I am looking to open a 12 month CD with GMAC bank and want to know if anyone has had any adverse experience with them other than their telephone wait times.  They are currently offering a 1 year CD with a 4.10 APY.  My best savings account at Emigrant Direct is only paying 2.75.  I thought it would be worth it to tie up some of the money we don't anticipate using during the next year.

Yes, I have been using GMAC Bank for our regular savings for the past year with no problems whatsoever.  I thought about using them for a CD but the local National City Bank is offering 5% for a 48 month CD with a $10,000 minimum and I am tempted to tie up $10K at this rate for the next four years. 

Anyone else care to comment on a 5% rate for a 48 month CD ?

 

GMAC is a reliable bank.  You can also get a 4.15% APY at Indymacbank for 1 year.  Make sure you stay within the FDIC insurance limits.  You can increase the limits by adding beneficiaries to your CD.  Joint accounts qualify for $200K and joint accounts with 2 beneficiaries gives you up to $400K in FDIC insurance.

I believe you must open a regular checking account or a MM acccount to get the rate. I have no qualms about using a weak bank as long as I am within the limits. NC also now has the same rate for lesser term lengths.   Ken

Thanks for the information.  The National City newspaper ads in my area stipulate that you must have an additional checking or savings account to take advantage of their promotional rates.  They are also offering the 5% rate for 36 month CD's.  The GMAC CD does not appear to require any additional accounts.  The Indymacbank is offering the same 4.10 rate for 1 yr CD's but it has the lowest rating available on bankrate.com's website so I am going to go with GMAC.

I may be missing something, but the GMAC website currently shows a 3.65 APY for a 12 month CD.  Did you talk to a live person to get the 4.10 APY quote?

Regards, Jerry

The rates dropped to 3.65 APY on Thursday 5/15

"...other than their telephone wait times..."

 I have 3 or 4 CDs with them, and they're just fine, no problems, but be advised that the telephone wait times you refer to can be as much as AN HOUR!! No kidding, that's how long I waited to speak to a rep just yesterday evening!!
 

I have had a money market account with GMAC for years. Recently, I have opened several  CD's with them because of their 4.10% yield which is pretty good for a 12 month CD. The rate changed today but I was lucky to open my last CD yesterday, so no problem.

I have not had any problems with GMAC and I do my transactions on line on my money market account.

If you want to avoid the long wait time on the phone, you can email GMAC in your account (private email) and give them your instructions. They respond within 24 to 48 hrs.

Jeannette
 

Unfortunately my experience with GMAC Bank has been very negative.  The customer service is terrible, and the bank fees have exceeded one third of my interest earned ytd.

 I suggest you look elsewhere.

I can't comment on GMAC bank in particular, But I do have 2 CDS with them.  They are brokered CDS that I found on ameritrade so I can sell them at any time without loss of interest(so they tell me although I never tried it)  I think the fed is going to raise interest rates after the election so I'm staying away from long term CDs since there rate should go up when the fed raises rates.  I did have a CD with indymac but luckily it matured before the bank collapsed.  Anyway,  I never had to go through GMACs customer service to get my CDs nor will I have to ever call them so I guess lucky me.

I used GMAC for 3-month CDs about a year back. I had tuition money sitting in my savings that wasn't due to my university for about six months, so I dropped it into a 3-month CD. Service was good (although telephone wait times could be long, it never exceeded 20 minutes for me) and the rate stayed about the same, so when the term was over, I let it rollover into another 3-month. After that, I took my money and paid my tuition. No problems whatsoever.