changed the system to use cross-site scripting which Firefox does not allow (and for good reason). Then, after refusing to address or fix that their login system started to fail and now I have to answer a security question every single time I login. Ally.com CSRs refuse to acknowledge the issue is on their end and they are completely incapable of understanding a packet capture showing my browser sending the correct cookies and getting redirected to the security questions anyway. The final straw has been the new transfer system. It is implemented by a Web server that has not been updated to prevent a security hole in SSL/TLS transactions. Again, since Firefox is more interested in protecting you online than making things work at the risk of exposing you to theft, Firefox will not initiate a session with the server. This now means I cannot create new CDs, I have to answer security questions on each and every login, and I cannot transfer money. Ally is useless. I'm sad to leave.

Test Results:

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?

TO 27 -

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.

Ally is becoming leaner and meaner.

It take 3 days ro push funds our of Ally, sad days are coming.

Not sure how you can say it takes 3 days to push funds out of Ally.

See test results above by 51hh. It takes 2 days to push or pull funds.

Ally chat started: 10/19/2010 10:11:53 AM Eastern Time

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 ;)

I'm a Firefox user and was able to make the transfer tab work now by enabling cookies for "cashedge.com".