Friday, November 6, 2015

Advance Request to Not Renew Ally Bank CDs at Maturity

As a follow up to my post about what to do with maturing CDs, I wanted to share that you can request in advance that your CDs at Ally Bank not be renewed at maturity. I think you can do this by phone, but I have only done it using online chat. In this post I describe how I've done it, and how you can too.

I like to do this with online chat, because I can copy the account numbers from my online account summary and paste them into the chat window, and because I can multi-task and do things in other windows at the same time, or even talk on the phone, while waiting for the chat representative to complete their tasks and respond in the chat window. Here are the steps to do this.

Log on to your Ally Bank account. You'll then see all of your accounts, including CDs, on the account summary screen. You might have to scroll down to see your CDs if you have multiple checking and savings accounts. The last four digits of each account number are displayed, and this is the only account info you'll need to provide instructions to the chat rep.

Open a chat window. To do this, click Help near the top right of the accounts summary screen, below and to the left of the tools menu gear icon ... 



... then click Chat at the bottom of the Help & FAQs pop-up screen, to the right of the phone number:



A start-chat window will open:



Click the Start Chat button, and a chat window will open:



Type in your request to not renew the selected CDs, then click the Send button when ready to transmit your request. 

The chat rep will ask for the last four digits of the account number for the CD you want to close, so to save time you can just include this in your initial request, either by typing it in, or copying it from your accounts summary page, and pasting it into your request in the chat window. Here is an example of an instruction I used today for two CDs:

Kevin: I would like to not renew CDs maturing on Nov 9, ending in 1234 and 5678, but have proceeds deposited into my savings account ending in 4321 (at maturity)

They will ask you why you don't want to renew, so to save time, you can just provide a reason before they even ask. They also may tell you about the 0.05% loyalty reward they offer if you renew, so you can also tell them you know about this to save time.


Kevin: reason is better rate elsewhere

Kevin: and I do know about the 0.05% loyalty rate bump

They also will ask for your phone number. I just wait for them to ask, since they may also ask for other information to verify your identity.

Travis: I can certainly make a request to close your CDs ending in 1234 and 5678 at maturity and transfer the funds to your Online Savings Account ending in 4321. May I confirm your phone number, please?

Note that the chat rep, Travis, has confirmed my request, so I double-check the account numbers, and verify that the confirmation acknowledges that I am requesting to transfer funds to savings or checking account at maturity; I want to make sure the rep understands that I am not requesting an early withdrawal, although I haven't seen a rep make that mistake in doing this three times so far.

That's it!

It can take up to two business days for the proceeds to be transferred into your account when the CD matures, so don't worry if you still see the CD in your account on the maturity date (with a new maturity date five years hence). Do check back within two business days to make sure that the CD is gone, and the proceeds are in your savings or checking account. I have seen it happen as late as one business day later, but also have seen it happen on the maturity date.


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