About Ken Tumin

Ken Tumin founded the Bank Deals Blog in 2005 and has been passionately covering the best deposit deals ever since. He is frequently referenced by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications as a top expert, but he is first and foremost a fellow deal seeker and member of the wonderful community of savers that frequents DepositAccounts.


Popular Posts

Ally Bank Launches Several New Accounts and Services

POSTED ON BY

After some hints of upgrades, Ally Bank has just launched four new accounts and services:

  • Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) that can hold savings account and CDs
  • 4-Year Raise Your Rate CD that allows the rate to be increased two times
  • Cash back debit card program called Ally Perks
  • Person-to-Person Transfer Service via Popmoney

I'll give a brief overview of each of these for now. I'll go into more depth in future posts.

Ally Bank's IRAs

This has taken a while. I first received news that Ally would be offering IRAs in September 2010. Ally Bank is offering Traditional, Roth and SEP IRAs. In the IRA, you have a choice of standard CDs, the Raise Your Rate CDs or the online savings account. The rates are the same as the non-IRA accounts. Ally has a new IRA overview webpage where you can read more about the IRAs and apply.

4-Year Raise Your Rate CD

Ally's 4-year CD has been converted into a new Raise Your Rate CD. It gives you the option to raise the CD rate twice during the 4-year term. This is a little better than the 2-year CD which only allows a one-time bump-up. Now the question for us to decide is if this is a better deal than the 5-year CD.

Ally Perks Program

This program requires that you have Ally's Interest Checking account and its debit card. You then can sign up in Ally Perks. When you make qualifying purchases using the debit card, Ally will reward you with money back (deposited to your account). The "qualifying purchases" appear to be those connected to offers they will list when you log into your account. This cash back money seems to come from retailers who want to increase their sales (like SmartyPig's gift cards) rather than from interchange fees. So it probably won't be impacted by the new regulation that's coming.

Person-to-Person Transfer Service via Popmoney

I haven't found any mention of this new service on Ally's public website. However, if you log in, you'll notice a new option in your "transfer funds" page. The new option is for moving money "Between your Ally accounts and other people". When you click on that option, a page describing Popmoney will be shown. According to this page, it's a free service in which you can "send money to anyone in the U.S. using their email address, mobile phone number or bank account information." For a recipient who doesn't have an Ally account, they "will be notified that you sent money and they will be directed to www.popmoney.com/ally to learn how to receive it. Money sent to a bank account will be automatically deposited." For those with an Ally account, you shouldn't have to worry about going to popmoney.com. You just log into your Ally account.

New Account Disclosure

Ally Bank also released a new account disclosure with a 6/18/2011 date that lists all of these new accounts and services. I did a quick review of it and made sure the mild early withdrawal penalty of 60 days of interest is still listed. If you find any noteworthy changes, please leave a comment.

Future?

It's nice to see these new accounts and services. As I described in this review of CD early withdrawal penalties, Ally Bank's 11-month No-Penalty CD and 5-year CD with a 60-day EWP make them very competitive when compared to other banks' short-term and long-term CDs. Ally Bank's Interest Checking Account has several nice features, and this is being enhanced with their new remote deposit service called Ally Bank eCheck Deposit. The improvements are nice to see. I just hope their rates continue to be competitive.

Update 6/24/2011: My in-depth reviews of the above new services:

Related Pages: Ally Bank

Related Posts

Comments
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #1
Hope all these new changes (usually being glitch-prone for any institution ) doesnt attract the evil hackers

:<
RJM
  |     |   Comment #2
No way to find out about the exact perks without having a checking account. And without knowing the exact perks, no reason to open a checking account.

Probably one of the stupidest things Ive ever seen.

If anything, you would think they would want to SHOW the perks and then use them as an incentive to open a checking account.

But, I guess they dont have common sense.
RJM
  |     |   Comment #3
Speaking of Ally, I recently chatted with them regarding their billpay. I was looking for a bank that used Checkfree because thats what Im used to. They wouldnt tell me if they used checkfree and said it was a competitive secret. So, I didnt open a checking with them for that reason. I do have a money market & savings.
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #4
I have seen references on other sites stating that Ally uses Yodlee, not Checkfree, for their bill pay.

Personally I have used their bill pay for several months and never had any issues.
RobertP
  |     |   Comment #5
@RJM - I'm seeing the following Ally Perks in my account: $5 back on $50 purchase at Target.com, $5 back on $40 purchase at Shoes.com, $5 back on $35 purchase at Petsmart.com, $5 back on $25 purchase at bestbuy.com, $1 back on $2 purchase on iTunes...  And quite a few more.  Sure they would probably do well to promote actual examples of Ally Perks but I wouldn't say it's the "stupidest things Ive ever seen."

I really wish they would go ahead and give us pending transaction information, finish rolling out remote deposit, and release iPhone/Android apps for mobile banking/remote deposit.
Lee
  |     |   Comment #6
The Ally web site states that you must be under 701/2 and have taxable income to apply for their new IRA cd.  
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #8
Ally IRA's 

How about some feedback from users who have experience with Ally IRA opeing process?  For example, were they able to complete online, or was human help needed.  I'd like details from anyone who does a Traditional IRA Rollover from another bank (within the 60 day limit) and not a Trustee to trustee direct transfer.  Thx
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #9
Regarding comment #6, I believe the "under 701/2 and taxable income" requirements apply to making CONTRIBUTIONS to an IRA, not to APPLYING for one.  Rollovers and transfers of existing IRA's are not subject to this IRS regulation.
Anonymous
  |     |   Comment #10
The age 70 1/2 restriction applies to annual contributions to a traditional IRA.  It does not apply to contributions to a Roth IRA or to rollover contributions.  Beginning in the year you turn 70 1/2, you may no longer make annual contributions to a traditional IRA account.  Also, beginning in the year you turn 70 1/2 you must take required minimum annual distributions from your tradtional IRA account (not Roth account).

In order to make an annual contribution to a Roth or Tradtional IRA, you must have taxable "compensation" income.   Compensation income includes salary, wages, commissions, net self-employment, and alimony.  It does not includes pensions, dividends, capital gains, or interest.  If you file a joint return, your spouse's compensation income also counts.   There are no income requirements for a rollover contribution.

 
RJM
  |     |   Comment #11
I played around with a credit union billpay that was not checkfree and i just didnt like the learning curve to get used to it.

And I even set my billpay up at West Bank where I have a rewards account that DOES use checkfree but it wasnt as good as I was used to in that it forced me to open another window for billpay.

ING seems to solve that problem and they are with checkfree. The only difference is it seems like they make it a point to tell you set up your payments 4 days before they are due.

My other account didnt do that and I never had a problem with a late payment and I always scehduled for the due date.
Happy Ally Customer
  |     |   Comment #12
ALLY BANKS is BAR NONE.. the best back on the market. Who else gives you $2 back on a $10 purchase at Wendys or Taco Bell!? Awesomeness

The financial institution, product, and APY (Annual Percentage Yield) data displayed on this website is gathered from various sources and may not reflect all of the offers available in your region. Although we strive to provide the most accurate data possible, we cannot guarantee its accuracy. The content displayed is for general information purposes only; always verify account details and availability with the financial institution before opening an account. Contact [email protected] to report inaccurate info or to request offers be included in this website. We are not affiliated with the financial institutions included in this website.