» 2009 » June
Article posted on Jun 19
Beep.
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 19, 2009, 1:39 am
@x11r5 is a good friend of mine on identi.ca. You should friend him.
- Leave Comment
- Posted in Uncategorized
Article posted on Jun 10
Ally Bank update
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 10, 2009, 12:15 pm
Following up on Saturday's post: On Sunday morning, I received a call on my cellphone from an 800 number. "I'm not answering that on a weekend," I thought, and went back to bed. When I got up later, I found a comment waiting for approval on my blog, and it was from Al de Molina. (I did a little checking, and it seemed authentic, either from him himself, or something like a PR firm on his behalf.)
Sure enough, the voicemail waiting for me was from Alex from Ally bank wanting me to return his call. We played phone tag Sunday, and he got back to me Monday morning.
The call was pretty short. Alex said that the info given to me by the first call was wrong, and the rate quoted on the day you begin the fund transfer is the rate you should get. The problem comes from the fact that yes, some days they don't initiate the transfer on their side until the next day. However, it should have been a simple call to fix that in those sorts of situations.
My funds transfer has been completed, and I just verified that my account is showing 2.50% APY. So if this sort of situation happens to you, be persistent. Point out my experience if you want. Obviously this only applies to Ally Bank, since other banks could have different policies.
- 3 Comments
- Posted in Finances
Article posted on Jun 6
[RESOLVED] Ally Bank: No sneaky disclaimers, no fine print, just lies.
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 6, 2009, 6:32 pm
UPDATE: The situation has been resolved to my satisfaction. Al de Molina did follow through with his comment to get the situation fixed (see comment below), and I am impressed that this was taken care of before I even had a chance to drop the letter off in the mail.
I have made an updated post, with information about what happened, and what it means to other customers as well.
UPDATE 2 (2009-01-22): It's six months later, and I am still satisfied with Ally. I even switched over my savings account to them shortly after that. Moreso, shortly after my ordeal, they added a "Ten Day Best Rate Guarantee":
When you fund your CD within ten days of opening or renewing your Ally account, you automatically get the best rate we offer during that time period.
I'd like to think I helped put that policy in place, and it really does go beyond what you'd expect from a bank.
This post has been getting a lot of Google juice lately, and I'm sure a lot of people who come here have complaints about Ally for whatever reason. It's understandable, you're going to have problems with a company no matter what (I'm not too thrilled with my cable company right now, for example, but that's another story). Just be sure to be patient and courteous. Remember that this post wasn't me screaming "ALLY SUCKS!!!!!"; I was polite but direct, and it worked out well for me.
The original post is retained below.
Well, regarding that 2.50% CD I opened? It's now 2.30%. A phone call got me nowhere; they're claiming the rate is based on a seemingly random date, related to neither the date I opened (and funded) the account, nor the date the funds cleared. The difference between the rate they quoted me and the rate they gave me is $3.74 over the lifetime of the CD, but I'm not letting them get away with this, especially given their "open" brand. I have sent this letter to GMAC Financial Services / Ally Bank CEO Al de Molina, copied below.
While you are reading, watch this Ally Bank commercial, but with these lines:
"Would you like a 2.50% CD?"
"Yeah." [Gives her a 2.50% CD.]
"Would you like a 2.50% CD?"
"Yeah." [Gives her a 2.30% CD.]
"You didn't say I would get a lower APY."
"Well you didn't ask."
Chief Executive Officer
GMAC Financial Services
P.O. Box 951
Horsham, PA 19044
June 6, 2009
Mr. de Molina,
I am writing to express my disappointment regarding my experience after setting up an Ally Bank CD, account number 1234567890, and to ask for your assistance in correcting this bad experience.
On Thursday morning, June 4, 2009, I signed up for an Ally 9 month no penalty CD, at a 2.50% rate. I was impressed by Ally's site, your no-nonsense approach, and the impressive rates offered. The account sign-up process – during which time I created a new account and funded a $2,500 CD – was easy, and consistent with your business persona. There was no small print, and everything was explained up-front. I finished the process, and was given a PDF with the following table:
| Name | Account Number | Term | Rate | Maturity | Opening Deposit | Deposit Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Penalty CD | 1234567890 | 9 months | 2.47% | 03/04/2010 | $ 2,500.00 | Online |
I understand that 2.47% is the nominal rate of a 2.50% APY CD. The account management site listed both nominal and APY rates when I logged in immediately after creating the account.
