Consumer complaint received 2022-09-15
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: SC
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Termination fees or other problem when ending the lease early

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, I leased a New XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX through a Dealership and the deal was done through Ally XXXX. The " Agreed Upon Value of the vehicle '' was {$57000.00} and we put down {$9000.00} in a down payment or capitalized cost reduction. This made the 'Adjusted Capitalized Cost ' for the vehicle which was leased upon at XXXX miles a year for 36 months at {$48000.00} or {$520.00} per month. The total rent charge during my lease duration was to be {$18000.00} We had leased the vehicle for 5 months which means we paid XXXX payments for a total of {$2600.00} ( XXXX x XXXX ). The buyout of the lease was then listed around {$46000.00} on the Ally website. On XX/XX/2022, I was in a not-at-fault accident where a semi-truck wheel came loose from the vehicle and hit my car and totaled it. I informed my insurance and started my claim. 

XXXX valued my car at {$55000.00} ( or {$54000.00} with my {$1000.00} deductible ). Ally 's total loss department then requested the exact value of the car at the time of the accident which was the {$54000.00} of which XXXX is legally required to abide. However, this means that Ally then took the overage and also netted around {$8500.00} more than the car was sold at XXXX due to our down payment. 

Ally conveniently took off the buyout amount for the lease once the car was totaled so that they could keep the overage. Also, in Ally 's lease they note on Section 38. ( a ) If the money we get from your insurance is more than the Unamortized Capitalized Cost ( see definition in this section ), we will not give you credit for the excess. '' Ally stole our money and requested the exact amount from XXXX that the car was told it was worth rather than using their Unamortized Capitalized Cost. They should have requested the Unamortized Capitalized Cost which can be used by using the rent charge by the remaining XXXX payments, taking out the XXXX payments already received, Which leaves {$7600.00} in unearned rent charge which when subtracted from additional payments equals {$8600.00}. That added to the residual value notes on the lease of {$38000.00} equals {$46000.00}. This means that when Ally requested and kept the overage that XXXX sent of {$54000.00} they came out with a surplus of over {$7000.00}. 

We spent several hours on the phone with the Ally Total Loss Department on XX/XX/2022. They would not answer our questions. We even had a group call with XXXX and Ally where they tried to get Ally to answer our questions. They would literally go silent on the phone. We even had a response that said they got to keep the money because on the lease it says they can keep the " market value of the car '' which is not true and not stated on the lease. Their call center would hang up on us when they did not want to answer and we made over 7 calls to the department that day. We were never given answers and they would not send us up in management to get someone that could answer our questions. 

Ally inaccurately represented themselves on the phone and to XXXX by requesting a surplus amount. They then left a couple without a vehicle who got in a horrible freak accident with a hit to their finances that was unexpected. While dealing with the medical issues related to the accident Ally left us in a horrible position. I would like answers of why they believed they should keep that money they inaccurately requested and kept.

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 monetary relief