Ally Bank Wins Three Silver 2014 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service

MIDVALE, Utah, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Bank, the direct banking subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc., today announced it has been recognized with three silver awards in the 2014 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which organizes several of the world's leading business awards.

The Bank was honored in three categories:  the Best Use of Technology in Customer Service Award – Banking; the Innovation in Customer Service Award – Financial Services Industries; and the Customer Service Training Team of the Year Award – Financial Services & Insurance.

"It is a great honor for Ally Bank to be recognized again by the 2014 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service; however, the true reward is in knowing that we've improved the banking experience for our customers," said Barbara Yastine, Ally Bank chief executive officer and president. "Our goal is to always provide a service experience that sets Ally apart and lives up to our brand promise of being a true ally to our customers. When it comes to our customers, good enough is never enough."

The Best Use of Technology award recognizes organizations for their use of technology that has directly improved customer service delivery and provided real business benefits. This award was given to Ally Bank for installing a new fraud detection and authentication platform that allows it to identify and request additional validation for higher risk login requests, as well as minimize disruption to genuine customer logins that present a lower risk.

The Bank also sought to help protect customers online in a "passive" way that would require no recurring action on their part. To accomplish this, in November, the Bank began providing the industry-leading Webroot® SecureAnywhere™ anti-virus software free of charge to customers to protect their entire online experience.

The Award for Innovation in Customer Service recognizes new ideas and developments within customer service that enable organizations to meet the needs of their customers more effectively. Ally Bank received this award for launching Straight Talk Product Guides for all its deposit products, earning the distinction of being the first bank to complete implementation of The Pew Charitable Trusts' clear and concise disclosure format for key fees, terms and conditions across its entire portfolio.

Finally, Ally Bank was recognized for Customer Service Training Team of the Year, which honors teams that develop and deliver training to customer service organizations and contact center personnel.

The Ally Bank service delivery team acknowledged the importance of the supervisor role and the need to design, develop and deliver customized training to this important group for dealing with urgent customer issues. As a result, a rigorous, challenging and interactive three-day training was designed and implemented by its service delivery team for call center employees that encompassed the art of leadership through coaching, development and effective customer service recovery. The result has been a notable and immediate improvement in customer satisfaction in only six months, as well as reduced volume of escalated customer issues to Ally Bank's Executive Resolution Department by more than 20 percent.

About Ally Bank
Ally Bank is a direct bank in the U.S. that offers a straightforward approach to banking with no minimum deposit required to open an account, no monthly maintenance fees and 24/7 live customer service. A subsidiary of Ally Financial Inc., the Bank offers online savings, interest checking, money market accounts, certificates of deposit with terms ranging from three months to five years, and IRA Plans and products. Member FDIC.

For more information, visit the Ally media site at http://media.ally.com or follow us on Twitter @ally.

Contact:

Andrea Puchalsky
313-656-3798
[email protected]

SOURCE Ally Financial