Reviews

Ally Bank, formerly GMAC Bank, is an FDIC-insured online financial institution. It offers a wide array of deposit accounts, home and auto loans, and investing services. In this Ally Bank Review, we’ll evaluate each banking service.

About Ally Bank

Ally Bank dates back to 1919 when it opened its doors as GMAC, a division of General Motors. Its purpose then was to help dealers finance their inventory. Beginning in the 1920s GMAC began helping consumers finance their automobile purchases.

Fast forward to 2000, and GMAC Bank was established. In 2009, it changed its name to Ally Bank and became the online bank as we know it today. It’s headquartered in Sandy, UT.

Ally is an online-only bank. It has no branches. As of December 31, 2019, it had approximately $167 billion in assets, with total deposits of nearly $123 billion.

Pros & Cons

Here’s what we like about Ally Bank, and what could be better.

Bank Accounts

Savings & Money Market Accounts

Ally offers a traditional savings account as well as a money market account. There are two key differences between these accounts.

First, the savings account pays a higher yield (see below). Second, the money market account offers an ATM card with free, unlimited withdrawals from any Allpoint ATM in the U.S.

Ally Savings Account

• APY: 1.25%
• Minimum Deposit: $0
• Compounded: Daily
• Monthly Fee: $0
• Website: https://www.ally.com/bank/online-savings-account/

Ally Money Market Account

• APY: 0.50%
• Minimum Deposit: $0
• Compounded: Daily
• Monthly Fee: $0
• Website: https://www.ally.com/bank/money-market-account/

Ally Checking Account

Unlike some online banks, Ally offers a checking account that pays interest. Combined with no minimum deposit or monthly fee, it enables Ally to serve as your full service bank.

• APY: 0.10% (less than $15,000 minimum daily balance) or 0.50% ($15,000 minimum daily balance)
• Minimum Deposit: $0
• Compounded: Daily
• Monthly Fee: $0
• Billpay: Set up one-time or recurring bill payments for free.
• Remote Check Deposit: Yes. Deposit checks remotely with Ally eCheck Deposit, or transfer money from an account you have at another bank.
• Zelle: Yes
• ATM Access: Use any Allpoint ATM in the U.S. for free. Ally also reimburses up to $10 per statement cycle for frees charged at other ATMs nationwide.

CDs

Ally Bank offers three types of certificates of deposit:

1. High-Yield CDs
2. Raise Your Rate CDs
3. No Penalty CD

Except for the No-Penalty CD, all CDs have an early withdrawal penalty. Here are the penalties on early withdrawal for all CDs purchased or renewed after 12/7/2013:

High-Yield CD Rates

Ally’s High-Yield CDs offer the highest yields available among all of Ally’s certificates of deposit.

Raise Your Rate CD Rates

Ally’s Raise Your Rate CDs protect you from rising rates during the term of the CD. If rates go up, you can elect to up the rate of your 2-year CD once during the term, and twice on the 4-year CD. Keep in mind, however, that you pay for this option in a slightly lower starting yield as compared to its high-yield CDs.

No-Penalty CD Rate

As the name suggests, this CD doesn’t charge a penalty for early withdrawal. Keep in mind, however, that it’s not like a savings account. If you decide to take the money out early, you must take all of it and the account is closed.

IRAs

Similar to the above accounts, Ally offers several deposit accounts to be held in your IRA:

• IRA High Yield CD
• IRA Raise Your Rate CD
• IRA Online Savings

The rates are similar to the rates above for comparable products. In addition, you can open a Roth IRA, Traditional IRA or a SEP IRA.

Account Features

Savings Buckets

Ally makes it easy to save for specific goals, such as emergencies or a vacation. You can select up to 10 Savings Buckets, and then allocation your savings to each.

Savings Boosters

Ally offers three ways to move money between Savings Buckets. First, you can simply transfer money from your Core Savings to one of more buckets. Second, you can set up recurring transfers from a linked checking account. You determine the frequency of the transfers, the amount, and the one or more Savings Buckets to receive the money.

The third and final way to fund Savings Buckets is quite innovative. It’s called Surprise Savings. Ally analyzes checking accounts you link to Ally, and transfers money from those accounts to savings when it determines your money could work harder for you in savings.

