Comments on: Ally Bank Raise Your Rate CD: Insurance Against Rising Interest Rates

By: Natalie

Natalie — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:19:29 +0000

The series I bonds I bought several years ago are still getting almost 3 % but it looks like the current rate is only 0.75% so I took your advice to go with an Ally CD. However, I chose the 5 yr cd. Not that I plan on having my money in for 5 years, but with the penalty only being 2 months interest and the difference between the 2 yr and the 5yr is .83% it actually make more sense to buy the 5 year if you are planning on having your money invested for more than 6 months. You will earn more than enough to pay for the penalty and still get a better interest rate overall. I bought a few too so that if I need access to just some of my money I won’t have to pay the penalty on all of it.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:15:56 +0000

Thanks for the article. This really opened my eyes to online banking. I will be getting a savings account with Ally soon. However, if you want a long term investment wouldn’t it make more sense to get an I series savings bond? I’m currently getting over 4%. You can’t cash them in during the first year, but you can liquidate them anytime thereafter and only lose the last month of interest.

By: stephanie

stephanie — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:52:49 +0000

I had a CD with this option a few years ago from USBank (I want to say I opened a 30-month CD around Oct. 2006?), which I never actually raised the rate on. When I bought the CD the rate was nearly 5%, and by the time I cashed it out in spring of last year rates were quite low (I want to say it would have rolled over at around 1.5%). The only “catch” was they gave you a form when you enrolled that you had to bring back in to the bank when you wanted to change your rate. Not a problem for me – my financial stuff is all very organized, and I don’t have a problem hanging onto stuff like that and being able to locate it when necessary. For anyone who doesn’t have a decent filing system (or worse yet, throws stuff away), that could be a problem.

My only CD currently is getting 2.1% at ING for another 6 months. Right now ING savings accounts pay 1.1%, and their CDs pay less than that unless you get a 36+ month CD, which will then pay 1.25%. The extra .15% interest isn’t worth having my money tied up, IMO. With the small sums that I have available to put in CDs ($2k or $3k, tops), I don’t think it for me to chase rates at this point.

By: JLH

JLH — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:32:28 +0000

We started laddering CDs with Ally last year when we decided to try to make a little more interest on our savings. When we went to renew a few months ago, we actually got an extra 0.5% on top of the advertised rate since we were repeat customers! It automatically became a raise your rate CD as well. My only question is this: how should I decide when to call in for my rate increase?

By: Ryan Martin

Ryan Martin — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:14:51 +0000

Like you said, it’s not good to be in cash. Saving money without any form of compounding won’t get you ahead. Every little bit helps especially when you’re younger.

I started an ING savings account when I was 25, it set an excellent foundation.

This definitely sounds like a good product.

By: M Denis

M Denis — Mon, 10 May 2010 02:58:25 +0000

GE – Thanks for the good tip. My cash on hand is a 6 month emergency fund, so liquidity and how quickly I can access my cash is my most important concern. Although I have kept my ears open for ways to stay liquid and get a better return. I have an ing orange savings now at 1.10% apr and have avoided a CD because of penalties and possibly having a CD slowly give up my cash. A quick call to Ally put my fears to rest about liquidity – they would release funds in 2 business days if I withdrew early. This along with the fact that the only penalty would be 60 days interest makes this sound like a good deal.