Consumer complaint received 2018-10-19
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: VT
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem while selling or giving up the vehicle

Complaint:
I took over the lease of this vehicle from another man. The subject vehicle was returned in XX/XX/2017. When I returned the vehicle, nothing was said regarding any issues. Sometime later, I received a letter from Ally stating that the rear of the car or back of the car was missing and I had to pay around {$500.00} for it. I called the Ally help desk and was told repeatedly that the back of the car or rear of the car was gone and I owed Ally for it. I pointed out that were the back of the car missing it would be significantly higher than {$500.00} so none of this made any sense. I then asked to speak to a manager and they said a manager would call me. No such call was received. 
What followed was a morass of calls ( and letters ) from Ally demanding payment, with me continually stating that the back of the car was there when I turned the car in. It did not matter to the person calling, I owed Ally money for the back of the car. 
At some point ( over a month after turning the car in ) someone at Ally told me that it was not the back of the car that was missing, but rather the charging unit for the XXXX ( it is an electric car ). I told this person that I did have the charging unit. When I took over the lease from the prior lessee, he gave me the charger ( he was giving it to me with the car and I understood it was his personal property which he did not need anymore ). I was not aware that the charging unit was to be returned with the car. In any event, I told the Ally representative that I did have the charging unit and would gladly drop it off for Ally. I was told it was now too late and that I must pay for the charger ( roughly {$500.00} ). 
I told the Ally representative, and have repeated it many times to the numerous calls seeking money from me, that I was glad to return the charger but would not pay for it. Since Ally did not tell me what the actual problem was for well over a month, I was not paying for a charging unit when your firm told me that I owed Ally for the back of the car. 
The upshot of this is I recently tried to get a loan from XXXX on my home. While I would normally not have had a problem getting a loan, this issue with Ally regarding the lease of the subject vehicle is significantly and negatively impacting my credit score. The amount of the loan was limited, and according to XXXX, I was now paying 88 more basis point for the loan due to my credit score having fallen more than 200 points. The reason for the credit score falling was Ally reporting me as delinquent on this loan. This is all in spite of the fact that to XXXX knowledge I had no other payment/credit problem in my life ( I am not a young man ). 
If you check both written correspondence as well as the many recorded ( by Ally ) telephone calls you will find what I am telling you is accurate. I ask my credit score be fixed. I am, as always, more than willing to return the vehicles charging unit..

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