Personally, I’m not comfortable turning over control of my money to an algorithm. That said, Ally does have controls in place to prevent things like an overdraft. And you can edit it any time you want.

Zelle

You can transfer money to and from your Ally bank accounts with Zelle.

My Experience with Ally Bank

I opened my first account at Ally on December 25, 2012. Why I opened it on Christmas I have no idea. I’ve held accounts and a number of online banks over the years. In my experience, here’s how Ally stacks up:

• Its website is excellent. It’s extremely easy to use.
• Its customer service is friendly and helpful.
• Its interest rates a good, but never the best among online banks.

One stand-out feature is its interest-bearing checking account. It doesn’t charge a monthly fee and had no minimum balance requirement. While I’ve never used the checking account, it would allow you to use Ally as a full-service bank.

Ally Bank Savings Calculator

CIT Bank is an internet bank offering a range of financial products. Formerly OneWest Bank and Commerical Investment Trust, CIT offers competitive interest rates on deposit accounts with low fees. We cover the details in this CIT Bank review.

CIT BANK

Founded in 2009 as OneWest Bank, CIT Bank is FDIC-insured (FDIC # 58978) with its headquarters in Pasadena, CA. Until recently, CIT Bank was an online bank with no physical branches. That all changed in January 2020 when it acquired Mutual of Omaha Bank. With this acquisition, CIT now has nearly 100 branches in nine states.

As of December 31, 2019, CIT has $45 billion in total assets and nearly $36 billion in total deposits. Following its acquisition of Mutual of Omaha Bank, its total assets climbed to about $60 billion and deposits to approximately $42 billion.

CIT Bank Account Types

CIT Bank offers the following types of personal accounts:

• Savings Accounts: A standard Premier High Yield Savings account and a higher paying Savings Builder account (see below)
• eChecking: Tiered interest-bearing checkings account.
• Money Market: CIT’s high-yield savings option
• Term CDs: Terms range from one to five years, requiring a minimum deposit of $1,000.
• Jumbo CDs: Terms ranging from two to five years, requiring a minimum deposit of $100,000.
• No-Penalty CDs: An 11-month CD that doesn’t charge an early withdrawal penalty.
• Ramp up CDs: Certificates of deposit ranging from two to four years that enable savers to benefit if rates rise during the CD’s term.

CIT Savings Builder

CIT designed its Savings Builder account to encourage customers to save more. The account comes with an interest rate (see below) higher than its Premier High Yield Savings account. To qualify, however, you must do one of two things:

• Maintain a balance of $25,000 or more, or
• Make at least one monthly deposit of $100 or more

While I applaud the account’s design to encourage savings, there is one flaw. The account often pays less than CIT’s Money Market Account. And the MMA doesn’t have either requirement.

What We Like About CIT Bank

• Competitive interest rates
• Low fees
• Wide range of account types
• No-penalty and RampUp CDs

What CIT Bank Could Improve

Having banked with CIT to take advantage of its rates on savings accounts, the one thing that could improve is the website. While the site did the basics, its design reminded me of websites from the 1990s.

CIT Bank Rating

CIT Bank FAQs

How Does CIT Bank Compare

Rates

CIT’s rates for its standard savings account are mediocre among online banks. If that’s what you’re looking for, either look to CIT’s money market account below or check out our best savings accounts rate page. Its Savings Builder account, however, does offer competitive rates. The account either requires a high balance or a monthly deposit of at least $100. In this way, CIT is encouraging its customers to save on a regular basis.

Here are CIT Bank’s current rates on its savings accounts:

CIT Bank Savings Account Rates

If you are looking for a simple account to save an emergency fund, its Money Market Account is the answer. It generally pays the highest yield available for demand deposits. Here are the current rates:

Unlike most banks, CIT pays interest on its checking account. The amount you’ll earn depends on the balance you maintain. In addition, there are no monthly fees and CIT reimburses up to $30 in ATM fees per statement cycle.

CIT Bank Checking Account Rates

CIT Bank offers a wide range of certificates of deposit. In addition to term CDs, it offers a no-penalty CD and RampUp CDs. RampUp CDs enable you to take advantage of rates should they rise during the term of the CD.

CIT Bank CD Rates