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GMAC Changing Name to Ally Bank

Auto financier hopes to escape GM stigma, adopts better business practices

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 15, 2009

• Auto Bailout Chief: GM's CEO Had To Go • Taxpayers Unlikely To Recover Full Auto Industry Investment • GMAC Changing Name to Ally Bank • New Car Sales Show Improvement From May • April Dismal For U.S. And Foreign Carmakers • Chrysler Files for Bankruptcy, GMAC Takes Over Financing • Auto Sales Stagnant, But Hope Appears • What Would a Chrysler Bankruptcy Mean For You? • U.S. Carmakers Getting More Federal Aid • GM Cuts More Jobs, Eyes China • New Car Sales Plunge in February • Car Buyers Seeking Higher Fuel Economy • Video: Do Women Really Hate Car Shopping? • GM Plans New Minicar, Electric Cadillac • GMAC Becomes a Bank • White House to Loan Carmakers $17.4 Billion • Chrysler Closing Car Plants for 30 Days • What Would a Washington-Designed Car Industry Look Like? • States Want Stronger Used Car Rule • Industry Troubles Cloud LA Car Show • Carmakers Get Neither Love Nor Money From Congress • Taxpayers Headed For Automotive Bailout • Time May Be Running Short for U.S. Carmakers • Feds Move Closer to Carmaker Bailout • New-Vehicle Buyers Turn to the Web in Record Numbers --- • More about Auto Sales ...

GMAC Financial Services is nothing if not adaptive. Faced with last year's simultaneous banking crises and nosedive in car sales, General Motors auto financing unit became an independent bank, eligible for government bailout money.

Now, with its namesake on the verge of bankruptcy, GMAC Bank is rebranding itself as Ally Bank. The company says Ally will be a unit of GMAC Financial Services.

It will offer many of the same products and services it currently does, including a variety of savings products, including no-penalty certificates of deposit (CDs), online savings accounts and money market accounts. And noting that consumers, in general, appear fed up with multiple bank fees, Ally Bank pledges to be different.

"We are launching a new brand with a new approach of treating customers with total transparency," said GMAC Chief Executive Officer Al de Molina. "Unlike other banks which depend on fees as a business model, we want to make money with customers, not off customers."

The bank says it will improve the online banking experience, avoiding "teaser tactics," providing true no-penalty CD products, and offering competitve rates on savings products.

"The Ally brand is founded on three principles: Talking straight, doing what is right for the customer, and being obviously better than the competition," said Sanjay Gupta, chief marketing officer. "It is a promise from our company to our customers. We believe that being direct and honest is the best way to build lasting customer relationships."

The company said it developed the Ally brand following extensive conversations with customers who clearly expressed the need for a trusted bank partner.

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