Consumer complaint received 2024-11-03 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: OR

Complaint narrative:
I reside in Oregon. I recently sold a small property out of state in XXXX, Illinois. I received the proceeds in the form of a Cashier 's Check from buyer 's lending institution via Escrow, and opened a brand new account with Ally Bank. On XX/XX/XXXX I deposited the Cashier 's check ( under $ XXXX ) via Ally Bank 's mobile app. Ally bank put a 5-business-day hold on the funds. Understandable. I was able to log into my Ally account and see that the funds were there. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, 11 days after deposit of cashier 's check, I logged into my account and set up a 'payment account ', ( what Ally bank calls a checking account ) and 2-3 Payees. I also set up ability to transfer funds between my Ally Bank accounts ( money market savings and payment account ) and my accounts at XXXX XXXX  and XXXX. And then I transfered a planned amount out of my Ally Bank money market savings over to my account at XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, The very next morning, I found an email from Ally Bank stating that they have frozen my accounts and deactivated my password due to suspicious activity and to call them. 

I called them immediately. They would not tell me what suspicious activity they were referring to and that it was being investigated by their fraud department. I would have to speak with Ally 's fraud dept. I spent most of that day on hold with Ally Bank, getting disconnected, having to call back and start over ... on hold. Finally I spoke with someone in Fraud and all they could tell me was that another investigator was looking into it and they would contact me. The XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX and the weekend go by with NO contact from Ally Fraud department even though I was calling each morning asking for an update. 

XXXX I finally received a call from an 'XXXX  XXXX or XXXX XXXX in fraud stating he was the investigator on my account. He asked me about XXXX XXXX XXXX, from the cashier 's check I deposited -- I explained that XXXX was the lending institution for the buyer of my property in Illinois. The cashiers check came out of escrow to me, the seller, as payment for said property. 

He verbally stated in our phone conversation when I asked what may have prompted this lockdown in the first place, that that he would remove the freeze once we got off the phone, and that when I was working with my Ally accounts on the XXXX, it was that increased activity that triggered the system. He assured me that I did nothing wrong. 

After getting off that call with the fraud investigator, I waited over an hour to give time for my account to be unlocked, and then called customer service for password reactivation, as the investigator instructed. 
Customer service refused to reactivate my password or account access because the account FREEZE was still active. 

XXXX Still locked out of Ally and accounts frozen, I've continued calling each day since for an update, and all they will say is the fraud investigator is still determining things. 

And at the time of this writing my Ally accounts online access and funds are still deactivated and frozen. No explanation. No estimate of when they will remove the freeze and I can regain full access to my accounts and funds.

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