1. AARP’s Bank Safe training combines industry knowledge and experience with a state-of-the-art, online learning experience. AARP worked with more than 2,000 financial industry professionals to develop the training platform’s content and interactive scenarios.
2. DEA High Security Safe; Door Security; Modular Vaults; Pharmacy Safes; Retail Pharmacy Safe; Vault Doors. Class 1, 2 & 3 Vault Doors; TL-30 Vault Doors; GSA Class 5 Vault Doors; B-Rate Vault Doors; Bank Equipment. Package Receivers; Under Counter Steel; Key Cabinets. KC; KC-Audit; Vaults & Vault Doors. Modular Vaults; Vault Doors.

1. Bank Safety Rating
2. Bank Safe Boxes
3. Safe Credit Union Bank

A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Bank of America Advantage Banking is a flexible checking account for your changing needs. It offers a variety of features from digital-only payments (checkless checking) to optional overdraft protection. Open a Bank of America Advantage Banking account online today.

A bank vault is a secure space where money, valuables, records, and documents are stored. It is intended to protect their contents from theft, unauthorized use, fire, natural disasters, and other threats, much like a safe. Unlike safes, vaults are an integral part of the building within which they are built, using armored walls and a tightly fashioned door closed with a complex lock.

Historically, strongrooms were built in the basements of banks where the ceilings were vaulted, hence the name. Modern bank vaults typically contain many safe deposit boxes, as well as places for teller cash drawers and other valuable assets of the bank or its customers. They are also common in other buildings where valuables are kept such as post offices, grand hotels, rare book libraries and certain government ministries.

Vault technology developed in a type of arms race with bank robbers. As burglars came up with new ways to break into vaults, vault makers found new ways to foil them. Modern vaults may be armed with a wide array of alarms and anti-theft devices. Some 19th and early 20th century vaults were built so well that today they are difficult to destroy.^[1] These older vaults were typically made with steel-reinforced concrete. The walls were usually at least 1 ft (0.3 m) thick, and the door itself was typically 3.5 ft (1.1 m) thick. Total weight ran into the hundreds of tons (see the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland). Today vaults are made with thinner, lighter materials that, while still secure, are easier to dismantle than their earlier counterparts.

History[edit]

The need for secure storage stretches far back in time. The earliest known locks were made by the Egyptians. Ancient Romans used a more sophisticated locking system, called warded locks. Warded locks had special notches and grooves that made picking them more difficult. Lock technology advanced independently in ancient India, Russia, and China, where the combination lock is thought to have originated. In the United States, most banks relied on small iron safes fitted with a key lock up until the middle of the nineteenth century. After the Gold Rush of 1849, unsuccessful prospectors turned to robbing banks. The prospectors would often break into the bank using a pickaxe and hammer. The safe was usually small enough that the thief could get it out a window, and take it to a secluded spot to break it open.

Banks demanded more protection and safe makers responded by designing larger, heavier safes. Safes with a key lock were still vulnerable through the key hole, and bank robbers soon learned to blast off the door by pouring explosives in this opening. In 1861, inventor Linus Yale Jr. introduced the modern combination lock. Bankers quickly adopted Yale's lock for their safes, but bank robbers came up with several ways to get past the new invention. It was possible to use force to punch the combination lock through the door. Other experienced burglars learned to drill holes into the lock case and use mirrors to view the slots in the combination wheels inside the mechanism. A more direct approach was to simply kidnap the bank manager and force him to reveal the combination.

After the inventions of the combination lock, James Sargent—an employee of Yale—developed the 'theft proof lock.' This was a combination lock that worked on a timer. The vault or safe door could only be opened after a set number of hours had passed, thus a kidnapped bank employee could not open the lock in the middle of the night even under force. Time locks became widespread at banks in the 1870s. This reduced the kidnappings, but set bank robbers to work again at prying or blasting open vaults. Thieves developed tools for forcing open a tiny crack between the vault door and frame. As the crack widened, the thieves levered the door open or poured in gunpowder and blasted it off. Vault makers responded with a series of stair-stepped grooves in the door frame so the door could not be levered open. But these grooves proved ideal for a new weapon: liquid nitroglycerin. Professional bank robbers learned to boil dynamite in a kettle of water and skim the nitroglycerin off the top. They could drip this volatile liquid into the door grooves and destroy the door. Vault makers subsequently redesigned their doors so they closed with a thick, smooth, tapered plug. The plug fit so tightly that there was no room for the nitroglycerin.

By the 1920s, most banks avoided using safes and instead turned to gigantic, heavy vaults with walls and doors several feet thick. These were meant to withstand not only robbers but also angry mobs and natural disasters. Despite the new security measures, these vaults were still vulnerable to yet another new invention, the cutting torch. Burning oxygen and acetylene gas at about 6,000 °F (3,300 °C), the torch could easily cut through steel. It was in use as early as 1907, but became widespread with World War I. Robbers used cutting torches in over 200 bank robberies in 1924 alone. Manufacturers learned to sandwich a copper alloy into vault doors. If heated, the high thermal conductivity of copper dissipates the heat to prevent melting or burning. After this design improvement, bank burglaries fell off and were far less common at the end of the 1920s than at the beginning of the decade.

Technology continues in the race with bank robbers, coming up with new devices such as heat sensors, motion detectors, and alarms. Bank robbers have in turn developed even more technological tools to find ways around these systems. Although the number of bank robberies has been cut dramatically, they are still attempted.

Materials used in vaults and vault doors have changed as well. The earlier vaults had steel doors, but because these could easily be cut by torches, different materials were tried. Massive cast iron doors had more resistance to acetylene torches than steel. The modern preferred vault door material is the same concrete as used in the vault wall panels. It is usually clad in steel for cosmetic reasons.

Design[edit]

Bank vaults are built as custom orders. The vault is usually the first aspect of a new bank building to be designed and built. The manufacturing process begins with the design of the vault, and the rest of the bank is built around it. The vault manufacturer consults with the customer to determine factors such as the total vault size, desired shape, and location of the door. After the customer signs off on the design, the manufacturer configures the equipment to make the vault panels and door. The customer usually orders the vault to be delivered and installed. That is, the vault manufacturer not only makes the vault parts, but brings the parts to the construction site and puts them together.

Bank vaults are typically made with steel-reinforced concrete. This material was not substantially different from that used in construction work. It relied on its immense thickness for strength. An ordinary vault from the middle of the 20th century might have been 18 in (45.72 cm) thick and was quite heavy and difficult to remove or remodel around. Modern bank vaults are now typically made of modular concrete panels using a special proprietary blend of concrete and additives for extreme strength. The concrete has been engineered for maximum crush resistance. A panel of this material, though only 3 in (7.62 cm) thick, may be up to 10 times as strong as an 18 in-thick (45.72-cm) panel of regular formula concrete.

There are at least two public examples of vaults withstanding a nuclear blast. The most famous is the Teikoku Bank in Hiroshima whose two Mosler Safe Company vaults survived the atomic blast with all contents intact. The bank manager wrote a congratulatory note to Mosler.^[2][3] A second is a vault at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly the Nevada Test Site) in which an above ground Mosler vault was one of many structures specifically constructed to be exposed to an atomic blast.^[4][5]

Manufacturing process[edit]

Panels[edit]

The wall panels are molded first using a special reinforced concrete mix. In addition to the usual cement powder, stone, etc., additional materials such as metal shavings or abrasive materials may be added to resist drilling penetration of the slab. Unlike regular concrete used in construction, the concrete for bank vaults is so thick that it cannot be poured. The consistency of concrete is measured by its 'slump'. Vault concrete has zero slump. It also sets very quickly, curing in only six to 12 hours, instead of the three to four days needed for most concrete.^[6][7]

• A network of reinforcing steel rods are manually placed into the damp mix.
• The molds are vibrated for several hours. The vibration settles the material and eliminates air pockets.
• The edges are smoothed with a trowel, and the concrete is allowed to harden.
• The panels are removed from the mold and placed on a truck for transport to the customer's construction site.

Door[edit]

The vault door is also molded of special concrete used to make the panels, but it can be made in several ways. The door mold differs from the panel molds because there is a hole for the lock and the door will be clad in stainless steel. Some manufacturers use the steel cladding as the mold and pour the concrete directly into it. Other manufacturers use a regular mold and screw the steel on after the panel is dry.

Round vault doors were popular in the early 20th century and are iconic images for a bank's high security. They fell out of favor due to manufacturing complexities, maintenance issues (door sag due to weight) and cost, but a few examples are still available.^[8][9]

A day gate is a second door inside the main vault door frame used for limited vault protection while the main door is open. It is often made of open metal mesh or glass and is intended to keep a casual visitor out rather than to provide true security.^[10]

Lock[edit]

A vault door, much like the smaller burglary safe door, is secured with numerous massive metal bolts (cylinders) extending from the door into the surrounding frame. Holding those bolts in place is some sort of lock. The lock is invariably mounted on the inside (behind) of the difficult to penetrate door and is usually very modest in size and strength, but very difficult to gain access to from the outside. There are many types of lock mechanisms in use:

• A combination lock similar in principle to that of a padlock or safe door is very common. This is usually a mechanical device but products incorporating both mechanical and electronic mechanisms are available, making certain safe cracking techniques very difficult.^[11]
• High security key locks are used in a few vault doors.^[12]
• A dual control (dual custody) combination lock has two dials controlling two locking mechanisms for the door. They are usually configured so that both locks must be dialed open at the same time for the door to be unlocked. No single person is given both combinations, requiring two people to cooperate to open the door. Some doors may be configured so that either dial will unlock the door, trading off increased convenience for lessened security.
• A time lock is a clock that prevents the vault's door from opening until a specified number of hours have passed. This is still the 'theft proof' lock system that Sargent invented in the late nineteenth century. Such locks are manufactured by only a few companies worldwide. The locking system is supplied to the vault manufacturer preassembled.
• Many safe-cracking techniques also apply to the locking mechanism of the vault door. They may be complicated by the sheer thickness and strength of the door and panel.

Installation[edit]

• The finished vault panels, door, and lock assembly are transported to the bank construction site. The vault manufacturer's workers then place the panels enclosed in steel at the designated spots and weld them together. The vault manufacturer may also supply an alarm system, which is installed at the same time. While older vaults employed various weapons against burglars, such as blasts of steam or tear gas, modern vaults instead use technological countermeasures. They can be wired with a listening device that picks up unusual sounds, or observed with a camera. An alarm is often present to alert local police if the door or lock is tampered with.

US Resistance Standards[edit]

Quality control for much of the world's vault industry is overseen by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL), in Northbrook, Illinois. Until 1991, the United States government also regulated the vault industry. The government set minimum standards for the thickness of vault walls, but advances in concrete technology made thickness an arbitrary measure of strength. Thin panels of new materials were far stronger than the thicker, poured concrete walls. Now the effectiveness of the vault is measured by how well it performs against a mock break-in. Manufacturers also do their own testing designing a new product to make sure it is likely to succeed in UL trials.^[13] Key points include:

• It is based on using 'common hand tools, picking tools, mechanical or portable electric tools, grinding points carbide drills, pressure applying devices or mechanisms, abrasive cutting wheels, power saws, coring tools, impact tools, fluxing rods, and oxy-fuel gas cutting torches'.
• A breach is a hole in the door or wall of at least 96 square inches (6 × 16 in (15.24 × 40.64 cm)) or breaking locking bolts to allow the door to open.
• Considers only the time actually spent working (excludes setup, rests, etc.)
• Does not cover attacks with a thermal lance or explosives.
• UL-608 makes no claims as to the fire resistance of the vault.
• Applies to the door and all sides.
• The lock, ventilation, alarms, etc. are covered by other UL standards.

Rating	Time to Breach Vault
Class M	15 minutes
Class I	30 minutes
Class II	60 minutes
Class III	120 minutes

European Resistance Standards[edit]

As with the US, Europe has agreed a series of test standards to assure a common view of penetrative resistance to forcible attack.^[14] The testing regime is covered under the auspices of Euronorm 1143-1:2012 (also known as BS EN 1143-1: 2012),^[15] which can be purchased from approved European standards agencies.^[16][17]

Key points include:

• Standard covers burglary resistance tests against free-standing safes and ATMs, as well as strongrooms and doors
• Tests are undertaken to arrive at a grade (0 to XIII) with two extra resistance qualifiers (one for the use of explosives the other for core drills)
• Test attack tools fall into five categories with increasing penetrative capability, i.e. Categories A–D and S
• Penetration success is measured as partial (125mm diameter hole) or full (350mm diameter hole)
• Considers only the time actually spent working (excludes setup, rests, etc.)
• EN 1143-1 makes no claims as to the fire resistance of the vault
• EN 1300 covers high security locks, i.e. four lock classes (A, B, C and D)^[18]
• Applies to the door and all vault sides.

