Update 3/11/23: Increased to 4.75%
Update 1/16/23: The no-penalty CD has increased to 3.85% APY. The $500 promotion tie-up period ended on 1/15/23 so you can simply move the funds out now, if you prefer.
Update 12/16/22: The no-penalty CD has increased to 3.50% APY. At this point there’s just one month left and you’ll gain just around $8 by breaking the old 3.30% CD and opening a new 3.50% one. (Just note that by breaking it now you’ll make the gains of the past few weeks taxable in 2022 instead of 2023.)
Update 11/17/22: The no-penalty CD has increased to 3.30% APY. You’ll probably gain around $20 by breaking the old 3.10% CD and opening a new 3.30% one. It shouldn’t take more than a minute. (Just note that by breaking it now you’ll make the gains of the past few weeks taxable in 2022 instead of 2023.)
Update 11/3/22: We go an official reply from the Ally media team confirming that it’s okay to transfer funds between eligible Ally accounts at any time. See full statement here. Last time around we experienced the same thing – when Ally ran a similar bonus there was no issue with opening and moving funds around, per this report. Just be sure not to transfer to an ineligible account like a checking account; keeping it in the same login/person/email between any number of savings, CD, and money market accounts would be fine.
Original Post
Ally Bank bumped up their 11-month no-penalty CD rate to 3.10%. This CD is essentially like a savings account since you can break it at any time.
The 3.10% is a nice rate, though not groundbreaking when compared to other savings accounts and no-penalty CDs. I thought it worth highlighting, however, since many of us have $50,000 or more locked up with Ally Bank for the next few months due to the $500/1% promo offer.
Most of us have the funds in the regular Ally high yield savings account which will be hiked up from 2.35% to 2.50% tomorrow, November 3rd. While .6% isn’t a huge difference, on a $50,000 balance you would get you an extra $300 in a year or $75 in 3 months by switching to the no-penalty CD.
In reality, the regular Ally savings rate will undoubtedly get bumped up slowly, as the new .75% fed rate hike happened today. Thus, the actual gain will end up being less than $75.
Still, it’s likely that opening the no-penalty CD will end up netting you an extra $20-$30 and takes less than a minute to open. This affects hundreds of readers so I thought it worth a headsup.
4% APY as of 3 days ago I think. Was able to cancel online and open new CD online. Make sure to transfer your CD to checking account so it won’t affect your limited number of Savings account transfers when you transfer back to CD.
Why get a CD when you can get 4.27% interest in a money market fund (SWVXX) at Schwab brokerage?? If you place an order to sell some or all of your SWVXX holdings, you get the money in your Schwab account the next day. And there is no fee to buy or sell SWVXX. Fidelity and other brokerage accounts also offer similar, high yielding money market funds that won’t LOCK you in (like some CDs) as interest rates CONTINUE to increase.
In the case of Ally in particular, lots of people already have relationships with the bank. Something like this allows people to keep things simpler while only missing out on some of the potential yield. These No-Penalty CDs are a pretty convenient hybrid: You can break them whenever, without penalty, and the funds might already be in place, saving the (minor, if everything goes smoothly) hassle of transferring funds between institutions.
Depending on one’s objectives, having both options on the table (locking in a rate for a period and having the option to continually capture improving rates) can be useful.
You do make some good points. I also DO have an account with Ally. And it seems that “sometimes” (“oftentimes”) when I need to get money OUT of Ally, they magically make it VERY DIFFICULT. I’ve had outgoing wire transfers take TWO FULL DAYS because of “high demand”. I’ve had them put a hold on outgoing ACH xfers initiated from their website due to “fraud” concerns. Etc. Etc. Etc. I really don’t do much money xfer in or out of this account so I am more and more pissed at them when I need them to behave like a MATURE FINANCIAL INSTITUTION.
