Synchrony Bank Issues

[tomd37]

I have been banking at the Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) since 1961. I recently saw advertisements for Synchrony Bank high yield savings (HYS) account and CDs. Their HYS account has an APY of 1.85% which is 1.40% higher than my NFCU Flagship checking account so I opened the account at Synchrony. I made several ACH transfers to establish the account. Due to ACH limitations at NFCU I decided to mail two larger checks to Synchrony. They both happened to be placed in my home mailbox the same day. The first check posted to my Synchrony account two days after mailing. The second never showed up so I called Synchrony who said they could not find the check. Suddenly two days later it is in my account. Now it is a week after that but it is not showing as available so now another call to Synchrony. Overnight the funds have suddenly become available in my account when the day before they were there, but not listed as available.

On every call I have made to a "banker" in Synchrony they have put me on a "two to five minute hold" (per their words) to check with their supervisor. This is becoming a 'pita' to me but I guess their APY makes up for it. I could do an ACH transfer from NFCU to Synchrony, but NFCU has a daily $5K limit and Synchrony says it still takes three to four business days to complete it.

Synchrony's 13-month CD is currently 2.65% APY which is 0.65% above NFCU's 12-month rate of 2.00%.

[Horsefly]

There's some strange stuff here. The credit union puts a $5K limit on ACH? That's nuts!

When I set up my Ally account, I let Ally do the test deposit / withdrawal on both my Fidelity Brokerage and my Wells Fargo account. That one-time set-up took a couple of days to complete, then I was able to transfer what I wanted. I've done several $20K and one $50K transfer.

I had to call Ally a couple of times when we were setting up our account, mainly because it was a trust account. Each time I was on hold less than a minute. I may have been lucky, but they seem to pride themselves on being available for calls.

Ally is also paying 1.85% on regular savings right now.

[linenfort]

To summarize the OP,

NFCU VS HYS/CD: APY OK; ACH, PITA!

[Kevin8696]

I have been banking at the Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) since 1961. I recently saw advertisements for Synchrony Bank high yield savings (HYS) account and CDs. Their HYS account has an APY of 1.85% which is 1.40% higher than my NFCU Flagship checking account so I opened the account at Synchrony. I made several ACH transfers to establish the account. Due to ACH limitations at NFCU I decided to mail two larger checks to Synchrony. They both happened to be placed in my home mailbox the same day. The first check posted to my Synchrony account two days after mailing. The second never showed up so I called Synchrony who said they could not find the check. Suddenly two days later it is in my account. Now it is a week after that but it is not showing as available so now another call to Synchrony. Overnight the funds have suddenly become available in my account when the day before they were there, but not listed as available.

On every call I have made to a "banker" in Synchrony they have put me on a "two to five minute hold" (per their words) to check with their supervisor. This is becoming a 'pita' to me but I guess their APY makes up for it. I could do an ACH transfer from NFCU to Synchrony, but NFCU has a daily $5K limit and Synchrony says it still takes three to four business days to complete it.

Synchrony's 13-month CD is currently 2.65% APY which is 0.65% above NFCU's 12-month rate of 2.00%.

I've been with NFCU since forever, but they have not kept up with the rates hikes in the market lately. A year ago, I looked at LOTS of online banks with the idea of moving my money market savings account funds to an online bank. I checked out Ally Bank, Capital One, Synchrony, Barclays, American Express, CIT, Discover, Goldman Sachs Marcus, and PurePoint. I found most to be idiots, crooks, or both.

I decided to go with Ally, and I have been very pleased... (so has my sister and her daughter who both opened Ally accounts). I opened an Online Savings account, and an Interest Checking account. I opened both to be able to transfer funds from savings to checking and get to the money via checks or debit card. The have an ATM network, and will also reimburse other bank's ATM fees up to $10 a month.

I regularly initiate ACH transfers from the Ally site, (which has a daily transfer limit of $150k), and the money arrives at the destination bank (in or out) the next day !!

I chose Ally because they have great rates, they are the one most like a brick and mortar bank, with lots of other banking products, and their overnight ACH service is the best !!

Fyi... Synchrony, and most of the other online banks, are really just credit card companies looking for cheap deposits to fund their credit card portfolios.

[tomd37]

Kevin - What I am not enamored with is NFCU's limit of $5K per day per ACH. Heck, investment companies send large amounts of distributions each day to their clients via ACH, even my RMD each year goes via ACH to NFCU and it is much more than $5K

[Kevin8696]

Kevin - What I am not enamored with is NFCU's limit of $5K per day per ACH. Heck, investment companies send large amounts of distributions each day to their clients via ACH, even my RMD each year goes via ACH to NFCU and it is much more than $5K

Tom... I checked my notes from when I was looking at Synchrony. As I recall, you can initiate an ACH transfer from the Synchrony site to "pull" funds from an outside account (NFCU) for up to $500k a day. That may depend on what type of NFCU account that you have. Check with the folks at both banks, and I'm sure you can find a way to initiate the ACH at Synchrony, and pull the money from NFCU, thus avoiding their $5k limit on "pushing" funds to an outside bank account. - Kevin (Fly Navy !!)

