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Ally Bank VS Giantbank.com

Which bank is better for you?

  • Financial Rates: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 5.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • No opening required amount
  • Competitive interest rates on CDs
  • A wide variety of CD terms
  • Ten Day Best Rate Guarantee

Cons:

  • No Penalty CD has a high opening amount
  • Interest earned credited annually
  • Some CDs have tiered interest rates
  • Must withdraw entire amount of No Penalty
  • Financial Rates: 4.0 Star Icon
  • Customer Service: 2.0 Star Icon
  • Variety of Terms: 5.0 Star Icon
  • Required Opening Amount: 4.0 Star Icon
No Rate Information
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Pros:

  • Most accounts offer competitive rates
  • Good variety of CD terms offered
  • Can apply through mail or online
  • Opening required amount is low

Cons:

  • Short-term CDs have low rates
  • Limited ways to fund CDs
  • Customer service has limited hours
  • Transfer interest to internal accounts
Ally Bank CD Review

All Ally high yield CDs do not have a required amount to open the account. You can open each of the CDs with any amount. The Raise Your Rate CDs and the No Penalty CD do not have a set amount required to open.

Ally CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online CD accounts. The interest rates for Ally CDs are much higher than typical bank rates.

There are a wide variety of CDs offered through Ally. They offer seven high yield CDs. Those terms range from three months to five years. Ally offers a Raise Your Rate CD. These CDs are available in two-year and four-year terms. They also offer a No Penalty CD. This CD is an eleven-month term.

Ally offers a Ten-Day Best Rate Guarantee for each of the different CDs. When you open your CD, you have ten days. If interest rates go up within that time, so does your interest rate for the CD. The best rate guarantee is also available when you are renewing your CD.

The No Penalty CD has high opening amounts to earn the most competitive rates. Balances under $5,000 earn the lowest rates. To earn the most competitive rate for the CD requires a minimum opening balance of $25,000. Balances over $5,000 but less than $25,000 receive an interest rate between the two rates.

Interest earned from Ally CDs is generally credited annually. If your CD is a one-year term or less, they credit your interest at the CD maturity. If your CD term is longer than one year, they credit your interest at your CD terms year-end. You can make some changes to your CDs through the Ally website.

Some Ally CD accounts have tiered interest rates. To earn the most competitive interest rate for your account requires a balance of $25,000. There is not a required amount to open these CDs, but the higher the account balance, the higher the rate you earn.

The Ally No Penalty CD allows you to withdraw your money anytime after the first six days. You cannot make a partial withdrawal of the funds. If you are going to withdraw the money, you must withdraw the entire CD balance.

Read the full Ally Bank review.

Giantbank.com CD Review

Most giantbank.com CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates for some CDs are competitive with other online accounts. All of the CD rates are higher than typical bank rates. The CD terms that are 12-months and longer offer the most competitive interest rates.

There are a good variety of giantbank.com CD terms available. The terms range from 91-days to 60-month CDs. There are seven different terms offered through giantbank.com. You can apply for any of these CD terms online.

There are two options on how to open a CD with giantbank.com. You can apply for the CD online or fill out an application and send the application back through the mail. If you open the CD online there is a maximum opening amount of $50,000.

The opening required amount for giantbank.com CDs are low. Each of the CD terms requires $2,500 to open. You must keep a balance of at least $2,500 in the giantbank.com CDs to earn interest. Any amount over the required balance earns a competitive interest rate. The interest rates are not tiered.

The short-term CDs do not offer as competitive interest rates as the longer-term CDs. The 91-day, six-month, and nine-month CDs do not offer as competitive rates. These rates are still competitive. The rates are just not as competitive as the other giantbank.com terms.

giantbank.com limits the ways you can initially deposit money into CD accounts. Those ways include mailing in a check or a wire transfer. You can also transfer money from another giantbank.com account. The website does not say you can make the initial transfer from an external bank into a giantbank.com CD.

giantbank.com is an online bank. You can contact customer service through email, mail, phone, or fax. Customer service does have limited hours they are open. They are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

Customers can transfer the interest earned on giantbank.com CDs to other accounts. But, the money can only be transferred to other giantbank.com accounts. Those accounts include giantbank.com checking or money market accounts.

Read the full Giantbank.com review.

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