Ally’s latest play for (very new) customers

Ally Financial is launching a promotional campaign aimed at giving newborns a head start on saving.

The $185 billion-asset Ally is offering to open savings accounts for any baby born in the U.S. on Dec. 31. An account can be opened by any adult, not necessarily the child’s parent or guardian, and the digital-only bank will fund it with $250.

“We think it’s a great way to end this tough year on a high note and we hope that everyone who has a baby on New Year’s Eve takes advantage of it,” said Diane Morais, Ally’s president of consumer and commercial banking products.

Ally worked with its public relations firm Tier One to create the campaign.

Morais said the promotion is a nod to the fact that children born this year will have very different banking habits than their older relatives.

“These babies will probably never go into a branch, so how do we welcome them and give them a financial head start?” she said. “People need help getting into good habits, so starting early, from birth, is a great head start.”

It’s also a way for Ally to spread cheer in a year that’s been characterized by a global pandemic and widespread social unrest.

“There will always be something special about the babies of 2020,” Ally said in an open letter this week announcing the promotion. “You've entered our world at a seminal moment, and seminal moments come with their own circumstances. Your family might be feeling the anxiety and loss that have hit so many this year. But in the midst of that, you've brought them joy.”

Detroit-based Ally usually runs some type of feel-good promotional campaign to close out the year, Morais said. One past example is its Banksgiving campaign, which awarded prizes, such as gift cards, to customers who could use some financial help. The prizes were often awarded at random, based on clues that customer service representatives picked up on during phone conversations.

Ally said there is no limit to the number of accounts it will open and that the only stipulation is that the child must be born by midnight on Dec. 31. Around 10,000 babies are born every day in the U.S.

An adult must supply a Social Security number and upload his or her birth certificate in order to open the custodial online savings account. Ally will deposit the funds into the account once it has verified the birth certificate.

The funds belong to the child, though the custodian is tasked with managing the account until the account owner is an adult.

The promotion will run from Jan. 15 through the end of July.