CIT Bank vs. Ally Bank - Which is Better for You?
Both Ally Bank and CIT Bank are great online banks that offer no-fees for basic services, but which is the overall better choice for you?
We hope to give you the information you need to decide for yourself which is better for you — personally we have accounts with both CIT Bank and Ally Bank as while we prefer CIT Bank we wanted to test them both out before making a comparison on them.
To summarize: We’d say CIT Bank is a better choice, as they offer the same (or better) interest rates on deposits, no fees or monthly minimums, and CIT Bank also offer $30 worth of ATM reimbursements while Ally Bank only offers $10 in ATM reimbursements a month.
Which Offers the Best Services/Rates - CIT Bank or Ally Bank?
CIT Bank wins this category by a small margin due to offering 3x the amount of ATM reimbursements ($30) as Ally Bank offers ($10), so if you use ATM’s internationally or simply want to convenience of using any ATM without worrying about fees the network operator or bank may charge, then you should definitely weigh this highly.
That works out to be between 5 and 7 free ATM withdrawals a month with CIT Bank’s echecking account no matter where you are in the world or what bank’s ATM you use — which is downright excellent, compared to Ally Bank which only refunds up to $10 a month, or about 1-2 withdrawals a month.
As for rates, both CIT Bank and Ally Bank are very competitive with each other, generally having the exact same rates on deposits, or within 0.05%, which is negligible, so we would say it shouldn’t be the deciding factor between these two banks. If you take money out internationally, or domestically, rather than always use card then CIT Bank is likely the better bank for you, especially if you withdraw cash frequently.
Which has less fees - CIT Bank or Ally Bank?
Both CIT Bank and Ally Bank have basically no fees — they both offer small fees for non-ordinary things such as wire transfers or overdrafts (if you enable the ability to overdraft your account), however otherwise they’re both fee-free.
The exception here is the ATM reimbursement CIT Bank offers $30/mo in reimbursements while Ally Bank only offers $10/mo in ATM reimbursements — this comes out to about 5 to 7 ATM withdrawals a month being free with CIT Bank, while with Ally it’ll only be 1-2 withdrawals from out-of-network ATM’s before you have to pay for cash-withdrawals from out-of-network ATM’s.
Which is more Trustworthy - CIT Bank or Ally Bank?
Honestly we don’t really see a clear winner here — neither bank is involved in particularly risky practices, and both of them have similar business models, so ultimately we don’t really see a way to differentiate between them two in terms of trustworthiness.
They’re both legitimate banks, and they also have FDIC insurance to protect deposits, but beyond this it’s hard to tell their trustworthiness. Both have decent support, although we’ve experienced slightly better (or rather quicker) support from CIT Bank, although Ally’s was adequate as well, just a bit slower, so take it as you will.
What Advantages does Ally Bank have over CIT Bank?
Ally Bank has a bit better of a interface than CIT Bank and offer similar services to CIT Bank, but they don’t really have any strong aspects going for them; they’re just a pretty standard online bank.
Beyond that Ally Bank doesn’t really have any real advantages — this is because CIT Bank offers identical interest rates to Ally Bank most of the time, and all the same low/no-fee aspects that Ally does. But hey, Ally Bank is not a bad bank and their only major disadvantage to CIT Bank is their lower ATM reimbursement.
What Advantages does CIT Bank have over Ally Bank?
CIT Bank has slightly better (quicker) customer service and a better echecking account that offers way more ATM reimbursements per month as well as all the same no-fee aspects that Ally Bank offers — however CIT Bank’s interface is a bit less user-friendly than Ally’s, albeit still quite good and better than most banks.
Beyond that though CIT Bank has little difference to Ally Bank — ultimately we’d say for most folks CIT Bank’s Savings + E-checking account is better than Ally’s Savings Account + Regular Checking Account due to the higher ATM reimbursements and otherwise more or less identical aspects of both banks.
