Consumer complaint received 2018-01-15
Product: Checking or savings account — CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account — Problem with fees or penalties
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC. (WA)

5+ years ago I opened a 5-year CD with Ally Bank . In XXXX, Ally automatically renewed by CD for 5 more years and did not give me advance notice that this was going to happen. Now they want an early withdrawal penalty equal to 150 days of interest, and want to deduct 105 days of it from the principal because it 's only been ~45 days since they auto-renewed it. This amounts to $ XXXX. 

I called them on XX/XX/XXXX telling them I did n't know they were going to auto-renew it and that I did not want that to happen. They told me that on XX/XX/XXXX they sent me a notice telling me this would happen. I logged into my account ( on my XXXX phone through the Ally Bank app like I typically do ) and looked through both the secure messages section and statements section -- there 's nothing from XX/XX/XXXX. The phone agent told me I should have gotten an email telling me that I had received a notice, which upon searching my email I found ( it probably got filtered to the " Promotions '' section of my XXXX or something ). The email is as follows : Subject : " You have new correspondence in online banking '' Body : " To view your correspondence log in at ally.com and select More. Then choose Notices. '' So I went back to the app and there is no " More '' button or " Notices '' section. I then opened the web browser on my device and signed in to ally.com - here, there is a " More '' section, but it does not have a " Notices '' section there, nor is there a Notices section anywhere on the site. The phone agent then explained that I needed to access it from a laptop or somehow trick the website to give me the desktop version of the site by configuring my browser to pretend it was a laptop computer. Long story short -- both the mobile version and the website when accessed from a mobile device do not show this " correspondence ''. 

The statements that I *can* access from the mobile app and website do show my CD, but they also do n't mention that the CD was going to auto-renew. I also got an email when the CD matured as follows -- it made it sound like the CD was not going to auto-renew and that renewing was optional ( it only says that the loyalty bonus was " automatic '' ) : Subject : " Notice : Your Ally Bank CD is maturing '' Body : " Your CD is maturing soon. 
Here 's what you should know. 

Dear XXXX, You recently received a CD maturity notice that provided important information about at least one of your CDs. If you renew your CD at maturity into any CD term, we 'll automatically add a loyalty reward of 0.05 % to your new rate. 

Your Ally CD that is eligible to receive a rate increase : CD Account Number CD Type CD Term Maturity Date XXXX HYCD 60 months XXXX XXXX, 2017 Here 's what you need to know : Your 0.05 % rate increase will be added to your new CD 's rate after the Ten Day Best Rate Guarantee period to ensure you maximize your earnings with us. This means if our rate goes up for your term and balance tier within ten days of opening your account, you 'll get the better rate. 

The loyalty reward at renewal is automatic, you do n't have to do a thing. 

Any money you add at renewal receives the increase too. Plus, you can renew into any CD term we offer.

You can manage your renewal online by logging into your Ally Bank account and selecting Manage CDs from the Main Menu Menu, or just give us a call.

Thank you for your continued loyalty with Ally Bank. '' Besides not being aware that the CD was going to auto renew, Ally renewed it into a CD with a much higher early withdrawal penalty. The original CD had a 60 day penalty, but the new one had a 150 day penalty -- 250 % more -- and because the rate they renewed me into was 75 % higher, the early withdrawal penalty is $ 1100+ even though the early withdrawal penalty under my old CD 's terms was ~ {$300.00}.