Consumer complaint received 2024-05-04
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC. (MD)

ISSUE : While I was never enrolled in autopay and just paid off my card in full through a manual payment, Ally Credit Card without any of my knowledge and authorization tried to debit my bank account for more money and after the payment wasn't honored, they placed my card on hold claiming that my bank account was frozen and demanding to open a new bank account to make my payments. 

I am writing to dispute an unauthorized automatic payment of {$56.00} to my debit card account on XX/XX/XXXX by Ally Credit Card. 
The charge is in error because : 1. I never enrolled in autopay and Ally Credit Card doesn't have my authorization to debit my bank account 2. The amount of the payment is also wrong. My due amount was {$0.00} at the time. On XX/XX/XXXX ( a week before my due date ), I paid the entire current balance of {$270.00} ( while my statement balance was {$170.00} ) This brings any " Remaining statement balance '' down to {$0.00}, and on my due date on the XXXX, I owed nothing. 

EXPLANATION OF WHAT HAPPENED I have had an Ally Credit Card since XX/XX/XXXX, with a line of credit of {$300.00}, and a due day on the XXXX of each month. 
I have never set up an autopay. I make manual payments, always paying off my card in full shortly before the due date. 
This XXXX I also paid earlier and in full ( the current balance ). On XX/XX/XXXX I made a payment of {$270.00} ( which was processed as usual and by the XXXX I was using my card again ) However, after XX/XX/XXXX my card unexpectedly declined and my account showed that it was placed on hold. By checking my recent transactions Ive learned that on XX/XX/XXXX Ally tried to debit my bank account for some additional payment in the amount of {$56.00}. But since I never authorized an autopay, the payment wasn't honored and showed as returned. Upon which Ally concluded that my bank account was frozen and placed my card on hold. 

Too, Ally never sent any prior notice about the upcoming payment or the ballance due, and my account app never showed any ballance due either. It was comletely out of blue and came as a shock. 

I contacted XXXX Customer Service numerous times but they wouldn't do anything about it. They instantly dismissed any possibility of the error on their end, and bluntly insisted that the information in my account was correct. They were completely ignorant of what I was saying, solely relying on the info in my account kept telling me that I failed to make this payment for {$56.00} that it didn't get through because my bank account was frozen (! ) and that I need a different bank account to pay the balance or my card will remain on hold. I spoke with XXXX different Customer Service representatives, including the Customer Service Supervisor ( who was especially arrogant ) before giving up on trying to resolve this issue over the phone. After that I tried to dispute this in written but it was impossible. Ally Credit Card doesn't provide their email address and their link for a secure message within the app doesn't work. Otherwise, they don't offer any other form of communication ( except for some general mailing address ) and there's no way to dispute anything other than writing elsewhere.