Consumer complaint received 2020-02-20
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: CO
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off

Complaint:
My account with Ally Financial/Ally Bank is for an auto loan. The vehicle was stolen and deemed a total loss and Ally was notified of this on XX/XX/XXXX. My insurance company sent payment to Ally Bank on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$38000.00} representing full satisfaction of the vehicle loan account/agreement. I have documentation from my insurance company showing that Ally Bank in fact deposited the check in the amount of {$38000.00} for full satisfaction of my auto loan on XX/XX/XXXX. During a telephone conversation on XX/XX/XXXX, the Ally Financial representative told me and my insurance company representative that was also on the line that they did in fact receive the check from my insurance company in the amount of {$38000.00} and confirmed that this amount represents full satisfaction of my vehicle loan/agreement. Ally Financial further confirmed that the check was in fact cashed by Ally Bank on XX/XX/XXXX. However, both myself and my insurance company representative were told by an Ally Financial employee that the {$38000.00} check was not applied to my account, due to an error by Ally Bank/Financial. It appears that Ally Financial has in fact misappropriated {$38000.00}. 

As of the date of this complaint ( XX/XX/XXXX ), my entire loan amount has been paid and satisfied in full for twenty-seven ( 27 ) days. Yet, I still have not received confirmation in writing from Ally Financial confirming that my loan has been paid in full, and in fact, instead I received a letter from Ally stating that Ally Financial has/intends to report negative information about my account to the three major credit bureaus. All my previous payments on my loan/agreement were made on time and in fact, the entire balance of the loan was paid to Ally Financial well before my next payment due date. I have never been late on a payment for my Ally Financial auto loan account. 

I have documented all of my attempts to contact Ally Financial and all conversations I have been able to have with them. Many times, when I have called the phone number on their website ( XXXX ), I  get a recording stating that this is not a working number. My insurance agent got the same recording when she tried calling as well. On XX/XX/XXXX, an Ally representative told me that my insurance company issued a stop payment on the {$38000.00} check which at this point in time Ally had actual already cashed approximately three weeks earlier. There is no evidence of a stop payment being issued by my insurance company. Other times, when I am able to get someone to answer the phone, I am told that I need to speak with their " total loss department '' and have been given two different phone numbers for this department and have never been able to reach anyone at either of these numbers. I was simply given the option to leave a voicemail, which me and my insurance agent both did. However, neither of us ever received a response or phone call back. I was told in XX/XX/XXXX that their " computer system was down. '' I was again told this 3 months later in XX/XX/XXXX and was also told that since their system was down, they could not access my account information so therefore could not help me and simply told me that I still owe them {$37000.00}. The Ally representative could not tell me how she came up with this number. When calling Ally 's main phone number ( XXXX ), the times I have been able to get a representative on the phone, I have been told I need to be transferred to another department and then they hang up on me. I have been hung up on in this manner at least 15 times as of XX/XX/XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent Ally Financial a letter via their online account secure messaging system and via U.S. mail explaining these issues described above and also notifying them that I will be filing a complaint with the CFPB. Attached to my letter was a letter from my insurance company dated XX/XX/XXXX stating that they sent payment to Ally on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$38000.00} representing full satisfaction of this vehicle loan and to date, they still have not received the notarized lien release and title. I also attached a copy of the check from XXXX XXXX made payable to Ally Bank in the amount of {$38000.00} dated XX/XX/XXXX and proof of Ally Bank cashing this check on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, after being hung up on 3 different times, I was told by two separate Ally Financial representatives that they have read my secure message and attachments but that they can not help me at this time. I asked to speak with a supervisor and when speaking with him he said he needs to speak with his manager. After being placed on hold for approximately 30 more minutes, I was told that all managers are currently in a meeting together and I will need to call back. Given that many times no one answers their phone at all, I told him I will just remain on hold until the managers are all out of their meeting. I have currently been on hold for an hour and a half and remain on hold at this time. 

Not only has Ally Financial been reporting false information to all three major credit bureaus, which in turn, is negatively affecting my credit score and the interest rate I was able to obtain on the car loan I used to purchase a replacement vehicle, I am not able to get my refund ( approximately {$5000.00} ) for the warranties I purchased for my stolen vehicle because the warranty companies are requiring that I provide proof from Ally Financial that the lien has been satisfied in full before they will issue my refund. Furthermore, without documented proof of the refund issued to me, I am unable to submit my restitution request to the District Attorney for the Second Judicial District of XXXX, Colorado in the State of Colorado 's criminal case that has been filed against the Defendant who stole my vehicle. The deadline to submit my restitution request to the Court was XX/XX/XXXX.

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