In the spirit of Financial Literacy Month, I’m going to cover the basics of opening up an online bank account early next week. Today I wanted to share a quick review with you guys on Ally Bank.
Previously being apart of GMAC financial services, Ally Bank is fairly new to the market. After a little re-branding, Ally has started to offer more products and services.
A look at Ally Bank and its products:
1. Online Savings Account.
The interest rate is not overly impressive, but it’s not secret that all interest rates are low at the moment. The Ally Bank savings account offers an APY of 1.29%, no minimum balance, no monthly fees, and daily compounding. It’s definitely an online bank account worth checking out.
Here’s where you can open a online savings account.
2. Money Market Account.
The Ally Bank Money Market Account comes with a free check card and a 1.29% variable APY. This account will not charge you ATM fees and your first 50 checks will come in to you for free. This is ideal for those that go through many ATM transactions in a given month.
The negative of this account is the withdrawals and transfer limits. You’ll be charged a $10 transaction fee if you go over your allotted amount of check withdrawals. The limit for check withdrawals is 3 of 6 per month. You need to watch out that you don’t go over, because those fees could really sneak up on you.
Come here to open a money market account.
3. Ally Bank CD Options.
Ally Bank is currently offering the Classic CD and the No-Penalty CD. The No Penalty CD comes at a fixed rate (1.00% for a 11 month term, you can open it with zero dollars, and best of all– there’s no early withdrawal fees. The Classic CD can be open with zero dollars, has no monthly fees, and is automatically renewed at maturity (unless you inform Ally Bank otherwise). A word of warning: you must be careful with the Classic CD. You will be charged a fee for early withdrawal. Budget conservatively and make sure you won’t have to access this money in the near future.
4. Ally Bank Interest Checking.
A fairly new concept in the online banking world is interest checking. Ally Bank interest checking includes: free online banking, 0.5% APY on balances over $15,000, no transaction fees, customer service help available all the time, and free bill pay.
It’s important to note that all of these amounts are FDIC insured up to $250,000. If you’re presently satisfied with your bank account, it wouldn’t be the greatest idea to immediately jump over to Ally Bank. If you’re looking to open a new bank account, then Ally Bank is worth looking into.
