I just opened 3 no-penalty CD's tonight (actually 5 minutes ago) by calling their customer service number (1-877-247-ALLY). Luckily, I had all the cash sitting in my Ally Bank savings account. The CSR assured me that the rate was locked in at 2.47% (2.50% APY) for all 3 CD's. I also set them up to deposit back into the savings account at maturity. I just logged into my ally accounts page, and voila, there they are!

A few pages ago, I wrote:

I think the no-penalty CD is quite attractive.

At 2.5%, it is a good second alternative to Alliant's savings account (same 2.5% APY). If rates continue to fall (Alliant has been dropping 0.25% for each of the past two or three months), I can at least keep the 2.5% rate for the next 9 months. If rates go up, I can pull out the money very quickly.

Ally could also be in a bind with the no-penalty CD. If they raise the rate, they can be sure to see an exodus of the existing 2.5% CD to lock into the higher rate. So they would probably be less reluctant to raise the rate than to lower it.

I think that at 2.5% APY, they have miss-priced it on the high side.
The APY of my no-penalty CD funded on 6/5/09 is 2.3%. This is a drop from the initial 2.5%.

Not really. As far as I remember, Ally's policy has always been that the date the account gets funded is the date the interest rate takes effect.

I was hoping the 2.8% rate on regular CDs would last 11 more days when my CD rolls over

At least I had sense enough to put all the rest into no-penalties yesterday. Who knows, inflation may kick-in in a few months. And I'm completely liquid in case I want to switch to Alliant. Prolly won't. I doubt they will be any better. And I feel loyality to GMAC since they've have been so good for so long.

oopsz said:I don't think they've mis-priced it- GMAC/Ally needs capital and this is an attractive way to inject some. They've matched the high savings account rate with a slightly more captive product making it more attractive for investment. If you start with the assumption that rates are going to decrease steadily over the next nine months, then this is a smart way for Ally to increase their deposit base and it's a smart way for chasers to lock in a high(ish) rate

Actually, if they drop the CD rate accordingly (ie, if the high rate next month is 2.25% and Ally reprices their CD at that rate), this will keep on attracting capital. People who got in this month will congratulate themselves and people who get in next month will be happy to have that month's high rate locked in.

The more I think about it, the more I think it's a compelling product for rate chasers and a smart product for Ally.

I'm quoting myself because I think this is going to dictate future rates.

Looking around, the no penalty CD still beats the high liquid rate at alliant and is very competitive with other CDs, liquid or not. I'm going to bet the ally no penalty CD is going to closely match high online savings rates.

scanchain said:scanchain said:scanchain said:mrvirgo said:When I opened my 3 no fault CDs on Tuesday, the rep said they would start to earn interest on the day they were funded. They were indeed funded today, Thursday. However, it can't hurt to call and see if there's a way to still open and fund a CD. Ally normally has changed its rates on Fridays.
I opened two no fault CDs when it first started 2 weeks ago. This morning, I opened another. I will keep my fingers crossed to see if I can get the higher rate.
Just saw that my no penalty CD was funded and the APY is 2.3% instead of the 2.5%. Missed it by 1 day ...
I just received a secure email from Ally. It appears that they are going to give me the 2.5% APY for the no-penalty CD. I funded using ACH.

By the way, the CD funding schedule using ACH pull is typical of the former GMAC's money transfer timeline : if you submit a pull on Thursday, the CD gets funded on Friday but money only leaves the external bank the following Monday.

I had a No Penalty cd that I started a couple of days before which gave me an error message during the creation process. They sent it to a review department and I got a call back this morning stating that they would honor the previous cd rate. I'm impressed that they are trying to do the right thing when changing rates. The FDIC arm twisting is BS.

If you had an in process CD request that was held up for an exceptional reason, it might pay to give them a call and ask, they will probably try to do the reasonable thing.

Just a quick positive Ally story - opened a 9 month no penalty CD a few weeks ago at the 2.5% rate. CD failed to fund because I made a mistake in the account number from which the funds should be pulled. Called today to give correct account info and after speaking w/ a supervisor CSR confirmed they would still give me the 2.5% even though current rate is 2.3%. Simple gesture, but good customer service, particularly since it was totally my error.

Online savings account rate cut(06/19/2009)

Was: 2.05% > 2.00% APY

Most CD rates also down.

Well, the other day I got a call from Ally Bank asking about my thoughts about the bank. I had recently transferred a substantial sum of down payment money into a No Penalty CD (so that I don't get tempted to dump it into the stock market, Vegas, or something equally stupid), but apparently that amount was large enough to make me a high roller. My major concerns were the lowering of rates (she was aware of the ABA letter, and grudigingly agreed that they were lowering rates after the ABA letter came out) and creating some sort of checking account with unlimited transactions that would pay the same rate as Electric Orange (1+%), with free checks, like the current MMA. Other than that, I said I was satisfied with the transfer time between my bank and theirs, the web site interface was acceptable, and the service was good.

titan01 said:six days for check in the mail or 6 days to get money transfered to another ally account?
They told me 3-5 business days to transfer to an external account, 2-3 business days for an Ally account. My rep said it's a couple of days to process the CD cancellation, then another couple of days to process an ACH request (which you skip if you transfer to an Ally account).

I went ahead and canceled my CD today, since I may need the money next Friday. I imagine this will have me losing interest over the weekend, but if I canceled on Monday and they really did take 5 days, I'd be out of luck.

Well, the 2.5% rate I had wasn't that much better than I could get by using the money to pay off my 2.23% HELOC anyway...