Consumer complaint received 2018-12-05
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC. (WV)

On XX/XX/18, I received an e-mail from Ally Bank stating that they had submitted 2 small deposits and one withdraw to my new linked account for verification of the new account. I had not tried to link any accounts, so I contacted ally Bank on XX/XX/18 to explain that The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was not my account, and I did wanted it removed from my account. 
I was informed that Ally in no way could remove the account because of the verification process, but that they would make sure that the verification was cancelled. Then I had to remove the account myself but it could take up to 72 hours to do so. I tried that evening to do so, but was unable to. 
I again tried to remove the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/18, to no avail. 
I did not have a chance to try to remove the account on XX/XX/18, but I received an e-mail on XX/XX/18 stating the my transfer request was approved and had been started from Ally. 
I logged into my Ally account, and now, it was the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX XXXX XXXX MO removing {$2700.00} from one of my savings accounts. I immediately contacted Ally Bank to say that I did not authorize a transfer of any money to this or any other account. I also explained that I had been trying to remove the account, which had changed from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to XXXX, MO. 
The customer representative stated that they could no stop the transfer, and that the money might end up in the other account. Then I would have to contact Ally to explain that it was fraud. I demanded that it be taken care of, that they stop the transfer. I did not authorize it. 
I was told a case would be opened to investigate the situation and someone would call me back. 
On XX/XX/18, I was contacted by Ally Bank, but called them back since I was not willing to give them personal identifying information about my account since they called me. XXXX then told me that the {$2700.00} was withdrawn and in the process of being transferred to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, MO She informed me that there was nothing Ally could do about it, and told me I had to contact the other bank and stop the transfer. I told her that I did not have an account with the other bank, so how was I supposed to stop the transfer that I did not approve? 
She gave me an account number that she could see on her end, and I called the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, MO. Of course, they could not help me since I do not have an account with them, and the number I proved them was NOT my account. They told me to call my local police department. 
I contacted the XXXX, MO police department and made a complaint. ( I figured I should contact them instead of my local police, who is in WV ). I then contacted Ally Bank again, and requested to speak to a supervisor. XXXX assured me that the transfer had failed, and that my money was safe. He also said that I should not have been told to call the other bank. 
On XX/XX/18, Officer XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MO PD, contacted me and explained that the gentleman who was the owner of the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX account in XXXX had been scammed by one of two companies, XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX, who had his bank information. The officer was not sure how my Ally account was part of this scam, but one of these companies were using his account. The officer had advised both the gentleman and myself to close our accounts. I assured the officer I would close my account once my funds were not frozen from this situation. 
I called Ally Bank again, and spoke with the supervisor, XXXX again. He assured me that the transfer failed and my money would be available on XX/XX/18, but my online account said XXXX instead of XXXX. 
My funds are frozen, by my choice, until this is resolved. Ally Bank has not taken the correct precautions to help their customer, me. They have been provided the information I gave them from Officer XXXX, and said that they would submit it to their fraud department. However, no one can tell me when I can get my money back, and it seems things keep changing right before I am able to make any progress. 
Ally does not care about their customers. This is the second time I have had issues with Ally Bank within the last four months. The first issue was in regards to my vehicle loan.