Consumer complaint received 2021-11-23
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: NY
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with paying off the loan

Complaint:
At the bottom of this I'll share this message between myself and Ally Bank around an XXXX loan- you can ignore the parts about a bad policy and how they can act as a better company by following their published core value - " Doing it Right is the core of who we are. '' and focus on the elements about the {$600.00} credit balance and their XXXX day policy on refunds. I consider myself an agent of change and always believe in " Doingtherightthing ''. For me this wasn't about money, it's actually about somebody in the same situation who can't afford to have essentially that money in limbo because a financial institution that believes the have the right to use settled funds ( paid in full by my banks to them ) for up to XXXX days. 

I'm going site XXXX sections of XXXX XXXX  Part XXXX - Truth in Lending ( Regulation Z ) as reference : Subpart C - Closed-End Credit XXXX XXXX When a credit balance in excess of {$1.00} is created in connection with a transaction ( through transmittal of funds to a creditor in excess of the total balance due on an account, through rebates of unearned finance charges or insurance premiums, or through amounts otherwise owed to or held for the benefit of a consumer ), the creditor shall : ( a ) Credit the amount of the credit balance to the consumer 's account ; Official interpretation of Paragraph XXXX ( a ) Show ( b ) Refund any part of the remaining credit balance, upon the written request of the consumer ; and ( Look at latest version you end in an AND statement ) That is a problem - and companies are using it to their advantage! 

Let me use this for a XXXX XXXX as a reference to show what should likely be published " Refund any part of the remaining credit balance within XXXX business days from receipt of a written request from the consumer '', full detail below : XXXX XXXX - XXXX Treatment of credit balances ; account termination. 

( a ) Credit balances. When a credit balance in excess of {$1.00} is created on a credit account ( through transmittal of funds to a creditor in excess of the total balance due on an account, through rebates of unearned finance charges or insurance premiums, or through amounts otherwise owed to or held for the benefit of the consumer ), the creditor shall : Official interpretation of XXXX ( a ) Credit Balances Show ( XXXX ) Credit the amount of the credit balance to the consumer 's account ; ( XXXX ) Refund any part of the remaining credit balance within XXXX business days from receipt of a written request from the consumer ; So as of right now Ally is playing phone tag with me just escalated up the number from below to the the next supervisor - XXXX minutes later I am hanging up. 

Call me XXXX, this isn't ok, and the less fortunate are being taken advantage off. 

Regards, XXXX XXXX Transcript of online emails with Ally and Myself- From Ally XXXX XX/XX/21 Hello, We received your message. Due to the nature of this request, we need to speak with you by phone. 

Please call us at XXXX ( XXXX ), Monday - Friday, XXXX am - XXXX pm ET and Saturday XXXX am - XXXX pm ET. XXXX Sunday. 

Sincerely, Ally Bank If you submitted more than XXXX request, you may receive additional responses in a separate message. 

To Ally Auto XX/XX/21 Id apologize to whoever was messenger as I am sure even writing that message makes you cringe, but since its signed Ally bank Ill just say, look at my communications with you and Im at this point just baffled why you would just not even try to retain a customer like myself. Final thoughts thanks for letting know that as a bank you will sit on $ XXXX collecting interest on those fund for up to XXXX months, thats just bad business on your part. You have the ability to send those funds the moment the loan is paid off in full. I worked extensively in finance at a different point in my career. 

Ill say this you should use my message as a bold eye opening experience on how you are not maximizing who you could be. Basically your not doing the right thing, that is bad policy, you could have easily retained me, I guess your bad policy stopped you there too. 

Right up until the moment you chose to use we are backup we up as an excuse, I would have overlooked your lack of response time to my payoff quote, literally forcing me to make an extra payment full knowing I was refinancing ( at 1.4 % come on, you know where interests rates are ), was that a calculated decision, was it bad policy, or a bad business model? Guess this is why Ally is no longer going to be someone I do business with. Good luck in the future I hope you can learn from this - Im still undecided whether I share my experience to others or not - will see how long it takes you to clear out your backlog, is your software that bad? I mean you process my payments immediately, reality is your taking advantage of the times, this is not a people problem. 

Anyway have fun and have happy XXXX, I know I can look in the mirror today, tomorrow hopefully the rest of my life because I am Choosing to do the right thing. Fact Im not missing out on feeding my kids or sending them to a sports camp, visiting finally my parents that I havent been able to see due to XXXX and now dont have the money for that ticket over the holidays- at the end of the day Doing the Right Thing which includes calling out some very bad business policy on your part has helped me be successful. So Be Bold expect more as a company, the right customers are out there, I was one just not me anymore, I went from customer to could have been an advocate, to well you decide where I go from here. 

Regards- XXXX XXXX XXXX Ally Auto XX/XX/21 Hello, Thank you for your message. 

Any overpayment will be refunded back to you in the form of check. If the overpayment amount is {$100.00} or more, there will be XXXX calendar days for processing, then XXXX to XXXX days for manager approval, XXXX to XXXX  days for check supplier to cut and mail check and finally XXXX days for mailing time. Otherwise, it will be issued automatically the day after the payoff posting date. However, our Refund Team are currently behind due to higher than the normal volume and it will take for them at least 55 days to process the refund and to release the check from the normal processing time. 

Sincerely, Ally Bank If you submitted more than XXXX request, you may receive additional responses in a separate message. 

To Ally Auto XX/XX/21 As a result of my payoff and timing of last payment, I believe I have a negative balance, what is the process and timing for that over-payment to be returned to me? Thanks for your help and business. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX

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