Consumer complaint received 2017-11-07
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: WA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits or withdrawals

Complaint:
Narrative My complaint against ALLY BANK ( hereinafter Ally ) is very simple. The two pillars of personal and business interaction are : Due Diligence and Full Disclosure. In banking there is an added requirement : Fiduciary Responsibility. I believe that not only the actions of Ally in exercising undue domination over my fixed IRA CD deserves a preliminary investigation ; a written Ally response confirming that such control is a policy not published in disclosures, ( See Ally letter XXXX paragraph 3 ) ( Attachment 1A & B ) absolutely requires such investigation. 

The issues : I am required by the IRS to withdraw a yearly RMD ( Required Minimum Distribution ). Ive complied with this requirement every year from the time I reached 70 years. I had several IRA CDs at Ally as well as an online IRA Savings Account ( # XXXX ). The IRA Savings Account was the source of my RMD which I took in monthly installments. Until XX/XX/XXXX the program we set up was working just fine until we discovered that the FIXED IRA CD ( # XXXX ) had been shrinking beginning in XXXX XXXX. I can provide statements if needed, but it might be better to force Ally to prove the veracity of my assertions. On XXXX @ XXXX I called Ally and spoke with XXXX but no one could tell me why the FIXED IRA CD ( # XXXX ) was declining in monthly amounts equal to my RMD. Parenthetically, the RMD monthly amounts simultaneously stopped being deducted from the IRA Online Saving ( # XXXX ). One Ally representative went into the history of the accounts ( the IRA CD as well as the IRA Online Savings ) and could find no evidence of anyone redirecting the source of the RMD payments. This representative even went so far as to set up a case number ( XXXX ) for the Maintenance Dept. to research the issue. XXXX opined that this seems to be a systemic problem, a glitch. And she will research further. 

Let me digress for a moment as a long time collector for XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, WA. I KNEW that among the top commandments we learned was that the notes in a file were to be so complete and so thorough as to allow any future review of the file to be as if the reviewer had written the notes themselves. Clearly Ally does not have a like system. Based on this I thought it best to follow up on the case number. On XXXX at XXXX I called and spoke with XXXX who revealed that it was Allys policy to take RMDs from instruments which had the lowest earning interest rate AND that I had not executed the Ally form which designates what account from which the RMDs are to be drawn. ( Ref : Attachments 2A & B ) I  subsequently reviewed the Deposit Agreement as well as the Ally form and could find no reference to the policy or the place on the form for account designation!! 

On XXXX I sent a fax as well as a copy by U.S. mail ( Return signature requested ) ( Ref : Attachments A, B, C, & D ) advising Ally that despite a slight positive interest differential in favor of the IRA Online Savings Account ( # XXXX ) over the Fixed IRA CD ( # XXXX ) that they were to immediately stop exercising domination over funds which they did not own! Further, that the amounts taken from the Fixed IRA CD ( # XXXX ) were to be restored from funds in the IRA Online Savings account ( # XXXX ). I put this in writing even though I had been told by representative XXXX on XXXX that a reversal of the monies was not possible because THE IRA CD WAS A FIXED INSTRUMENT!! 



Narrative ( continued ) Page 2 At this point let me summarize : Ally has a policy which they keep to themselves ( Ref : Attachment 1 again the underscored ) to contumaciously invade a fixed IRA CD to provide the clients RMD without any authorization just so Ally can take care of IRS requirements instead of the OWNER of the funds. Well, thank you Mr. Helper! You can bet that if Ally errs in connection with the RMD it will be the CLIENT who will take the hit from the IRS. 

Finally, I spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as well as XXXX XXXX ( where I and/or my husband have personal as well as trust accounts ) re the ability of withdrawing RMDs from an IRA FIXED CD. Both agreed that it could be done BUT solely on the initiative of the account owner. I believe that Ally has unlawfully arrogated unto itself the decision over which account is to be the source of the RMD funds. One can only guess what other secret so-called policies Ally is applying  without the knowledge of the account holders. A preliminary investigation is clearly warranted to determine the scope of their domination AND if you deem it appropriate include the IRS because of the mishandling of my RMD. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, WA. XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX

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