Consumer complaint received 2018-11-09
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: FL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Problem after you declared or threatened to declare bankruptcy

Complaint:
I filed bankruptcy in XX/XX/XXXX as a single filer, my spouse did not file. Ally Financial filed a claim for the full amount of the loan with the courts. At that time they indicated that the amount outstanding was XXXX, with a loan total of over XXXX. which was noted as late charges on our account. ( Since purchasing this vehicle it should also be noted we have had to spend almost XXXX on repairs to the vehicle which were due to know manufacturing defects in this vehicle when sold to us by our dealer and are having these claims investigated and has cause a larger financial strain on us. ) Once the Bankruptcy was filed, the account was shut down online with no access even to my non filing spouse, there were no statements, no verbal communication, or other contact via mail to my non filing spouse. NO payments would be accepted and the auto pay feature that we had set up was shut down so no payments were taken for 10 months. We had been advised by our attorney to set up the auto pay feature to our loan so that they payments would continue, however Ally shut the entire account down. They would not discuss the account due to the claim in the bankruptcy courts and the auto stay. 

Fast forward to XX/XX/XXXX, We woke to tail lights in our driveway on XX/XX/XXXX. The were repossessing the vehicle in my husbands name. A phone call was made to ALLY bankruptcy solutions and I requested information as to why the car had been removed from my driveway. I was met with a very rude, and dismissive female by the name of XXXX who advised me that we were 274 days late with payments ( payments they would not allow us to make, or discuss, and had not withdrawn based on the auto pay set up ) I inquired as to why there was no communication of balances dues, statements being sent, no communication related to the non filing spouse my husband. She very rudely and demeaning voice she told me I should consult my attorney because I obviously did not understand the bankruptcy stay rule, and when I pointed to the fact that my husband who was the primary on the account was not the one filing bankruptcy, she advised that the consider the contract as ONE contract, and that because of the bankruptcy stay, that she again told me I must not understand and should contact my attorney about did not enable them to contact, send statements, or take payments from us. The stay on the vehicle was lifted on XX/XX/XXXX per XXXX this is the day they received notification. She stated that her department had attempted to reach my husband regarding the vehicle on two different occasions, however we did not receive the phone calls, and explained to her the phone calls were not received. I inquired as to why they had not sent a letter by regular mail, or certified mail, as they had shut down the account, and not communicated with my husband in any way. She became even more belligerent and yelled at me telling me that I obviously didn't understand the bankruptcy laws on the " stays ' and that it was our tough luck if we didn't get the calls. I advised her I had received a call to me personally, not my husband the night before I made this call to her, but it was an hour prior to their office closing, and they had taken the car before I could even call and inquire about the nature of the call that evening. She again kept being belligerent and rude, offering me no further explanations except that the Bankruptcy Stay did not allow communication with my spouse or myself prior to XX/XX/XXXX and that it was our tough luck. We would have made arrangements to get the payments figured out. We are also having issues with the IRS and they had just levied my husband 's bank account taking all of our money, but we could have had my attorney contact them if we had been given the chance. There was no attempts at rectifying this with us, and no cooperation with them. Without sending statements, shutting our account down, canceling the auto pay feature, and refusing to communicate with us due to the bankruptcy stay, which XXXX made me quite aware that is why they hadn't reached out to my spouse regarding the past due payments, we had no way of making every effort to make right on the past due. It was not communication at least making sure my husband was aware of this lift and could make payment arrangements. This lack of cooperation, and refusal to find a solution to our problem has created greater financial hardships. Also I received a letter indicating that I was represented " pro se '' in my bankruptcy which was not the case at all. I have had attorney representation since the start of my bankruptcy, they even sent a copy of the claim to my attorney with a copy of the contract. Our vehicle is due to be sold on or after XX/XX/XXXX. The have already posted the repossession to my husband 's credit bureau report and indicated that the account was closed. I asked XXXX how we were supposed to make payments, why the account was shut down making it impossible to make payments, and the fact that they were not sending statements to my spouse ( the prime on the loan ) or allowing us to communicate by phone with them and all she kept saying was well you filed bankruptcy, pointing the fact of the Bankruptcy stay, and when I asked her how we were supposed to know that we needed to make things right with them without prior communication, she made it known it pretty much wasn't her problem.

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