Resistance Grade	Resistance Value to Breach Vault	Lock Quantity	Explosive Rating Possible	Core Drill Rating Possible
0	30	One	No	No
I	50	One	No	No
II	80	One	Yes	No
III	120	One	Yes	No
IV	180	Two	Yes	No
V	270	Two	Yes	No
VI	400	Two	Yes	No
VII	600	Two	Yes	No
VIII	825	Two	Yes	Yes
IX	1050	Two	Yes	Yes
X	1350	Two	Yes	Yes
XI	2000	Two or Three	Yes	Yes
XII	3000	Two or Three	Yes	Yes
XIII	4500	Two or Three	Yes	Yes

Byproducts/waste[edit]

The manufacturing process itself has no unusual waste or byproducts, but getting rid of old bank vaults can be a problem. Newer, modular bank vaults can be moved if a bank closes or relocates. They can also be enlarged if a bank needs to change. Older bank vaults are quite difficult to demolish. If an old bank building is to be renovated for another use, in most cases a specialty contractor has to be called in to demolish the vault. A vault's demolition requires massive wrecking equipment and may take months of work at a large expense. At least one company in the United States refurbishes old vault doors that are then resold.

In some cases, the new owner of a former bank building will opt to use the vault. There are cases where, for example, a bank building was renovated into a pub, which then used the vault as a secure storeroom for its liquor supply.^{[citation needed]}

Future[edit]

Bank vault technology changed rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s with the development of improved concrete material. Bank burglaries are also no longer the substantial problem they were in the late 19th century up through the 1930s, but vault makers continue to alter their products to counter new break-in methods.

An issue in the 21st century is the thermal lance. Burning iron rods in pure oxygen ignited by an oxyacetylene torch, it can produce temperatures of 6,600–8,000 °F (3,650–4,430 °C). The thermal lance user bores a series of small holes that can eventually be linked to form a gap. Vault manufacturers work closely with the banking industry and law enforcement in order to keep up with such advances in burglary.

References[edit]

1. ^http://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/demolition-crew-cracks-the-old-u-s-bank-vault/article_40b8808c-c42c-11e4-8929-a3b126a0fa7a.html
2. ^'Letters of Note: Your Products are Stronger than the Atomic Bomb'. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
3. ^'Unbreakable: Hiroshima and the Mosler Safe Company'. CONELRAD Adjacent. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
4. ^'A Nuclear Family Vacation'. Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on 13 July 2005. Retrieved 11 July 2005.
5. ^'Slate's Well-Traveled: A Nuclear Family Vacation'. NPR. Retrieved 15 July 2005.
6. ^'Discovery Channel (UK) How Do They Do It? (Season 3 / Episode 7 / Part 2) Diebold Vault Construction (YouTube)'. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
7. ^'Hercvlite Vault Panels'. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
8. ^'Vault Structure Inc. Round Vault Doors'. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
9. ^'VSI 360 Round Vault Door'(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
10. ^'Installation Instructions for Overly GSA Class 5 Vault Door'(PDF). Overly Door Company. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
11. ^'Kaba-MAS X-09 and CDX-09 High Security Locks'(PDF). December 2010. p. 8.
12. ^'The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist'. Wired Magazine. 12 March 2009. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
13. ^'UL 608 Burglary Resistant Vault Doors and Modular Panels'. Underwriter's Laboratories. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
14. ^'Requirements on strongrooms in cast in-situ and/or pre-fabricated construction ECB-S R03'(PDF). ECB-S. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
15. ^'Red Book Live, Part 4, Section 2'(PDF). LPCB. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
16. ^'BS EN 1143-1:2012 - Secure storage units. Requirements, classification and methods of test for resistance to burglary. Safes, ATM safes,strongroom doors and strongrooms'. shop.bsigroup.com. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
17. ^Standards, European. 'EN 1143-1'. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
18. ^'EN 1300 Locks'. www.ecb-s.com. Retrieved 5 September 2017.

Further reading[edit]

Books[edit]

• Steele, Sean P., Heists: Swindles, Stickups, and Robberies that Shocked the World. New York: Metrobooks, 1995. ISBN1-56799-170-X.
• Tchudi, Stephen, Lock & Key: The Secrets of Locking Things Up, In, and Out. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993. ISBN0-684-19363-9.

Periodicals[edit]

• Chiles, James R., 'Age-Old Battle to Keep Safes Safe from 'Creepers, Soup Men and Yeggs'. Smithsonian (July 1984): 35–44.
• Merrick, Amy, 'Immovable Objects, If They're Bank Vaults, Make Nice Restaurants'. The Wall Street Journal (5 February 2001): Al.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bank vaults.