[welderwannabe]

Ally, and I have been very pleased... (so has my sister and her daughter who both opened Ally accounts). I opened an Online Savings account, and an Interest Checking account. I opened both to be able to transfer funds from savings to checking and get to the money via checks or debit card. The have an ATM network, and will also reimburse other bank's ATM fees up to $10 a month.

Agreed. Ally doesn't have the best rates, but they have pretty good rates along with great features and service. Their website isn't as good as the old one, but it still blows away CapitalOne's and many others. Their phone reps have never steered me wrong and always gotten the job done.

They even overnighted me a bank check once for no charge. I didn't even ask...they just offered.

That is good service.

[GoldStar]

Gsbank's rates are the same as Synchrony's and their ACH transfers take only 1 day instead of 3.

[tomd37]

Kevin - Using Synchrony I have pulled more than $5K at a time from NFCU so that remains a viable option. Why I cannot push from NFCU I don't understand. Thanks for your comments. Your 'Pork Chop' friends will take good care of you 'fly boys'. Had two older brothers as pilots; USAF and USMC. I initially qualified for flight training but just before reporting to Pensacola something happened eye-wise that ultimately led to permanent disqualification in 1961, so to beat the draft I went to OCS as 1105 and two years later augmented and changed designator to 3100.

[Kevin8696]

Kevin - Using Synchrony I have pulled more than $5K at a time from NFCU so that remains a viable option. Why I cannot push from NFCU I don't understand. Thanks for your comments. Your 'Pork Chop' friends will take good care of you 'fly boys'. Had two older brothers as pilots; USAF and USMC. I initially qualified for flight training but just before reporting to Pensacola something happened eye-wise that ultimately led to permanent disqualification in 1961, so to beat the draft I went to OCS as 1105 and two years later augmented and changed designator to 3100.

Tom - It's not just Navy Federal. I have the same kind of ACH limits in my Wells Fargo accounts, and I hear Bank of America is no different. The online banks do have a strong reliance on ACH for transacting business, and the Federal Reserve is trying to cut down on the number of wire transfers, so that could be the driver for the higher ACH limits in online banks. - Kevin

[pascalwager]

I had a lot of money at Synchrony Bank for several years--savings and CDs. It worked well for me, all online transactions, and their rates are near the top for banks. At one time the ACH maximum was $50k, but recently there was no maximum.

I only left because Treasury-based MM rates improved so I no longer needed to pay the state tax for my bank accounts.

[dknightd]

Kevin - Using Synchrony I have pulled more than $5K at a time from NFCU so that remains a viable option. Why I cannot push from NFCU I don't understand.

This is the the way I do it when I want to move funds from (or to) credit union, or local other bank, to (or from) online bank. Initiating the transfer at the online bank seems to work much better. I guess they are set up better for ACH transactions (which makes sense).

[Kevin8696]

Gsbank's rates are the same as Synchrony's and their ACH transfers take only 1 day instead of 3.

Ally Bank's ACH transfers are next day, and rates are competitive with Synchrony and GS Bank (Goldman Sachs).

One thing to beware of with GS Bank (now called Marcus), their early withdrawal penalty for a 1-yr CD is outrageous... 270 days of interest !!

Compare this to the Ally Bank penalty of 60 days for a 1-yr CD, and 90 days for a 1-yr CD at Synchrony Bank.

[Wm_o_o_o]

On every call I have made to a "banker" in Synchrony they have put me on a "two to five minute hold" (per their words) to check with their supervisor. This is becoming a 'pita' to me but I guess their APY makes up for it. I could do an ACH transfer from NFCU to Synchrony, but NFCU has a daily $5K limit and Synchrony says it still takes three to four business days to complete it.

I'm not sure this belongs in "Investing - Theory, News & General"

looks more personal to me

[linenfort]

I'm not sure this belongs in "Investing - Theory, News & General"

looks more personal to me

You can always use the report button (exclamation point icon) and let the mods decide.

Select “Wrong forum.”

[GoldStar]

Gsbank's rates are the same as Synchrony's and their ACH transfers take only 1 day instead of 3.

Ally Bank's ACH transfers are next day, and rates are competitive with Synchrony and GS Bank (Goldman Sachs).

One thing to beware of with GS Bank (now called Marcus), their early withdrawal penalty for a 1-yr CD is outrageous... 270 days of interest !!

Compare this to the Ally Bank penalty of 60 days for a 1-yr CD, and 90 days for a 1-yr CD at Synchrony Bank.

It's the first time I've seen Allys HY savings rates the same as Sychrony, gs, and Barclays. For the last several years they have typically lagged (although by only a small amount). Looks like their CD rates are close now too.
I don't typically worry about early withdraw rates on a 12 month CD - too short a period to be concerned about for me.