Consumer complaint received 2022-06-02
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: OH
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
Last week my mother and wrote me a check that falls within Ally 's deposit limits ( {$50000.00} ). I anticipated that a hold would be placed on the funds for 7-10 days, which I've found to be pretty standard for large sums that are atypical transactions. 

I have 4 accounts with Ally : 1. HYSA, 2. checking, 3. Roth and 4. Traditional IRAs. 

I deposited the check last Friday. Early Saturday morning ( XXXX ) I received a flurry of emails from Ally telling me to contact them immediately- that my accounts had been locked until I verified information. 

ALL of my accounts had been locked. Not just the pending deposit, or even just the checking account that deposit was made to, ALL of my accounts were locked and are 100 % inaccessible- even to view. 

I contacted them immediately ( per their email ) and was told that the representatives working were unable to answer any questions regarding my accounts, why they were ALL locked, and advised me that I would have to wait until Tuesday ( Monday was XXXX XXXX ) to speak with someone from Loss Prevention. 

Tuesday : I was able to talk with a rep from Loss Prevention who told me they needed to verify the check with my mom 's bank before they could unlock my accounts. I asked to speak with a supervisor to discuss if they could release the lock on my savings and investments at least and was told that their supervisors don't take incoming calls .... so maybe they'd call me back once the rep talked with them. I did not hear back from anyone. 

Wednesday : I give them the benefit of the doubt that they are working to get in touch with their fellow banking institution to verify the deposit. I confirm with my mom that the funds have cleared her bank. 

Thursday : I call to check on the status as I still have no access to my accounts ( I can't even pull statements I need to send to a lender for a property transaction in progress ). I'm told that they got in touch with someone at my mom 's bank but that bank wouldn't release information about if the check was funded. They proposed NO next steps. I request to speak with a supervisor and am again denied. 

As of this complaint my accounts have been unlocked- I received no notification and was informed after calling multiple times- the rep acted as though i just should have known. 

I am in the process of purchasing property, which is what the gift from my mother is supporting. I am deeply concerned that I'm not going to be able to access these funds at closing and that there is a high likelihood that I will again be locked out of my investments and savings accounts when I attempt to use/transfer these funds ( another large transaction ). If even a deposit can result in this level of inaccessibility I can only imagine the same for a withdrawal. 

At this point I want to move all of my funds out of Ally bank and am not able to get information from them as to the process by which to accomplish this without triggering additional account locks.

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 non-monetary relief