Ally Checking, Who uses it?

[lotsofmiles]

My local bank is great for all the reasons a small town local bank is great for. Free cookies & coffee, all the tellers and staff know me by name when I walk in or use the drive up, any questions/issues/problems are usually taken care of quick, if I need to call I get a person instantly - no automated phone system press 1 for English garbage. But, its a pain to find atms out of state, my debit card only works in MI unless I call first and open it to out of state purchases for the day, only works online payments if I call in first. I'll forget to call them and use it out of state and it gets locked down....

So I was paying the truck payment and see Ally has free checking.

here's what it says:

See how Interest Checking adds up for you
The convenience of a checking account—the interest rate of a savings account.

$0 monthly fee
$0 to open and no minimum balance
Free Online banking and Bill Pay
Free Debit MasterCard®, checks and unlimited check writing
Save time and money—get cash back when you shop
No ATM fees at any ATM
Variable rate account where balances $15,000 or more get an even higher rate
Free balance alerts
FDIC insured to the maximum allowed by law. Maximize your coverage
Ally's Interest Checking Account rates are accurate as of 4/22/2011. See rates

https://www.ally.com/bank/interest-checking-account/

Anyone using it?

Is it really as good/easy as it looks?

What hidden fees or surprises are there?

Thanks

 

[Mike_S]

I dont know about your bank, but my local bank lets me set the limits/safties of my card to my preference. I used to have a very low daily limit and no online transactions, so i went in to talk to them and they changed it for me. They still call and verify if there are any large purchases, or purchases that are out of normal for my account. Could be worth a call, might be worth it to keep your small town bank.

 

[lotsofmiles]

nope, its locked down unless I call and open it for a day or two. Only way they do it. Been in and asked. Tried to get things like my EZPass setup for always approved, nope, got to call in and open it for out of state each time.

I wouldnt close my local account, run all my business stuff thru it.

I just dont want to open another account and then get hit with a bunch of hidden fee surprises