Ok, they are 10000% better than ShittyBank! 🙂
To the random person with some liquid cash who’s reading the comments section for ideas, if you don’t have additional criteria like a preference for stashing money locally, using credit unions, etc., then the DoC Best High Yield Savings Accounts list is an easy place to start. For this sort of thing, consider looking for an FDIC/NCUA insured option, maybe talk over the amount with a financial advisor to ensure that you’re not holding too much in cash and sort by yield. DoC’s team has covered the first and third points for you.
In reality though, it’s okay to have some preferences!
Skim the boards and you’ll see that certain banks haven’t invested in decent interfaces. Some customer service teams are downright bad. Some banks love a good bait-and-switch rate.
Can you invest any amount in that SWVXX? I have a Schwab brokerage and Roth account. Was wanting to get a decent savings account with them.
Yes, there is a $1 minimum purchase requirement.
+0.34% net expense ratio
so?
SWVXX has a 0.34% expense ratio fee, so you’re getting under 4%. Better to do a 4% savings.
Wrong. The fund expenses are already included in the performance of the fund.
Ive closed and created a new CD every time the rate goes up.
They wouldn’t let me open a new CD at the current rate soooo
Just transferred everything out
Lol. How many times did you do that?
Are they still making it so you have to phone them to close the NPCD early? (Instead of a simple online click to close as they used to have).
you can close online still
I’ve had issues when trying to close online outside of banking hours. But during the business day, seems to be fine
USAlliance no penalty 11 month CD 4.0%APY
How is that a good rate? Many regular checking accounts have that rate.
Up to 3.85 now
I saw that too but with only few days left, no point in messing around
Rate now 3.85%
Why get this when you can get 4.3% and above buying 4week treasury bills or getting a UFB Direct savings account yielding 4.11%APY
1, Why not work with Treasury Direct or others offering higher yields?: Many people already have Ally relationships, so adding one of these CDs is a quick, low-commitment option. The convenience is real; 2, Why not higher yielding savings accounts?: Although unlikely to drop in the near term, some people prefer the fixed rates of CDs to savings accounts whose rates may fluctuate.
You’re not wrong that better rates are available, but Ally’s reputation for being on the higher-end yield-wise is helpful for those who’d rather keep their liquidity in one place more of the time.
Exactly. While there are ways to get a better rate, Ally represents a good rate and convenience. Whereas constantly jumping banks to chase a higher rate or buying TBills is more time intensive
Latest auction was 3.61% for 4 week bill. They’re not paying above 4%.
This is still a valid question. Through your brokerage’s bond section you can buy tbills/notes at practically any desired length (up to about 2 years) at rates currently from 4% up to 4.8%. If you need to exit before the term expires you would have market gain or loss depending on how the rates move.
The benefit to the no penalty CD is the ability to exit at any point which may be beneficial as interest rates likely continue to rise. If held to maturity you are losing out on a nearly a full % and state tax benefit vs a tbill/note. Perhaps it makes sense to do some of both so if you need some of the money for an unexpected expense or bank bonus you can first break the no penalty CD.
I live in state with no state tax. Should I just go with a CD,
Burton Guster?
Depends if you think you’ll keep it or want the funds earlier. I think it makes sense to buy at least some tbills to get the higher rate but going all in would not be without risk and for an incremental rate increase may not be worth the hassle to some. Maybe it makes sense to do treasuries for fixed upcoming large expenses like property taxes?
Did you hear about Pluto? That’s messed up right?
That’s some good advice. Thank you. Guess it’s good to diversify with a mix of CDs, T-Bills, high yield savings account.
C’mon, son!
Chuck I’m pretty sure interest earned on a CD is reported in the year earned even if reinvested, so if you close the CD early it doesn’t affect tax reporting (unless in IRA)
In this case it’s different cuz you’re breaking vs keeping the CD
This isn’t a matter of reinvestment. This is a matter of accrued interest that presumably would otherwise be paid after 12/31, that will be paid immediately if you break the CD.