Consumer complaint received 2022-02-09
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: WA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Lender trying to repossess or disable the vehicle

Complaint:
I have been consistently making my payments, until a few months agoXXXX finally caught up with me. I am a single mom, that doesnt receive child support, help with childcare, any sort of benefits or rent subsidies. With that being said, I have been self sufficient, without any issues. Since I no longer have help with my child ( she literally comes to work with me ), I had to go from 3 jobs-to just 1 job. I had money saved, but having to homeschool really threw my finances off. This is my first loan, so I am very new and somewhat ignorant about the process. I missed a couple of payments, for the first time, and I got really depressed because everything I have work for is slowly falling apart. I didnt know what to do, so I waited until I could come up with a little extra cash to submit any sort of payment. I came up with a small {$100.00} payment, which I submitted online. I had just opened a new account, and closed out my last bank account, so I had to update my account with Ally Financial. As I was submitting my payment, the system asked if I wanted to submit my payment via the bank information already listed in my account, I opted for the other option, which required me to submit my brand new account information. I updated my account, submitted the payment l, and I deleted my old account information. I just felt more comfortable calling Ally, once I was able to pay anything I could. I got in touch with a customer service rep, and she let me know I have some options to help ease my current financial hardship. The rep offered me a loan modification as well as an extension. I opted for the modification. She qualified me, and I agreed to submit a payment ( of about {$270.00} ), and she informed me I needed to sign some paperwork-and submit the payment and the paperwork within 10 days. Which I did. Within those ten days, I received an email stating my ( previous ) {$100.00} payment was declined due to insufficient funds. I was puzzled, and logged into my Ally app. After a little research, I realized Allys payment system attempted to process the payment from my old account-which ilia odd, considering I deleted that information, and manually entered in my new account information. I didnt think anything of it, until I received a random text message from Ally, stating that my modification could not be process. I immediately contacted Ally, and a customer service rep, without any explanation regarding why they were transferring-or who they were transferring me to, patched me through to their internal collections team. I explained I was calling because of the text message I received. The collections rep said something about a payment issue-and I asked if it was regarding the {$100.00} payment-and before I could let him know I figured out the issue, he started yelling at me. I was obviously not okay with being yelled at, for no reason, so I asked if I could speak to a supervisor-I hopes getting this all straightened out. The rep, along with every other rep I have spoken to, would not connect me with a supervisor. Ally doesnt seem to have any sort of account rep or Supervisor ( who can oversee my WHOLE issue ) they are willing to : allow their clients to speak to. Ive been hung up on, twice, when Ive asked, Ive been told that I can not be transferred-and that the rep would have to have the Supervisor contact me because they are working remotely. A modification team member assured me he would have a Supervisor contact me-which never happened. A collections team member once said to me : Of course you can speak to a Supervisor, but we have lots of Supervisors ( which he then began to recite various job titles from various departments ) -which one do you want to speak to? I ended up calling back, and speaking with a different modification rep. The rep explained that I could just submit a new modification-since my first modification didnt go through, I havent had one before, and you are only allotted one. I asked if I could transfer my {$270.00} payment to the new modification-which he declined. I told him that was no okay-Ally advertises that they, as a company, are willing to help struggling clients..because they are compassionate about the pandemic. The whole point of doing a modification/extension is to ease clients that are struggling financially m, I thought. The rep basically told me it wasnt possible, and suggested I call back, after some time passed ( due to my modification being so current, it was best to let that phase through the system, otherwise it could get confusing etc. I did just that. In the next conversation with the modification department, we went through the same process as the first modification-answered some questions and agreed to submit payment etc..within 10 days. When it finally came down to submitting everything-I tried doing so, on a Saturday, before I had to leave for work. Ally uses XXXX, for their virtual paperwork etc.. I logged into XXXX, and the first thing that pops up is a request to verify Im human, and actually ME. The system sends me a verification code, which I needed to enter, I order to to open and sign the document. I entered the code ( made sure I entered the correct code-which I did ), but the system is telling me it can not verify myself, so it is stating to re-enter the verification. Once again, I entered the code, then XXXX system is telling me that since I can not be verified, I was locked out if the system. I contacted immediately contacted Ally, and was told that the person that answered is part of Customer service, and could not help me. I told him it was urgent, but his hands were tied and he could not help, then he suggested I call back I Monday. I let him know I had to have it all submitted before Monday.but, he just repeated that there wasnt anyone that could assist me. I contacted XXXX support team. The XXXX rep was great! I explained my situation, so the rep looked into the problem. He then told me that there was nothing he could do, either. He explained that Allys documents can not be touched once I was locked out. Even though the rep could not help me reset the verification, he assured me he would try to contact someone from Ally. The DocUSign rep ended up Cc me on the email he wrote to Ally. As far as I know, he never heard back from anyone, and neither did I. After that, which was just a few weeks ago, my daughter and I got sick with Covid-I ended up in the ER because of it. A rep from Ally called my phone, and I let her know that I was very Ill, and would need to call her back-as I couldnt function due to my illness. Once I got better, I called back, and I requested another modification. The rep I spoke to told me I no longer qualified for a modification, and she didnt have any explanation as to why. Which was beyond frustrating. I told her I guess I would have to shoot for an extension. Upon agreement she told me I had to pay {$340.00} within 10 days, and on the 11th day I would need to pay {$420.00}. I was shocked, and asked the rep how that is suppose to be helpful?! Im struggling and yet Ally advertises themselves as a company that cares about people that are struggling due to the pandemic, but in all actuality, theyre using the pandemic to promote themselves. Asking them for help has made everything worse. As I was saying, I was stressed out and contacted Ally for some clarification. I spoke to a gentleman from the collections department about an email I received regarding my promise date. Which only mention a heads up regarding my upcoming promise payment of {$340.00} on XX/XX/2022. The rep read everything over, and stated that it seemed as if I only owed the {$340.00}, as of right now-and he assumed the other amount ( which he had no information about, in his system ) was just some I should make sure to pay asap. I checked my account to make sure everything went through alright, and noticed I was being double charged on an unrelated bill-which would then make my account NSF. So, first thing Monday morning, I made sure to contact Ally, and the rep that answered ( once again ) had no idea what I was talking about-once again, no notes on the account and no sign of an extension. I was super frustrated, and asked why they dont have account managers-then she offere to let me speak to mine-huh? I told her that would be great, and asked why after all the times I asked for any sort of account manager, I was always told the company doesnt have those. She said she didnt know and transferred me. My account manager told me that she only held that title for a week, and that the account managers switch off-whatever that means. She told me the dates I was originally told doesnt sound right, and my promise date should be for XX/XX/2022 because that would be 10 days of my first conversation. Now Im being told something different-AGAIN. On XX/XX/2022 I received the extension paperwork via USPS, which validated the payment dates/amounts I was told in the first extension conversation. This is literally what its like when dealing with Ally. They do not address or resolve any issues. Any time a rep would assure me I could speak to them, and explain my issues-I got interrupted. I looked at the reviews, and it seems as if every single client of theirs is dissatisfied with the company, and they are all dealing with the same issues, as me. There were even a few complaints about Ally not handing over the title after everything was paid off. I struggle with a XXXX XXXX every time I have to speak to anyone from their company. I feel like myself, along with so many other people are not being treated fairly, or even respected. I tried filing a complaint with the XXXX, and they responded with a letter detailing information regarding when I signed paperwork and what dates I made a payment etc. It made no sense to me. Something doesnt feel right. Thank you for your time.

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