Today, I checked the Ally self-service site to see if my funds had cleared. The funds were available according to the site, but the account listed a 2.2740% (2.30% APY) rate. I called customer service to inquire about this discrepancy, and was told that the rate was 2.30% when my account was funded on Friday. I replied that my account was set up and funded in one step on Thursday, but she said there was nothing she could do, and asked if I wanted to speak to a supervisor, which I agreed to.
The supervisor, Jason, explained that Ally's rates were lowered on Friday, which is when they began to process my transfer. He made note, several times, that my transfer has not even cleared yet, but they were nice enough to make a “good faith” deposit on Friday, at Friday's rates, as opposed to when the deposit cleared. I asked why the “good faith” deposit could not have been made on the day I signed up for and funded the account, with the APY that was advertised to me and on the documentation I received. We went around in circles until he flat out said there was “nothing [he] could do”. I thanked him for his time and hung up.
Doing the math, I understand the difference between the rate that was advertised to me and the rate my account now lists is minor. However, as your own marketing points out, you have raised the bar for customer service in the banking industry. I have since learned that the reason Ally's rates were lowered on Friday was a direct result of GMAC Financial Services bowing to the pressure of the American Bankers Association's accusations of inflated interest rates as a result of Federal TARP funds.
In your response to the ABA, dated June 1, you said:
“The public is well aware of Ally Bank’s brand promise. Ally Bank is committed to providing banking products and services to small businesses and individuals on a competitive and fair basis. In being straightforward with our customers, we intend to provide clarity to the public regarding self-serving practices of some banks.”
I would make the point that excellent customer service is important, especially to a bank with a new brand, a brand that was created due to a loss of public faith. But you have already made the case. You have distilled the Ally brand into a bank of truth and trust. “The Ally Story” says:
“We’re a bank that values integrity as much as deposits. A bank that will always be open, accountable, and honest. Yes, honest. We won’t deal in half-truths, kindatruths, or truths only buried in fine print. That’s because we don’t have anything to hide. We’re always going to give it to you straight.”
I would say that changing the fixed interest rate on a customer, based on a technicality, is a “half-truth, kindatruth, or truth only buried in fine print”, except the fine print was never disclosed. Perhaps there is a reason fine print exists in this society.
Please, do the right thing. A gas station owner would not run out and change the prices on the boards while you are filling up, and then claim that your rate was based on the rate when you finished. A bank should not operate that way either.
Sincerely,
Ryan Finnie
- 4 Comments
- Posted in Finances
Article posted on Jun 5
Achievement Unlocked: Credit Card Solvency
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 5, 2009, 3:06 pm
Click for a more readable graph. Savings is blue on the top, CC debt is green on the bottom. The line is the delta between savings and debt.
As of today, I officially have $3.37 more savings than I do credit card debt. As I mentioned in February, I had reached the point where my liquid assets (savings + checking + cash) were more than my credit card debt. However, a checking account is rapidly moving up and down, and savings vs CC debt is a more stable comparison. It wasn't until today that I could theoretically drain my savings to pay my CC debt, while still not affecting my day-to-day finances. Again, not that I would, so it's a mostly symbolic milestone, but it's a milestone nonetheless.
In other financial news, I have invested $2500 in General Motors. No really. Well...
GMAC Bank is now Ally Bank, and is offering some pretty decent rates. Well, yesterday they were even higher, when I opened a $2500 no penalty 9 month CD at 2.50%. Today they lowered it to 2.30%, after accusations from competitors that Ally was using the bailout as an unfair advantage over competition. (This link is pretty inflammatory against the competing banks, but it's the only news article I could find today, and is at least factually accurate.)
So I'm lucky I opened the CD when I did at 2.50%, even though 2.30% would have been very decent compared to the 1.39% my "high yield" money market account has plummeted to.
On that note, can anyone explain to me why "no penalty" CDs exist? My guess is the transaction limit (basically not being able to take, say, $100 out of your $2500 CD, only the whole thing) and long term stigma of CDs act like a mental barrier from people withdrawing early from a no penalty CD. But the question is, does that justify the significant APY difference between a savings/money market account and a no penalty CD? I'm not complaining, but I have wondered about that, from the bank's point of view.
