Consumer complaint received 2017-02-25
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: IL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
My mother opened XXXX IRA accounts at Ally Bank in XXXX. I helped her complete and submit the paperwork to the bank at that time. The paperwork provided the names of the beneficiaries and the percentages due to each beneficiary upon death of my mother. My mother passed away on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. Since early XXXX I have been struggling with Ally Bank to recognize me as the Executor of my mother 's estate and to speak with me about the balances in the accounts. Over the past 2 months, I have placed over 20 phone calls to the bank to resolve issues that they have created, including distributing an RMD to my deceased mother in XXXX of this year. Each issue until today has been frustrating but ultimately resolved. Today however, the issue is egregious because it has caused financial harm to me and it is the reason why I am filing this complaint. 

Ally Bank informed me in XXXX that they would not transfer the proceeds of my mother 's IRA accounts until all paperwork was received by the beneficiaries. However, on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, they began to transfer the proceeds starting with my portion. On XXXX XXXX, they transferred another portion to XXXX of my siblings. The amounts that were transferred to each of us were different. When I calculated what should have been transferred based on the percentages my mother allocated in the documentation provided to Ally, I determined that calculations were incorrect. I called Ally Bank to ask them how they arrived at the figures that were distributed. The manager, XXXX XXXX, stated that the operations department decided on the amounts to distribute to me and my siblings because there were no instructions provided by my mother. He stated that the amounts in my mother 's accounts were divided by XXXX and we each received our portion. 

My problem with this is three-fold. One, Ally Bank told me in XXXX that they would not transfer any proceeds to beneficiaries until all of the required paperwork from each beneficiary was received. Two, my mother provided specific percentages that each beneficiary was to receive, but the bank did not follow the explicit instructions provided by the account owner. Three, if the bank had indeed transferred the balance in XXXX equivalent portions, the amounts would have been the same, but they were not! In fact, the amounts that have been transferred so far are less than one-third of the balance that was in each of my mother 's accounts as of XXXX XXXX, XXXX! 

This is a serious issue because I am personally entitled to 34 % of the balance in my mother 's accounts but I only received 33.04 %. XXXX of my siblings received 33.06 % and the balance left in the accounts represents 33.9 % of the total!! The difference between what I should have received and what I did receive is approximately {$2100.00}. I realize that this may seem like an insignificant amount, but the issue is n't the amount. The issue is that Ally Bank is not following its own internal procedures, is not following the instructions provided by account owners, and is transferring incorrect amounts to beneficiaries.

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