Any Experience with Barclays or Ally?

[svelte]

Thinking of opening an online account.

Anyone on here use Barclays or Ally? If so what are your thoughts?

[Escoguy]

1. Best interest rate on Variable mortgage investment property: First Republic 1.75% tied to 11th district cost of funds

2. best Cash back on credit card: USAA 2.5% but need address in Texas to receive

3. Best heloc rate: Bank of America 3.75% (prime minus 75 basis points)

4. best auto loan: PMCU Pacific Marine 1.99% for 60 months

For me the debit/card, checking account is a commodity, I don’t care where the money is. USAA and First Republic do show same day direct deposit credit though. USAA also allows for instant credit on transfers from other banks.

Haven’t used Barclay’s or Alley. Unless something is better than what I showed above, no reason to IMHO.

[bewildering]

I use Goldman Sachs AKA “Marcus” for my emergency fund. It is at 1.40% at the moment. No hassle setting up the account or transferring money.

The rates are getting better. There seems to be a little competition between online banks for the best rates at the moment. Although I remember the days of 5% interest.

[all]

I had savings and CD with Ally a few years ago (5y, 5.4%, something like that). I did everything online, never talked to their customer support, no issues. Closed the account when CD matured.

[Coronita]

[quote=bewildering]I use Goldman Sachs AKA “Marcus” for my emergency fund. It is at 1.40% at the moment. No hassle setting up the account or transferring money.

The rates are getting better. There seems to be a little competition between online banks for the best rates at the moment. Although I remember the days of 5% interest.[/quote]

what is the term of the 1.4%? Is it one month CD or money market?

Schwab had a few 1months at 1.3%, a lot of 3month at 1.5% and I think 1 year at 1.8%

just wanted to compare rates a little. I don’t think I’ll change, because I can ladder different CDs for my cash reserves and I don’t want to tie it up longer than 3months at most.

FWIW I think the yield on the vanguard prime money market is around 1.3% I think….it can be liquidated in a day. not insured, though I doubt vanguard is going anywhere soon.

[svelte]

Thanks guys.

I had a bit o cash I was going to spend – decided to postpone that for a year or so. Needed a safe place to park it.

Ally offers a 1 yr CD at 2% – appears to be the best deal going, though offer expires today. And there is only a 60 day interest penalty should I mis-guess and need the money earlier.

[bewildering]

[quote=flu]

what is the term of the 1.4%? Is it one month CD or money market?

[/quote]

The 1.4% is their online savings account. Not a CD or money market.

[cvmom]

[quote=bewildering][quote=flu]

what is the term of the 1.4%? Is it one month CD or money market?

[/quote]

The 1.4% is their online savings account. Not a CD or money market.[/quote]

Vanguard money market is currently at 1.37%. I don’t think the additional 0.03% makes it worth the switch.

[svelte]

Ally also offers a no-penalty CD (can withdraw principle and interest at any time), 1 year at 1.6%. Not a bad way to go either.

Catch is it is for $25K and up, or get a lower interest rate for lesser amounts.

[Balboa]

We have a couple of checking accounts at Lake Michigan Credit Union. There are some hoops to jump through, but they pay 3% on up to $15,000. Every month I have to log in four times, have $5 direct deposited from work, and reload my Amazon account with ten 50 cent purchases. A little annoying, but generally worth it.

[livinincali]

[quote=svelte]Thinking of opening an online account.

Anyone on here use Barclays or Ally? If so what are your thoughts?[/quote]

Ally is formerly GMAC which had to be bailed out by the federal government during the last crash. While FDIC insures money up to $100K it would be nice if consumers actual shunned companies that make stupid decisions with their money. You certainly wouldn’t want to invest with Ally if you didn’t have FDIC insurance.

[svelte]

[quote=livinincali][quote=svelte]Thinking of opening an online account.

Anyone on here use Barclays or Ally? If so what are your thoughts?[/quote]

Ally is formerly GMAC which had to be bailed out by the federal government during the last crash. While FDIC insures money up to $100K it would be nice if consumers actual shunned companies that make stupid decisions with their money. You certainly wouldn’t want to invest with Ally if you didn’t have FDIC insurance.[/quote]

Actually I think its 250K. And yes I checked on FDIC first. 🙂

[svelte]

[quote=Balboa]We have a couple of checking accounts at Lake Michigan Credit Union. There are some hoops to jump through, but they pay 3% on up to $15,000. Every month I have to log in four times, have $5 direct deposited from work, and reload my Amazon account with ten 50 cent purchases. A little annoying, but generally worth it.[/quote]

Man is that tempting. I’m mulling it over, but not sure I have the rigor to do all those steps each month.

But it sure is tempting…

[Balboa]

I have faith in you! 🙂 It takes maybe 20 minutes once a month — I bang out the logins and purchases all in a row. The hardest part is keeping track of how how many times I’ve hit reload on Amazon.

It’s not a ton of money, but even if you hit the reqs half the time, you are still making about what a CD offers with the access of a checking account. My spouse and I each have an individual account at LMCU which effectively doubles the 15k limit.

[Author]

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