- Leave Comment
- Posted in Finances
Article posted on Jun 3
My realty clock has gone off.
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 3, 2009, 1:58 am
If there's been a common theme for this year for me, it's been "savings". I'm still on track to eliminate credit card debt by the end of October, but about a week ago, it hit me. I want to own a home. It's been a passing wish for years, and I've browsed real estate listings off and on since the bubble, but it hit me hard this week, as I did my bi-monthly review to make sure I was still on track financially.
I want to own a home.
Until now, my financial views have been relatively short term: get out of credit card debt. I made a goal I could stick to, with a detailed plan, and I'm following it. But that just took me from January until October. I also knew that the money I was now spending on CC debt would be diverted to savings, and that savings may one day buy a house, but I had no sense of time scale, and I wasn't too motivated to figure it out. Now that's changed.
I want to own a home.
I made a spreadsheet. A couple, in fact. I've got some pretty ambitious plans, but as far as I can tell, it's not a stretch. This is all money I'm spending anyway, so I'm not overextending myself in this plan.
- I'm currently paying $720 per month for credit card debt, and saving $202.12 per month in what can solidly go toward buying a home. (It's actually closer to $250 in liquid savings, and if times are good, I'm skimming off the excess "immediate savings" into "home savings", but I'm not counting that toward long-term savings.)
- By the end of October, I will have my credit card debt paid off. I'm over half way to that goal, and on track.
- From November on, half of that, $360, will got toward extra principal payments on the car. The other half will go toward long-term savings.
- In December 2011, I should be making the last payment on my car, 25 months and $10,273 early. At that point, I should have about $18,000 in savings.
- So now I have $202.12 per month in base savings, a full $720 per month in what I was originally spending on credit card debt, and now $455.26 per month that is no longer being spent on a car payment. That's $1,377.38 per month. Yow.
- With $1377.38 per month being saved, it's only a short 10-month jump to September 2012, at which point I should have $30,386.57, a tidy down payment for a new home.
So that's my 40-month plan. What's yours?
I want to own a home.
The problem with all this planning and attention is I'm pretty jittery and excited about the whole process, and we're talking about something that is at least 3 years out. I've been looking through listings on Zillow a lot lately, thinking about crazy "what if" scenarios. The real estate market is great for buyers right now, for obvious reasons. However, I've found a great guide entitled How to Buy a House, and it's actually very good at convincing me that I shouldn't buy now, even if I technically could. See, even in a good banking economy, my debt to income ratio would be too high with both home and credit card debt. No good banker would lend to me now, even with my excellent credit rating. Of course, the scary thing is I probably would have been able to find a not-so-good banker before, even up to a year ago.
Still, the only thing I hurt by browsing Zillow listings is my sanity.
I want to own a home.
Food for thought: In these next 40 months, I'll be spending $37,200 in rent.
- Leave Comment
- Posted in Finances
Article posted on Jun 1
Hampr Firefox extension 2.0.0 released
- Posted by Ryan Finnie on June 1, 2009, 2:01 am
Hampr is a free, centralized, personal bookmark manager. Hampr is designed for users who want access to their bookmarks from several locations, such as home, work and school. Hampr is similar in concept to del.icio.us, but is not public in nature.
After a lengthy development period, I am proud to announce the second major release of the Hampr Firefox extension. The Hampr Firefox extension can be installed on multiple computers, which will all have concurrent, convenient access to your entire Hampr bookmark collection.
The 2.0.0 extension is a complete rewrite, and introduces new major functionality. The most visible change is the placement. By default, the extension installs itself in the same place as the Bookmarks menu (on Windows and Linux), but you can choose instead to place is next to the Bookmarks menu, as a sub-menu, or even as a toolbar menu button. Other new features include:
* Added tags support
* Bookmarks display can be picked: recent, untagged, or specific tag
* Added ability to load more bookmarks
* Added page context menu integration
* Added network caching
* Many added display preferences
* Many bug fixes and minor enhancements
Please visit the extension home page and give it a try! Hampr is fully OpenID-enabled; for information about creating an account, please visit the login page.
- Leave Comment
- Posted in Hampr
