$1 Worth $10K In Ally Financial Hardest Working Dollar Promotion

DETROIT, MI — Last year, Detroit-based Ally Financial dropped “lucky pennies” worth a thousand bucks each in various locations. This year, the lender is upping the ante and will put $1 bills worth $100, $5,000 and $10,000 in the general circulation of Detroit and 14 other cities. But the way money travels across the country as it’s spent, returned in change and spent again, even someone whose city isn’t on the list could end up with a $10,000 windfall.

Other cities in Ally’s “Hardest Working Dollar” promotion are New York City; San Francisco; Cleveland; Seattle; Boston; Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; Dallas; Phoenix; St. Louis; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The 15th destination will be selected by consumers through the digital banking company’s social media accounts by using the hashtag #HardestWorkingDollar.

That city will be selected in early July, according to a press release. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, like us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Here’s how the promotion works: An anonymous “dollar dropper” will spend $7,500 in participating cities at places like convenience stores, coffee shops and other places where cash is frequently used, and the money will go into general circulation. Of those dollar bills, 150 are worth $100, six are worth $5,000 and one is worth $10,000.

To check your dollars, go to the Ally Hardest Working Dollar contest website and enter the serial numbers. You’ll have to put in your email address, and Ally will ask if it can send you information on a new financial product, but you can decline and still participate in the promotion.

So far, the dollars have been spent in New York City, San Francisco, Detroit and Cleveland. The promotion will be launched in three different cities in the coming weeks before the campaign ends on July 31. At least one of the dollar bills has been found in California.

Here’s the release schedule for the remaining cities:

• Seattle: Wednesday, June 14
• Boston: Thursday, June 15
• Philadelphia and Portland: Monday, June 19
• Dallas: Thursday, June 22
• Phoenix: Monday, June 26
• St. Louis: Thursday, June 29
• Charlotte: Friday, June 30
• Atlanta and Salt Lake City: Monday, July 3
• Market to be determined by popular demand: Thursday, July 6

Ally is using the contest to promote its new online Ally Invest product, Diane Morais, president of Consumer & Commercial Banking at Ally Bank, told the Detroit Free Press.

“This awareness campaign is meant to get consumers looking at the dollars and thinking: Could their hard-earned dollars be working even harder for them?” Morais said.

Last fall, Ally scattered 100 pennies worth $1,000 each in 10 U.S. cities, including Detroit, then offered clues in social media posts. About 85 of 100 pennies were found, including several in Detroit.

Photo by tom_bullock via Flickr Commons