Gyroscopic Investing

Anyone having trouble logging in? I haven't been able to get onto Ally's website for days. The website is active but you get an "unable to process request" message when you try to log in. I can get in sometimes, but then the web interface freezes up within seconds. This applies to two different computers on different networks plus my phone, plus once trying to log in from my laptop in a different state.

I sent a secure message asking why my debit card is refused by Apple Pay and there's a response, which I can't read. Phone wait times are reported as 25-30 minutes.

I haven't been trying nonstop all this time (other things to do in life) so maybe I'm just supremely unlucky, but...This has been going on a long time for a bank website, and it's quite a serious situation if it continues. If they don't resolve this soon and send out an explanatory message with an abject apology, I may have to look around for a different online banking option.

No issues. Clear your browser cache. Type in Ally.com instead of whatever url you may have bookmarked. Reboot your phone

I can log in on a desktop, and did so yesterday, but I no longer use the app.

Previously, I was using the app on an ipad mini, and I thought it was weird that I could use my pin to log in without my password. One day, the check deposit-via-image-upload feature stopped working and I wrote to customer service. They answered that I'm not supposed to be using their app on an ipad mini. Still, they haven't changed the too-easy login and I can still get in. I should probably delete the app.

I should probably change my password

Similarly, I just used the app easily and read a message.

After some more internet searching and digging, I found that many have reported problems with Google Chrome, solved by either turning off hardware acceleration in settings, or using an incognito window.

I was able to get in once, but when I tried again I now get a different lockout message. Sigh. Will have to call Ally this weekend to find out what's going on. Probably too many login attempts.

Still - I have never had problems like this with any other financial institution, using the same browser. Makes me really appreciate Chase and Fidelity. And Vanguard.

Reminds me of a problem I used to have with my mortgage servicer website.

I believe deleting the sites cookies resolved it each time which would explain why incognito mode would also work bypassing cookies.

If you click on the padlock in front of the site address you should be able to see the cookies in use and also delete them.

Ah, should have thought of that.

I can log in now, but only about 1 in 3 tries ("internal server error" the other times). Anyway that'll do. Thanks.

I had the problem where I could log in, but couldn't get any further than that, for the second time in a few weeks.
Waited a few hours and all was well, though. I wonder what's going on.

↳ scratch that. I can see more of my account, but still can't transfer $.

I ended up pulling from the other bank instead of pushing from Ally. Good thing I'm not in a hurry.

That's the kind of hiccups I've been seeing for several months. Annoying, but in the right situation it could get pretty serious if you're relying on Ally as your primary bank.

They'd better fix these problems soon. The combination of Chase and Fidelity cash management is starting to look like a good alternative. Those websites are rock solid, and a bit of simplification would be nice too. I still have concerns about Fidelity's persistent habit of randomly locking up deposits for 1-2 weeks though. If that applied to the cash management as well as individual brokerage account, it would severely limit usability.

Yeah, I wouldn't use Fidelity as a primary bank.

Yup, looks like external funds transferring into Fidelity by any route (check, Ach etc) except wires would be subject to the 1-2 week "settlement" hold. From Cash Manager FAQs:

"Funds on an EFT [electronic funds transfer] can take several days to settle into your Fidelity® Cash Management Account."

And the FAQ actually hints about wiring funds to get around the hold time.

It's still potentially a very nice setup though, with the cash manager that lets you specify a sequence of money market funds to draw on, that could be in different accounts within Fidelity. So you'd replace your savings account with a money market fund, and you could use a money market fund that's part of the PP for another layer of backup. That makes the 1-2 week hold a lot more tolerable, though I still wish Fidelity would stop that bit of nastiness. No other broker does that to my knowledge.

WiseOne wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:14 am Yup, looks like external funds transferring into Fidelity by any route (check, Ach etc) except wires would be subject to the 1-2 week "settlement" hold. From Cash Manager FAQs:

"Funds on an EFT [electronic funds transfer] can take several days to settle into your Fidelity® Cash Management Account."

