Ally Bank

Is Ally Bank safe?

For savers who stay within the FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary limit, yes. Ally Bank is a fully licensed, FDIC-insured bank, and about 92% of its $143.6 billion of retail deposits were insured in June 2026, so a run like Silicon Valley Bank's is much less likely. We score it 70/100. The low marks come from the parent company: Ally Financial holds the lowest investment-grade credit ratings, runs a thinner capital buffer than most banks on this site, and needed a government rescue in 2008 when it was GMAC.

Online bank, real bank

Ally is not a fintech app. It is a Utah-chartered bank with its own FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary certificate, 3.6 million retail deposit customers and no branches. That differs from apps such as Chime, which hold customer money at partner banks. It also differs from Revolut, whose protection depends on which entity and country you are in. With Ally, every deposit sits in one insured bank.

The FDIC call report for June 2026 estimates $16.2 billion of Ally Bank's $156.6 billion of deposits as uninsured, about 10%. Ally says that falls to 8% when you leave out money from its own group. Retail savers are rate-sensitive and can move money in minutes. But insured savers have no reason to run when bad news hits.

Why the ratings are lower

Ally Financial	Rating	Outlook
S&P	BBB-	Stable
Moody's	Baa3	Stable
Fitch	BBB-	Positive (Feb 2026)
DBRS	BBB	Stable

The ratings reflect Ally's business. Most of its loans are car loans and leases, and loss rates rise fast when used-car prices fall or unemployment rises. It sold its credit card business in April 2025 to focus on cars, deposits and corporate finance.

Ally Financial's CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary was 10.15% at 30 June 2026, about 3 points above its 7.1% requirement. Ally Bank's own ratio was 12.30%. As a mid-sized bank Ally may leave unrealised bond losses out of regulatory capital; at mid-2026 they were $2.7 billion, and counting them would cut the ratio to about 8.4% by our estimate. Capital One, the other big online-heavy lender on this site, has a wider buffer and ratings one to three notches higher.

The GMAC bailout

Ally was General Motors Acceptance Corporation until 2010. During the crisis GMAC lost heavily on its mortgage business, and the Treasury put about $16.3 billion into it in 2008 and 2009 as part of the auto rescue. By the end of 2010 the government owned 74% of the company. It sold its last shares at the end of 2014 and, by ProPublica's count, made about $3 billion more than it put in. No depositor lost money. Few large US lenders needed help for that long, which is why stability is Ally's weakest factor.

Conduct and data

In December 2013 the CFPB and the Justice Department ordered Ally to pay $98 million, $80 million of it to borrowers and an $18 million penalty. They found that its dealer pricing let car dealers charge more than 235,000 Black, Hispanic and Asian and Pacific Islander borrowers higher rates than similar white borrowers. Since then we found no consent order against Ally Bank by the FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary, the Fed or the CFPB.

In 2024 Ally sent notices saying a debt collection vendor's systems had been breached, exposing data such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth and auto account numbers. Two customers sued in North Carolina in September 2024. Ally's own systems were not reported as breached.

How to keep your money safe at Ally

• Keep your total at Ally under $250,000 per ownership category. A joint account adds cover for each co-owner.
• Turn on two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary and alerts for transfers out, and use a strong, unique password for the app.
• Ally has no branches. Keep an account at another bank too, so you can reach cash if your Ally account is locked for a fraud review.
• Ally Invest balances are brokerage assets with SIPC cover, not FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary deposits.

How we scored it

Deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (85) and liquidity (82) are Ally's strongest factors, thanks to a deposit base that is almost all insured retail money. Stability (35) is the weakest because of the GMAC rescue, and capital (60) reflects the BBB-range ratings and modest buffer. For a branch-based regional bank with a stronger rating, compare U.S. Bank.