Consumer complaint received 2019-03-06
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem with fees or penalties

Complaint:
My complaint and gripe is regarding on-line giant, Ally Financial, previously known as XXXX ( an  acronym for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). It's a US-based bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered in XXXX, Michigan. I was a sucker! I went to on-line banking for a few pennies more interest and it cost me {$2500.00}. Oh ... Ally didn't do anything illegal, they just removed the human side of banking and turned it and me into basically an ATM machine! Hopefully others won't fall into the same trap. 

THE STORY : 8 years ago I took the proceeds from the sale of my home ( {$250000.00} ) and purchased a Certificate of Deposit ( CD ) with 'new ' on-line Ally Bank. Their percentage rate was slightly higher. So instead of dealing with a local 'bricks and mortar ' bank that had a real human being sitting at the officers desk, I sold my soul to the XXXX and sent my quarter of a XXXX dollars off into cyber space ... AKA ... Ally Bank! For 8 years, I never made a withdrawal. For 8 years, I redeposited the interest back into the CD letting Ally keep every single penny. Fast forward 8 years and a family emergency popped up and I needed to withdraw the money out of the CD to cure the emergency. I contacted Ally and they informed me of the " penalty clause '' that said it would cost me {$2500.00} to collect my own money that had been entrusted to Ally for the past 8 years. Oh.. I know it's legal for them to penalize me as they have ... I'm not arguing that point. My {$2500.00} is gone, probably into some bankers weekend slush fund. My gripe is, I had no one to go to to explain the human and personal side of my situation. There was no bricks and motor ... there was no human being on the other side of the desk at a local branch to plead my case to. All I got was an 800 number and a recording that basically said ... " We're so sorry ... XXXX XXXX ''! 
The purpose of the penalty in these cases is prevent one from using the CD as a checking or savings account. For 8 years, I entrusted my money with Ally to invest and reinvest and do with as they pleased. I never made a withdrawal and always reinvested to interest with them. But when I had a personal problem, as humans often do, I got to see the hard cold reality of on-line banking. Turn on, tune in, drop dead! 
MY ADVICE : Don't do what I did. I was narrow mind and stupid. I never envisioned a family emergency arising down the road, only to have digital corporate America reach in my pocket and remove {$2500.00} of my hard earned money without a blink of the eye. There are banks on every corner in America with real human beings working in there, just like you and me, and will have some compassion and understanding when the need arises. You can bank of the fact ... that will never happen at Ally Bank!

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation