Consumer complaint received 2017-07-05
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: NJ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
I opened an 11-month CD amounting to {$100000.00}. However, 2  withdrawals ( {$100000.00} each transaction ) were taken from my source account at XXXX XXXX. I have already reached out to several customer agents almost daily since it happened. Several agents have stated that double funding happens many times previously.
Here are the chronological events : XX/XX/XXXX - opened 11-month CD and followed the online form ; XX/XX/XXXX - received call from XXXX fraud department about withdrawal and told them I opened an 11-month CD at Ally XX/XX/XXXX - funds were withdrawn from XXXX XXXX and deposited to Ally XX/XX/XXXX - email from Ally requiring verification of XXXX trial deposits made to XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - email from Ally indicating XXXX  funds can be transferred XX/XX/XXXX - email from Ally at XXXX XXXX  indicating that deposit was made XX/XX/XXXX - not sure what this was so logged in to Ally and only saw {$100000.00} on transaction history ; XX/XX/XXXX - logged into XXXX XXXX and saw another {$100000.00} withdrawn from account ; XX/XX/XXXX - called up XXXX around XXXX XXXX EST and spoke to Ally ; described the problem and she questioned if amount was indeed withdrawn from XXXX which I mentioned to her as she can not see any transfer on my account ; set up conference call with Ally ( agent is Ally ) and XXXX ( agent is XXXX ) ; discussed the issue and XXXX confirmed that funds were withdrawn ; she tried reaching the transfers department but no one was answering the call ; requested to escalate or raise the issue asap ; was told to call back the next day, asked her if she can follow up but was told she is not working the next day so I have to call. No resolution made.
<P/> XX/XX/XXXX - called Ally around XXXX XXXX and spoke to a male agent ( can not hear name correctly but he is from XXXX center ) ; described the problem and mentioned about discussion with Ally the previous night ; told me that he can not see any transfers so told him on my Ally dashboard, on snapshot, I click on CD account and it shows the Transaction history ( see attached ) ; on the Transfers menu, go to Activity, click on the description and you will see the money withdrawn on XX/XX/XXXX ( see attached ) ; agent kept saying that he can not see the transfer number even though I told him about the Ally dashboard ; agent even insisted I did something wrong when I opened the account as he had seen this happened numerous times. If this has happened repeatedly, then something needs to be investigated as this was not the desired action! Was told that it takes 3 days to receive the transfer and money will be sent back to XXXX XXXX and will take another 3 days to receive it. That is minimum of 6 days money movement without earning interest on either bank account. I opened a Cd with Ally because I wanted to earn more money, not to lose money! Requested to talk to transfer department as this was what Ally from the previous night tried to do. Was told it can not be done. Requested to raise or escalate this issue and was told nothing can be done. Was put on hold for several minutes and was told that nothing further can be done. Very upset about this conversation as he kept insisting that I made a mistake! Told him that after trial verification of amount, the deposit was triggered. No resolution made. Asked me to stay for a survey but after the call ended, line was disconnected and no survey to do as he knew it will be negative outcome!
<P/>
XXXX XXXX - online chat with XXXX. Explained the problem and was told that she can not see the transfer. Told her the same dashboard will show the transaction history and in process transaction mentioned above. Was told that money will be returned after receiving and will take about 3 days to be received. Was told nothing can be done. Requested to raise or escalate the issue. No resolution made.
<P/> XX/XX/XXXX - I spoke to another customer agent, XXXX, and told him that since the double funding has occurred, to DEPOSIT the incoming funds to a new CD which he opened today. I was told that he did put a note in the system regarding this.
<P/>
XX/XX/XXXX Received email from customer care, XXXX, and referenced the email I sent on XX/XX/XXXX. No reference made to the other emails sent following that. The email stated to call Ally with the reference number stated on the reply email.
<P/> XX/XX/XXXX I saw that the in-process funds transfer for the XXXX withdrawal has the status change to process completed. However, I do not see the funds go to the new opened CD. I called Ally and spoke to a customer agent, XXXX, and had no update ( the agent spent considerable time looking at my email correspondences ) regarding the cited reference number mentioned on the Ally reply email dated XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX. To make the matter worse, the Ally customer agent hanged up the phone in the middle of the conversation!
<P/> XX/XX/XXXX Called up Ally and spoke to another customer agent, XXXX ( from North Carolina ), and put me on hole for several minutes. When she came back, she told me that I transferred 2 funds which I corrected her by stating that I never initiated the 2 transfers but that Ally made the double withdrawal from my account as I mentioned to her at the beginning of the phone call. She then said that the funds were received today which I corrected her again and said the transfer status for the funds were completed yesterday, not today. The agent then said that the funds was rejected and generated an error since the CD was already funded. She then said that the funds will be sent back to XXXX XXXX later today and will take another 3 or more days to receive.
<P/>
Based on all the correspondences above, I still do not have the funds and have lost interest from XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ( according to what the last agent said when I can possibly receive the funds ). If I had done the same type of error, I would have incurred a series of penalties. At this point, how will I recover all the lost interest on this money as Ally made an error withdrawing the funds twice.

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 non-monetary relief