And the FAQ actually hints about wiring funds to get around the hold time.

It's still potentially a very nice setup though, with the cash manager that lets you specify a sequence of money market funds to draw on, that could be in different accounts within Fidelity. So you'd replace your savings account with a money market fund, and you could use a money market fund that's part of the PP for another layer of backup. That makes the 1-2 week hold a lot more tolerable, though I still wish Fidelity would stop that bit of nastiness. No other broker does that to my knowledge.

1-2 week hold? That's bogus. The more I interact with Fidelity since moving some accounts there mid-2018, the less I like it. I think it's losing the customer experience contest with Schwab.

WiseOne wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:14 am So you'd replace your savings account with a money market fund, and you could use a money market fund that's part of the PP for another layer of backup.

I just transfer from a Vanguard money market fund into checking every once in a while.
No savings account for me.

MangoMan wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:25 pm ...
so I started using Fidelity's cash management feature as my primary checking account. I have had zero problems, and have not had an issue with holds. The core fund is a Treasury money market that works nicely with the PP and pays a very competitive interest rate. I looked into doing this at Vanguard, but to get the same features free you have to have over $1M in assets with them, otherwise there is a $30/year fee.

I know that Vanguard recently scrapped their VanguardAdvantage thing, with the debit card. Do they even have any cash management features left?

I searched too. Vanguard discontinued their cash management account and there's no replacement. That would have worked even better with the PP, because their treasury MM is way more attractive than Fidelity's.

Pugchief that is good to hear! How do you have your account set up? I personally need to have deep backup to avoid overdrafts or bounced checks, because I'm always spending big on reimbursible travel, and the reimbursements generally don't come in before the credit card payment is due. I got away from Chase originally because I got tired of getting hit with $20+interest overdraft fees, even when my savings account (at near 0 interest) had enough to cover the overspending. Ally's setup with automatic coverage from the savings account has been a lifesaver. I definitely would need that from Fidelity's cash management account to make it a viable replacement.

MangoMan wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:19 pm I already had a personal trust account so I just used that. The only downside is no debit/ATM card, which is not an issue for me. If you have your Fido account set up as an individual or joint account, you can get a debit/ATM card. Otherwise, it's just like any other checking account. You ask for (free) checks if you don't already have them, and use the routing and account #s on the check to set up ACH transfers at your other banks. You can also set these up directly at Fidelity. I like to be able to push or pull the money. Note that money that is pushed to Fido is generally available immediately but if you pull it, there might be a hold. I deposit checks via the mobile app and the funds are generally available the next business day. I also moved some extra cash to the prime MM fund which pays a higher rate. They said if there is not enough funds in the core account to cover a debit, it will automatically draw funds from other money markets rather that overdraw the account, if that is a concern. The core account is a treasury MM fund which is safer, but pays a lower (although still competitive) rate.

If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask.

That's exactly what I find attractive about the Fidelity cash management account. You can basically replace your savings account with one or more money market funds, that can be spread around different accounts (individual, Roth, cash management account itself). You can even keep nothing in the core account and rely on automatic withdrawals to deal with each payment, because unlike savings accounts there is no limit of 6 transactions/month. Not that I could find mentioned anyway. The core account pays only 0.37% interest, it's not a good place to park large amounts of cash anyway (I'm astounded that anyone would want to put in anything close to the $1.25 million cap).

I just wanted to know if anyone's actually doing this. Dualstow, sounds like you sort of are but using manual transfers. I'm way too absent minded to trust myself to do that!

Lucky you. Per the website, the core position for the cash management account is fixed.

However: FDLXX (Treasury Only) has a higher interest rate that's fully state/local tax exempt, and there's no longer any minimums on it. I opened it with $200 from within the cash management account, and it would be nice to use this as my "savings account". However, I can't figure out how to put it on the list for the automatic overdraft transfer ("cash manager"). It looks like you can only select accounts and use their core positions, but the website says you can designate money market funds specifically. Anyone know how to do that?

