Les Greco: Why I Bank with Ally

Ally Bank have been controversial from the beginning. The indirect link to General Motors didn’t help. The commercials were debatable (although I personally thought they were hilarious) and the FDIC pressuring them to lower interest rates just added oil to the fire.

On top of all that, the advertisements were everywhere. Online ads, commercials printed ads, you name it, they did it. All these “in your face” advertising worked - it made me open an account.

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It’s been a little over a month since I opened an account, and I currently have my short term savings with this bank. Here’s why.

Ally Sent Me a Welcome Package

Ally is not alone in sending welcome packages, but those that do always deserves a pat on the back. I understand it’s the online world and all that, but if I’m going to let some company hold onto a huge amount of my money, they better treat it as a serious business that inspires customer confidence.

In the package, it contained a signature card, which I needed to sign and return to confirm that I am who I said I was. To be honest, I would never have thought about it as being important, but having it certainly adds an additional level of comfort that they do more than others to combat fraud. They even included a postage-paid envelope for me to mail the card back to them, something that I rare see anymore.

Ally Cares About What the Ads Say

A little disclaimer: when you click on the links to open an account with them, I get a referral fee. Not much, but enough to make a difference. Ally is one of the few banks that continually work with us to make sure every ad out there has the current rates. Have you seen information out there with rates from other banks that are so high it doesn’t make sense at all?

Ally Sent Me a Separate Privacy Policy

A few weeks into opening the account, the bank sent me a privacy policy. I welcomed the fact that it was sent as a separate document from the welcome package, and it also gave me many options to opt out of 3rd party affiliate advertisements. I would’ve liked the ability to opt out online, but it did gave me an option to do it over the phone (instead of mail). Three minutes later after I called, I felt better about potentially having less junk mail.

Here’s the Last Thing Ally Sent Me that Prompted the Article

My monthly bank statement was ready, so Ally sent me an email telling me that I can retrieve it within the Ally system. Here’s what I liked - it contained no links. The first step as instructed was to sign into the account by going to Ally.com, but it didn’t make it a hyperlink. Most will think that it’s such a hassle, but with all these online scams going on, I feel good that they didn’t provide a link so I won’t be used to clicking on links within them.

I was perfectly find typing ” a l l y . c o m ” to log in on my own. When I did, there was my monthly statement, with the interests, my effective interest rate and all shown very clearly.

Last Notes about Ally

Some of you must think that I’m just saying all this to make a buck, but know that I could make much more money promoting others. In fact, there are other banks that will pay 8x what I get by referring you to Ally, so if I’m just in it for the money, this is not the one.

Also caution though that not everyone has the same experience I had. If you look at my Ally Bank review article, you can read all about other people’s experiences with the bank.

Good luck with whoever you decide to pick. I have chosen (at least for now).

Click Here to Open an Ally Bank Account Today