• Bank Vault Anatomy at the Wayback Machine (archived 3 March 2016) - A semi-technical guide to bank vaults built in the early 1900s; includes Remote Combination Viewer Vault information
• '15 Most Impenetrable Bank Vaults', accessed 28 December 2010.
• 'Bank Vault (madehow.com)', accessed 28 December 2010.
• 'AR 380-5 Chapter V Safekeeping and Storage', U.S. DOD standard for secret material storage displayed by Federation of American Scientists, accessed 28 December 2010.
• 'Operating Instruction for the X-09 Type 1F High Security Electronic Lock', U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, accessed 28 December 2010.

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Overall Score	4.4
Savings	4.0
Checking	4.0
Money Market	4.0
Customer Service	5.0
Mobile App	5.0

Pros and Cons

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Cons:

• No in-person service. You may uncomfortable knowing you can't just walk into a branch and get help from a real person. You can only get customer service help by phone, which often means long wait times.
• Large deposits or withdrawals. If you need to deposit or withdraw a large amount, you may feel safer doing so at a physical branch. For example, if you need a few crisp $100 bills for a trip abroad, you can't just get that from an ATM.
• No bank relationship. Often times, loyal customers can get extra perks at physical branches where they have a good relationship with the bank manager.

  For example, you can get a better loan term or get a fee removed. You won't get that from an online bank.

Ally Bank Address: Ally is an online bank, which means there are no physical branches to handle your business.

Ally is headquartered at 500 Woodward Ave, Detroit, Michigan, and 200 West Civic Center Dr, Sandy, Utah. It has corporate offices in several other cities across America. You can reach Ally customer service by phone and live chat.

If you need cash, you can withdraw cash surcharge-free at any of the 43,000+ Allpoint® ATMs. In the US, Allpoint® ATMs can be found in popular stores like Target, Costco, Speedway, Safeway, and drugstores.

How It Compares

Picking a place to park your money deserves some thought. You should compare a couple different options. Let's take a look at how Ally measures up to other online savings accounts.

Best Bank Promotions:

• Chase coupon for National Bank
  
• Discover Bank offer code
  
• CIT Bank promo code (our review)

Ally Bank vs Capital One 360:
Capital One 360's savings rates aren't as high, but their 1-year CD rate is better. It's also has the same rate for all balance tiers, so smaller investors will see more returns.

Another plus: Capital One 360's Interest Checking account has overdraft options in cases of accidental withdrawal.

Ally Bank	Capital One
SPECIAL OFFER Online Savings Account - 0.50% APY - Learn More	SPECIAL OFFER 360 Checking Account - Learn More
Benefits and Features
Savings	0.50% APY	0.40% APY
CD	0.20% to 0.85% APY. Terms of 3 months to 5 years. 12-month CD APY of 0.60%	0.20% to 0.40% APY. Terms of 6 months to 5 years. 12-month CD APY of 0.20%
Checking	0.10% APY under $15,000; 0.25% APY $15,000 or more	0.10% APY
Customer Service	24/7	Mon-Sun: 8am - 11pm (ET)
ATMs	Over 43,000 no-fee Allpoint ATMs	Over 40,000 no-fee Capital One & Allpoint ATMs
Locations	Online Only	Online Only
Ally Bank: Pricing information from published website as of 2/25/2021. Capital One: Pricing information from published website as of 3/05/2021.

If you want a savings account with an ATM card:

High Yield Savings - 0.50% APY

$0 minimum opening deposit. No minimum balance requirement. No fees to open or maintain account.

Synchrony (which used to be part of General Electric) also doesn't require a minimum deposit or a minimum balance. And there's no monthly service fee either.

The biggest plus is that Synchrony comes with an ATM card. You can withdraw money quickly (up to 6 per statement cycle) instead of having to wait a few days for the transfer to be completed.

On the downside, Synchrony doesn't offer real human customer service 24/7. If you need help in the middle of the night or on a Sunday, you may be out of luck.

If you have $5,000 to save:

Plus Savings Account

• 0.55% APY
• $5,000 Minimum Opening Deposit
• $4 monthly service fee; waived with a daily minimum balance of $500
• Daily Compounding Interest
• FDIC Insured

The Popular Direct Savings Account offers one of the highest interest rates. However, the minimum deposit is a whopping $5,000.

And you must maintain a $500 balance in the account or else you'll be charged a monthly fee. If you close the account within 180 days, there's an early closing fee of $25.

This option is better for those who have more to save and don't need to move money around too often.

