Ally Bank Review: Checking, Savings, and CDs – Should I bank with Ally

Ally Bank is a fully online bank that can be used by all those who want high returns and complete control of their money. 

Table of Contents:

Is Ally a legit bank?

Is Ally Bank owned by Capital One?

Who is Ally Bank owned by?

What are the pros and cons of Ally Bank?

Is Ally insured by FDIC?

Is Ally bank safe?

How do you deposit cash with Ally Bank?

Summary

Is Ally a legit bank?

Ally Bank is an online-only bank that can be used by all of those looking for incredibly competitive rates, great customer support, and minimal fees. Ally Bank is part of Ally Financial Inc. and it has a long history as a financial service. In 2010 it rebranded and became Ally Financial. One more reason to consider Ally both legit and trustworthy is that the bank itself is FDIC-insured. This means that funds up to $250,000 held in an Ally deposit account are insured for cases where Ally goes out of business. With the current information and data, there would be no reason to consider Ally an illegitimate or unsafe bank service. 

• Ally Bank is owned by Ally Financial 
• Ally was first founded in 1919 under the name General Motors Acceptance Corporation
• It is one of the largest car financing companies
• Ally accounts are FDIC-insured 
• Ally Bank has its headquarters in Sandy, Utah

Is Ally Bank owned by Capital One?

Ally Bank and Capital One are two completely different banks that offer a very similar suite of products. Both of these banks are particularly well known for being mainly online banks and as such the two can be considered direct competitors of one another. This competition is further enhanced by the fact that their accounts, including savings, CDs, checking accounts, and IRAs are similar and offered by both companies. 

The two companies also do not belong to the same owner as Capital One is a bank owned by the parent company Signet Financial Corp. while Ally Bank is owned by Ally Financial Inc. 

Who is Ally Bank owned by?

Ally Bank is owned by Ally Financial Inc. The company – Ally Financial Inc.- has its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, and it began as an automobile financing option in 1919. The company was originally known as General Motors Acceptance Corporation. In the years since its founding, the bank that is currently known as Ally became one of the largest car financing companies in the USA. Ally Financial is a public company. 

What are the pros and cons of Ally Bank?

With Ally Bank being a fully online bank, many may wonder what the benefits of switching to that kind of a banking service are. For starters, one must realize that Ally Bank offers many different types of products and services. These include: 

• Checking accounts
• Savings accounts
• Money Market Accounts
• CDs
• High-Yielding CDs
• Auto Loans
• Mortgages
• Refinance mortgages
• IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) 
• Self-directed trading
• Management of investment portfolios

When using Ally Bank, you literally can have all of your accounts and financial services available in the palm of your hand. This can be a very appealing prospect for many and it can be especially good if you are looking to properly keep track of your finances because of a big purchase that is either coming up or has already been closed on. For example, if you were using the mortgage services that Ally Bank has to offer you would be able to instantly make payments, check your account balance, and take care of everything relating to your mortgage from one place. The convenience of being able to do all that is one of the main reasons that people choose to use Ally Bank. 

Other benefits to using Ally Bank include

1. Excellent customer support service

The Ally Bank Customer services are open and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means that you can fairly instantly get access to someone who can assist you with any problem or inquiry that you may have.

2. No monthly fees

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of using Ally Bank is that it does not charge any sort of monthly maintenance fee. This is true regarding the online savings, checking, money market, and CD accounts.

3. High-interest rates and High rates on savings and CD accounts

Ally Bank is very well known for its savings accounts that can earn users a 0.5% annual percentage yield, also known by the acronym APY. These interest rates are higher than the ones that are most commonly found in traditional banks. What’s more because of the lack of monthly fees, and the no-penalty CD account option you will find that CDs from Ally Bank tend to earn better rates than CDs in traditional banks do.

If you are saving money for a house deposit payment, then these high yield rates are something to be on the lookout for and they can be a good reason to use Ally Bank over other traditional banks.

4. No Balance Requirement

Ally’s bank accounts do not have a minimum balance requirement, which means that you can open the account quickly online without having to deposit a certain amount of having to maintain a certain amount within the account at all times. This can be particularly important if you are using many different bank accounts to control your budget or if you are working with a 0 based budget, where there will not be a certain amount staying into your account constantly.

