GMAC/Ally Retreats in Deposit Battle with ABA

We documented earlier this week the battle of letters between GMAC/Ally Bank and the American Bankers Association over what the ABA called GMAC's "particularly egregious" and too-high deposit rates.

Well, it seems that GMAC has retreated. The Bank Deals blog is reporting today that GMAC/Ally has quietly cut its deposit rates. Here's a table that shows GMAC/Ally's new pricing:

Will the ABA be satisfied with these rate cuts? Bank Deals says probably not:

I doubt these new rate cuts are low enough to satisfy the American Bankers Association (ABA). They probably would like to see rates as low as the Weekly National Rates and Rate Caps that the FDIC now publishes. That table shows the national average savings account rate of only 0.22%. As I mentioned [previously], the FDIC's new rules to restrict deposit rates of banks that are not well capitalized won't go into effect until 2010.

I have no reason to disagree.

Tags: aba, ally, gmac

Comment by Bill Fitz on June 5, 2009 at 5:29pm: Other banks have used the same strategy to accumulate assets.

Comment by JJ Hornblass on June 5, 2009 at 5:31pm: Indeed. That's why the FDIC has imposed rate caps for institutions that are not well-capitalized.

Comment by Michael Cole on June 5, 2009 at 5:41pm: I remember e-Trade bank and HSBC offering rates around 4.5% a couple of years ago. Would they be able to do that today?