Ally Credit Card -> Merrick Bank

[PostClerk]

[CBennett]

Well crap.  I kinda liked my ally card.  Use it a good bit.  Cash back and no annual fee.  Bet Merrick screws all that up. 

[PostClerk]

Yep- destined for sock drawer 

[boxmover]

Came here to see if anyone else posted it yet. I'm still salty with Merrick but it's been so long I've forgotten why.

My Ally has the $39 annual fee so it's slated for closure anyway early next year. I've gotten $10-$20 cash back on it for many months this year so was worth it  

However now that I've got other 3-6% cash back options it's lost it's use completely, so overall not bad timing for Merrick to take over.

[CreditCuriosity]

Merrick honestly isn't a bad bank and ally is known to offload accounts to other lenders occasinally this appears to be part of their business model  Get the people on their card for awhile then sell portfolios to other lenders.

[Jeffster1]

https://media.ally.com/2025-01-22-Ally-and-CardWorks-Reach-Agreement-on-Sale-of-Allys-Credit-Card-Bu...

Ally is selling off its whole credit card business to Merrick's parent company. I don't have either card, but the OLLO card was my first approval a couple days after my DC. I received an invite and was given a $2500 CL right away. I always respected the OLLO card for being a credit builder which didn't make you feel subprime. I closed it only because I outgrew it a couple years after discharge when I began receiving approvals for multiple prime cards. Ally purchased the OLLO portfolio after I had closed my account, but I always felt that Ally was going to ruin a good thing. 

I also had a Merrick Bank card at the same time and closed it at the same time I closed the OLLO. For some reason, I always felt that the Merrick card felt more subprime. My feeling was probably based on nothing, but it is what it is. No specific complaints here, but I closed it when it was time to move on. I know that Ally has a far greater range of credit profiles amongst its customers. I hope Merrick knows how to handle the portfolio.

[masscredit]

I just saw the email and came in here to see if anyone posted info yet. I kind of liked having the card. It doesn't get a lot of use but has grown over the last couple years. How is Merrick with CLIs? As @Jeffster1 mentioned, I also feel that Merrick is more along the lines of subprime. I'm not going to close the card. Guess we'll see how it goes.

[TrapLine]

In the past, I had banks that outsourced their credit cards and used Merrick Bank. All were fine and it was a while before I discovered the local bank was not handling their own credit cards. Merrick worked to keep a low profile and let the local bank look as the issuer.

Again, Merrick was all right to work with as a customer. Note, this was at least back several years.

[masscredit]

I just remembered I recently received an offer from Ally. I don't need it and the limit was too low so I passed on it -

We appreciate you being an Ally Unlimited Cash Back Mastercard customer. That’s why we’re pleased to offer you the Ally Everyday Cash Back Mastercard with a credit line of $3,000.

Apply today to start earning 3% cash back on gas, groceries and at drugstores with no annual fee. This offer is valid until 08/09/2025.

[zerofire]

Who was this? I have never seen Merrik Bank as issuer for anything but their own cards. They literally have to disclose the real issuer in the paperwork with a line along the lines of "This card is issued by [Issuer] persuent to licence from [Network]". I think it is silly but it is a great way to force the hidden issuers out. That is how I noticed Elan and a few others like Synchrony and Comenity that like to hide.