Consumer complaint received 2022-09-03
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: LA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with fees charged

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX my XXXX XXXX XXXX and purchased a XXXX XXXX XXXX with about XXXX miles right before the entire world shut down for XXXX. Had we known that we all would be out of work and Ally Auto XXXX would treat us with such unfair finance fees and late charges after suspending payments for about XXXX days would have not purchased a new vehicle let alone choose Ally Auto XXXX be our auto loan servicer. To say the least Ally has treated us like they are gangster thugs in suits!! And have continued with unfair credit reporting and fees. It feels like extortion. I cant remember exactly but we resumed payments at the end of XXXX, despite my father being hurt on the job at his place of employment and I now being out of work. Though imperfect, we started to make car payments throughout XXXX now into XXXX. We at one point in time paid Ally {$1000.00} on 2 separate occasions in car payments all while still making the regular payments in XXXX. We were told somehow that we were past due and we had to go through a XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX to make payments because we couldnt make payments through the portal because the auto loan was in repossession status. We had to pay a fee to make that payment. We got on track for the most part but fell off track again because while the rest of the world opened back up during XXXX, XXXX XXXX remained on locked down. There was hardly any work unless you were an essential employee. XXXX XXXX didnt open up until XX/XX/XXXX. I vigilantly searched for work throughout XXXX. By this time my father was on XXXX XXXX being unable to work. We still were making some form of payments. In XXXX of XXXX, we got into what Ally called the Catch-Up Plan because they he charge so many late fees and finances charges. Didnt know that this was even a thing. They called, harassed, and threatened repossession almost daily for a long time like some type of thugs. At the time the agreement was to make {$720.00} payments under the catch-up plan. Ally at this time was demolishing our credit and we didnt know. Missed XXXX payment in the catch up plan and you would be kicked out. We didnt know that until we missed XXXX payment. I spoke to someone in a collections department at one time that said we could add the charges to the back of the loan but we hadnt made enough qualifying payments. Today in XXXX of XXXX that option is no longer available. Neither XXXX any other payment assistance at Ally because we dont qualify. We fought to get back into that catch-up plan. Supervisor wouldnt help until we finally got one that would. The amount had risen to {$760.00}. WOW! But. Weve now completed the catch-up plan. The last catch-up plan payment of {$760.00} was made XX/XX/XXXX. We figured we were finally on track and payments would be normal at {$610.00} starting XXXX of XXXX. That DID NOT HAPPEN! Ally is saying we owe as of today, {$1100.00}. Ive called to try and figure this out for the last 3 weeks. Calls were escalated to superiors and supervisors who have never returned my calls. I was told by a representative after completing the catch-up plan, we had to make the regular {$610.00} car payment the same month of XXXX. The regular payment of {$610.00} was due on XX/XX/XXXX. We were and still are appalled that this is even possible. Thats {$1300.00} in ONE the month!! But we didnt know this until theyve given us $ XXXX again in late fees and finance charges and the harassing calls have started again. Thats the {$610.00} plus {$500.00} in fees and counting AGAIN.We were going to refinance the vehicle but they unfairly reported to the credit bureaus excessively so throughout the pandemic from XXXX that we dont even have the scores anymore to get ANY TYPE OF CREDIT APPROVAL. How is it possible being that there was a pandemic and now were in a recession and havent missed a payment since we were in a catch-up plan? Talk about pain and suffering??? We can not afford to give Ally XXXX payments in XXXX month let alone $ XXXX in fees. But we need our transportation.

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