You might also consider:

CIT Savings Builder - Earn 0.40% APY

Earn up to 0.40% APY. Here's how it works: Maintain a minimum balance of $25k OR make at least a $100 minimum deposit every month. Member FDIC

Citi Account Packages - Up to $1,500 Bonus

Open a new eligible checking account and savings account in the same account package for Citigold, Citi Priority, and Citi Account Package. Within 30 days of account opening, fund your new checking and/or savings account with the required minimum deposit. Maintain the required minimum balance in the account/s for 60 consecutive calendar days to earn corresponding cash bonus.

Account Package	Minimum Deposit and Minimum Balance	Cash Bonus
Citigold Package	$200,000	$1,500
Citi Priority Account Package	$50,000	$700
Citibank Account Package	$15,000	$300

Citi Savings Account - Up to $3,000 Bonus

Open a new eligible Citi Savings account. If you open a Citi Priority Account Package, Citigold Account Package or Citigold Private Client, you must have or open a checking account in the same package. Client must enroll in this offer at the same time they open the eligible Citi Savings account. You may enroll online or by contacting a Citibank representative by phone or in a branch and asking them to enroll you in this offer. Deposit qualifying new-to-Citibank funds within 30 days of opening savings account. Multiple deposits allowed. Maintain the qualifying balance in the account for 60 consecutive days from the date the minimum deposit is reached to receive corresponding cash bonus. Offer available in NY, CT, MD, VA, DC, CA, NV, NJ, or select markets in FL or IL.

Minimum Deposit and Minimum Balance	Cash Bonus
$25,000 - $49,999	$75
$50,000 - $99,999	$150
$100,000 - $249,999	$300
$250,000 - $499,999	$750
$500,000 - $999,999	$1,500
$1,000,000+	$3,000

Ally Auto Loan: Ally offers vehicle financing through dealerships. This means you have to go to a dealership that offers Ally financing--you can't contact Ally directly to get loan rates and preapproval. The dealership will determine your rate depending on your credit.

If you go with Ally, you can choose between buying and leasing. If you're not sure, the Buyer's Choice option allows you to decide at the 4th year mark if you want to keep the car or sell it back to Ally. The last option is to pay smaller monthly payments with one larger payment at the end.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is Ally a safe bank?
  Yes. Ally is FDIC insured for up to $250,000 per account. This means if Ally Bank defaults, the federal government guarantees the balance in your deposit accounts, up to $250,000 per account.
• Are online banks safe to use in general?
  If the bank is FDIC insured, you can be confident that your money is safe. Online banks still must follow the same rules and regulations as brick-and-mortar banks. They just don't have physical locations.

  As far as conducting banking business online, that is generally safe, too. Banks use layers of security to protect your information.

  Ally has anti-virus protection, firewalls, and encryption, as well as a 2-step authentication procedure to protect its customers.

  Miguel A. Suro, a personal finance blogger for The Rich Miser, is devoted to Ally Bank and says he 'never plans to return to a brick-and-mortar bank.' He offers these as the pros and cons of Ally Bank:

  The main benefits:

  • ATM fee reimbursements
    
  • Free checks
    
  • High interest rates
    
  • After-hours customer service by phone

  The main drawbacks:

  • Inability to deposit cash
    
  • No personal relationship with a banker
    
  • Can't walk to a branch if you need same-day service
• Are CDs worth it?
  CDs are a secure vehicle to park your money and grow some interest. You are guaranteed interest. When you sign up, you know exactly how much interest you will earn on your deposit.

  It will not change for the entire term. If you are sure you won't need the money for a specific amount of time, then CDs are great to grow your money a little safely.

• Is Ally Bank only online?
  Ally is an online bank only, so there are no physical branches. It has a couple of headquarters offices in Detroit, Michigan and Sandy, Utah. There are also several other corporate offices across the U.S.
• Is Ally Bank American owned?
  Yes. Ally Bank was originally known as GMAC (the finance sector for General Motors). In 2010, it was rebranded as Ally Bank. It is headquartered in Detroit, MI and Sandy, UT.

Bottom Line

Ally Bank is one of the most reputable online banks in the industry.

We love that Ally has no minimum deposit, no account minimum, and no maintenance fees. It's also great that the bank offers so many options, allowing you more flexibility.

The interest rates are pretty solid for today's standards. And you may feel at ease knowing you can reach a real person at any hour of any day.

There's no real downside to opening an Ally Bank account, since there are no maintenance fees.

Write to Anna G at feedback@creditdonkey.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our latest posts.

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