Consumer complaint received 2021-02-03
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: MA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
XX/XX/2021 Dear CFPB, I would like to bring to your attention that Ally Bank misleads consumers in its advertisements of Person-to-Person payment services that the bank provides. 

I order to steer consumers from competitors Ally Bank promises certain services to consumers that open a checking account at the institution. In particular, Ally Bank advertisers on its website person to person payment service under a name XXXX. According to Ally Banks website customers of Ally Bank can transfer funds to other consumers using XXXX service subject to a daily limit of {$5000.00} for a standard 3 business day funds deliver, a daily limit of {$500.00} for instant funds delivery, and {$10000.00} 30-day limit.

It appears however that Ally Banks service is not working according to the advertised terms and conditions and is not performing according to Ally Banks published documentation that describe how the XXXX service is expected to work. 

While one can make an assumption that Ally Banks person-to-person known under the name XXXX payment service may occasionally not function as advertised due to temporary technical issues or honest implementation mistakes of the service provider, it appears that Ally Bank refuses to investigate the problems that its customers experience while attempting to use the service even when customers report detailed descriptions of incidents. It appears that when the XXXX service is not working as documented Ally Banks representatives refuse to acknowledge the issue, refuse to perform a simple quality control calculation of payment limits, or provide information that contradicts the publish documentation. 

I am enclosing an email correspondence thread with Ally representatives in which during the last two months I reported multiple issues related to Ally Banks XXXX service. 

I initiated the discussion by informing Ally Bank that XXXX payments that were previously scheduled and subsequently were canceled affect how much funds can a customer can transfer in the future. Ally Bank never investigated the problem and responded with an obscure statement that Canceled and upcoming payments only count towards the monthly limit if theyre posted or already pending to the account. To my inquiry as of what part of Ally Banks documentation describes this restriction I received a response that that Allys standard P2P limits are subject to change without notice. To my question weather Allys had changed any limits for standard 3-business day P2P payments recently I have not received any information whether the mentioned limits had changed. As of today I have not received any information about documentation that describes ow canceled previously scheduled payments affect the ability of consumers to use Person=to-Person payments services at Ally Bank XXXX 

Later I noticed that limits for standard 3-business day P2P payments advertised by Ally Bank that are published on Ally Banks website are not being applied correctly. For example, as can be seen on the enclosed screenshot, the payment limit for me scheduling a payment to be sent on XX/XX/2021 weeks in advance was {$3300.00}. My requests to Ally to provide me current information about standard 3-business days limits for P2P limits, the total amount of XXXX payments scheduled for XX/XX/2021, and the total amount of XXXX payments scheduled for the XXXX period that includes XX/XX/2021 remained unanswered. 

My second request to Ally to provide exact calculations how the bank calculated the {$3300.00} limit also resulted in responses that have not answered my question. 
Today Ally Banks Person-to-Person payment service does not work the way it is described on Ally Banks website and in Ally Banks documentation. Failure of Ally representatives to properly document consumers reports of the service not functioning properly and their failure to fix discrepancies between how XXXX service is advertised to work and how it actually works either by fixing the service or by changing the publicly presented documentation of the service indicates that Ally is either willfully or negligently participates in practices that mislead consumers. 


Thank you

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