MangoMan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:36 am No limit on withdrawals. I use their online billpay for the few non-electronic payments I have each month.

My core account is FZFXX which is paying 2.09% right now. Not sure what you have that is paying 0.37%, but maybe you can switch it? I do remember having a conversation with one of their reps about the debit card, and I could get one but would somehow end up with a different, crappier core account so I didn't opt for it because I use credit cards and rarely need ATM services. If I do need to use an ATM on some rare occasion, I still have the one from Schwab.

Thanks for pointing out the difference between the Schwab and Fidelity cash options. Yes, Fid seems like a better place to "bank", plus T-Bills auto-roll is nice. Strange how Schwab doesn't just copy auto-roll. It would be super easy to do.

MangoMan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:36 am No limit on withdrawals. I use their online billpay for the few non-electronic payments I have each month.

Isn't that electronic?

A less facetious question: don't you guys have to write checks once in a while? My friends in Europe and Asia don't, but I haven't totally escaped that in the States (nor do I mind, but that's me).

Ah, I see.

Checks: same story here.

WiseOne wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:14 am "Funds on an EFT [electronic funds transfer] can take several days to settle into your Fidelity® Cash Management Account."

I don't currently use the cash management feature, but I use Fidelity and like it a lot. In my experience, it takes about 3 days for an EFT to settle. In the investment account you can purchase securities with that money right away but you can't withdraw it until it's settled, and I imagine it's similar on the cash side. I've personally never experienced anything like a 2-week hold, and I suspect that's an outlier situation.

It seems to vary. I've had some transfers go through in a day. Most appear quickly but the funds are listed as "unsettled activity" and thus unusable for anything except buying securities in the account for periods that range from 2-3 days to more than a week. I definitely had at least one 2 week experience - maybe an outlier, but if it happened once it can happen again.

Thanks to the PP philosophy though, I have enough cash that can hang out in money market funds that I don't really have to worry about bouncing checks or bill payments. Still, though, I would not risk relying on Fidelity as complete drop-in replacement for a bank checking account. I really had no problems with Chase except I hated running into overdraft situations. I was thinking to use Chase only for fixed monthly expenses & ATM withdrawals, and pay all non-fixed bills out of Fidelity.

Schwab has some good purchasable MM options, but they aren't sweep.

https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/in ... t_treasury

Now this is interesting!

I opened a Fidelity cash management account to try it out, connected it to my bank account in both directions, added my Individual brokerage account to the overdraft list, and ran a couple of tests. First, I sent $100 to Fidelity from my bank (sent FROM the bank, not pulling from Fidelity). The cash appeared in the account (in core) and settled within a day. As soon as it showed up, I put most of it into a money market fund (FDLXX) and left just a few dollars in the core account. This trade took the usual 5 business days to settle.

As soon as that trade settled, I tried out the debit card at an ATM machine, for an amount greater than the core account but less than the amount in the money market fund. Theoretically, a debit should be covered automatically from the money market fund, and if that didn't happen for some reason, it would go to the core position in my Individual account. I expected this would be a same-day transaction, since the cash manager runs every night.

I got my cash, but to my surprise this shows up as a "cash advance", and it's debited from the account but taking the usual week or so to settle. A cash advance carries an interest charge of 26%, but other than that Fidelity's website says nothing useful about this. The amount includes the ATM fee, which is supposed to be refunded at some point. Meanwhile, the money market fund and core fund still show their previous balances and are presumably still generating interest.

This is all pretty weird stuff. I would like to use this account, but figuring out the byzantine (and undocumented) rules is going to require a lot of experimenting before I'd do anything more than test transactions. Meanwhile, anyone with experience (MangoMan?) who might know what this cash advance deal is about? Do all ATM transactions show up as a cash advance until they settle, or is this just because the core account didn't have enough in it to cover the withdrawal?