Re: Ally bank website and other problems
Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2019 7:02 am
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?
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?