5. Fee-Free ATM

Those who use Ally Bank have access to over 43,000 fee-free AllPoint ATMs which are located across the U.S. This means that you will always be able to make a quick withdrawal whenever you need cash without having to worry about potential fees.

These benefits make Ally Bank the perfect choice for those who wish to have high returns on their savings and complete control of their money. However, with it being a fully online bank some not-so-favorable things can lead one to stir clear of using Ally Bank.

Cons to using Ally Bank include:

1. Lack of Physical Location

As great as online banking is there are certain occasions and times where you want and need to be able to speak to an actual human being to get assistance with your account. Since Ally Bank has no physical locations, walking into a branch when you have a problem or want to carry out your business is not an option. For those, who prefer traditional banks, this could be a dealbreaker for using the online financial services offered through Ally.

2. Inability to make cash deposits

Since Ally Bank is fully online there is no way for a traditional cash deposit to be made. Instead, if you are looking to add money to your account you will need to either remote deposit a check, complete an online transfer, wire transfer, or direct deposit. In some cases, you are also able to send a check through the mail and have it be deposited that way. If you are looking to deposit cash then your only option is to use another bank that you have an account with as an intermediary by depositing the cash there and then transferring it to your Ally Bank account.

3. Money market accounts have low rates

While some accounts on Ally Bank are high-yielding accounts, there are others, like the money market accounts that are not as competitive as the accounts offered by other online banks. If your money market account is essential to you and you use it a lot, then Ally is probably not the best option for only banking available to you.

Is Ally insured by FDIC?

Ally Bank is insured by FDIC. This gives the bank further legitimacy and it provides users with an extra layer of security which can be important especially when dealing with a fully online bank. The fact that Ally Bank is insured means the following for clients of the bank. 

• Ally Bank is a member of FDIC, that is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporations
• Deposits of up to $250,000 are protected for each qualifying account ownership category
• This protection continues even if Ally Bank goes out of business
• FDIC insurance starts automatically when you first open your account
• Joint accounts are insured separately, and each owner is covered for up to $250,000
• You can add beneficiaries to your account by creating a payable-on-death account

Is Ally bank safe?

Ally Bank is a safe option for online banking. All eligible accounts on Ally Bank are FDIC insured which means that even if the bank was to close up at some point, your money would be safely returned to you so long as they were within the $250,000 per owner cap. While Ally Bank is safe to use as an online bank there are certain precautions that you should take to ensure that your money is safe. 

Steps to ensure safety:

1. Setting a strong password that includes random letters, numbers, and characters

2. Ensuring that your password is not based on any of your sensitive information such as your name or date of birth

3. Memorising your password and not having it saved on any devices or written on pieces of paper

4. Not leaving your device unattended when you have your banking details logged in 

5. Not sharing any of your banking information with anyone 

6. Only using your bank application in secure locations 

How do you deposit cash with Ally Bank?

Cash is the one thing that you will be unable to deposit when you are using Ally Bank. However, there are a few different ways of depositing money into your account. 

1. Remote check deposit using Ally eCheck Deposit

2. Online transfers

3. Direct deposit

4. Wire Transfer

5. Depositing a check through the mail

For Wire Transfers and depositing a check through the mail you will want to send the check to the following address: 

Ally Bank

 P.O. Box 13625

 Philadelphia, PA 19101-3625

All checks will need to be carefully noted as ‘For Deposit Only’ and the signature of all payees will need to be on them. Ally Bank does not accept the deposit of cash by mail and as such cash cannot be sent to the address.

If you are looking to deposit cash into your Ally Bank account, then you will need to get a little bit more creative than you would have had to be with a traditional bank. In most cases to be able to deposit cash into your Ally Bank account, you would need to first deposit it to a traditional bank. This means that you would need to also have an account from a traditional bank account and from there you could either make an online transfer or a direct deposit into your Ally Bank account. In a way, this is one of the main negatives of using Ally Bank if you know that you will need to make cash deposits. If cash is one of the primary ways in which you get money, then Ally will be one of the most inconvenient ways of managing your money efficiently.

Summary

Ally Bank is a fully only financial service that offers most of the products and services that are associated with traditional banks. Ally can be perfect for those who are looking to gain high-yielding results while also having complete control of their money. Through the ally app, you will be able to manage all of your accounts and even get the customer support that you require 24/7. This is one of the primary reasons that Ally Bank’s popularity has increased in recent years as more and more people seek to have complete control of their money.