Consumer complaint received 2015-09-19
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Savings account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I applied for a Ally Bank online savings account. It was denied in an Ally letter with words " unable to verify applicants identity ''. There was NO information error in my application. I supplied an email address that I 've had for 14 years, a telephone number that I 've had for 17 years, a street address that I 've had for 38 years, and a social security number that I 've had for XXXX years! 

Ally noted in this refusal, that I was checked by XXXX. I requested my report from XXXX and received the report. An internet search reports this about XXXX : XXXX, the company that essentially does for checking accounts what FICO does for credit cards, stays relatively opaque. What XXXX does is keep tabs on any missteps in your checking history -- problems with overdrafts, or bounced checks, to name a couple. And when you want to open a new account, the bank will do a quick look at your XXXX record to see if you 've behaved well. XXXX will tell your bank whether to accept or decline your business. 

In my report, a section discusses accounts that have been mishandled, reported for cause or outstanding debts. In that section of my report, XXXX says " no information found ''. In other words, no problem accounts about me found. 

Under " inquiries initiated by consumer action '' XXXX named XXXX banks that I have present savings accounts with, that I have no problems with, and that I did not name in the Ally bank savings account form, because Ally did not request that information. So XXXX clearly located my accounts, clearly tied to my social security number. 

Under " social security number validation '', XXXX reported " XXXX became available for issuance in 1960 in XXXX '', in which both the date and the location ( Alabama ) is correct. 

So it is painfully obvious to me that there is nothing in the XXXX report that indicated " unable to verify applicants identity ''. That had to be an Ally decision. 

I called Ally customer support telephone number XXXX times and online chat once. In all three cases they could not explain why my account was denied, and they REFUSED to connect me with anyone at Ally that could answer my question. 

Just today, I pulled my free annual credit report from XXXX. It was flawless. In summary XXXX reported : There are XXXX potentially negative items in your reportYou have XXXX accounts in good standing in your reportAlly does not require a minimum dollar amount to open an account, but did request how much I planned to deposit. I said {$23000.00}. Apparently my money is not green enough for Ally. 

I did a search on " Ally bank application denied '' and found many pages of examples of other people being denied such accounts. It is becoming clear to me that Ally trolls for new accounts, and spends little to no effort in investigating any problems in such applications. The Ally directive is just get XXXX applications, throw out XXXX with no investigation. And stonewall anyone who tries to get clarification from Ally banking officials. 

It is becoming very clear from this lack of response and stonewalling, that this is not a bank that I want to deposit XXXX ( or XXXX ) of XXXX of dollars with. 

So I ask " does Ally have any concept of the destructive bad will they are creating? ''

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation