Ally sucks (horrible wire transfers)

[corn18]

I moved $250k to Ally to get some interest on the money while I decided what to do with it. Started @ 1%, then 0.8% now 0.6%. That's ok. But I am now transferring it back to Fidelity to invest it. Initiated a wire transfer yesterday at 1pm that they charged $20 for. I am still waiting for the money to be wired. Called them and they said it will be done by 6pm today. That is crappy. Fidelity does wire transfers for free and the money shows up in the target account in 20 minutes. That's how wires work. Not Ally. I don't need it fast, but if I were going to keep funds at Ally, I might need the money on short notice. $20 to be slow is unacceptable.

So, Ally is now losing any business I may have planned for them.

[disneysteve]

Sorry to hear that. I've never had to do a wire transfer with them. It does take a few days to transfer from Ally to our BOA checking account though. I never keep money there that I might need quickly though.

[Drake3287]

Unfortunately I think many of us half expect less customer service from these online banks vs brick and mortar ones. I have accounts at Capital One and Ally and the ONLY reason is because of the rates/bonus they offered at the time. With the little difference in rates now, it'll be interesting to see how these online banks do in the long term.

[disneysteve]

I have accounts at Capital One and Ally and the ONLY reason is because of the rates/bonus they offered at the time. With the little difference in rates now, it'll be interesting to see how these online banks do in the long term.

Do you mean little difference between the two of them, because there's still a tremendous difference between those two and traditional physical banks. Ally is paying 0.6% while most banks are paying 0.01% or something close to that. So Ally's rate is 60 times higher. I'll take that any day.

[Jluke]

There was a thread in boglehead about wire transfers from Ally.

Bottom line: dont expect it to be quick.

[corn18]

There was a thread in boglehead about wire transfers from Ally.

Bottom line: dont expect it to be quick.

Now I know. Probably would have been just as fast to ACH it for free. They have a very high daily limit for transfers of $150k, so it isn't too bad moving large chunks of money.

[disneysteve]

Now I know. Probably would have been just as fast to ACH it for free.

It might be worth calling and complaining and at least asking them to refund you the $20 fee.

[~bs]

Agreed, $20 for a slow as ACH transfer is ridiculous. There's a reason why people do wires.