Consumer complaint received 2025-09-25 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem making or receiving payments
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: WY

Complaint narrative:
Ally Bank is blocking me from linking my external XXXX account for XXXX transfers because their system is holding a stale XXXX record. 

XXXX has confirmed that I am unenrolled from XXXX on their side. The problem is entirely within Allys system. I have repeatedly contacted Ally by phone and secure message, provided documentation, and requested escalation. Ally opened XXXX # XXXX but did not fix the error. Instead, they sent me contradictory and generic policy responses that did not resolve the stale record. 

Rather than purging the old XXXX record, Ally actually enrolled me in their own XXXX service on the Ally website without my authorization, which made the problem worse. I never requested Ally XXXX enrollment and specifically asked to be removed. 

Because Ally failed to purge this outdated record, I missed a critical financial deadline and suffered financial harm. Ally is an online-only bank, and if I can not move money in or out, my account is no more useful than cash in a piggy bank or under a mattress.

In addition, Allys mishandling of this issue has caused serious confusion and unnecessary disruption. After being told I could attempt to link my account, I was locked out and had to spend an extended time on the phone proving my identity to restore access. The following day, Ally contacted me urgently by call and text while I was at work in a secure federal facility where personal phone use is restricted. The representative insisted my account was locked again and demanded I go through the entire security process. In fact, my account was not locked I was signed in and looking at it in real time because I had urgent pending ACH transactions with my contractor. This false alarm created unnecessary fear that my transactions would fail, forced me to break workplace rules to respond, and revealed that Allys representatives did not even know the true status of my account. All of this chaos stemmed from the same unresolved XXXX error. 

Only after repeated pressure did Ally escalate my case to their XXXX XXXX XXXX team ( new XXXX # XXXX ). That message was labeled XX/XX/year>, but it was not actually posted to my account inbox until XX/XX/year>. I was logged in at the time and also received the external email alert at XXXX PM on XX/XX/XXXX telling me I had a new secure message. This shows Ally is back-dating secure messages to make responses look timelier than they actually are, leaving me unable to see or act on their response until later. 

Ally had the ability to escalate this matter to their so-called XXXX Customer XXXX XXXX XXXX when I first asked. Instead, they made me chase them, repeated generic policy language, and only pushed the escalation button days later conveniently after I pressed harder and raised the prospect of filing a regulatory complaint. 

Allys conduct reflects not only delay and incompetence but active misrepresentation and critical internal failures. The back-dating of secure messages appears designed to create a false record of timely response. Ally staff repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of awareness about the true status of my account ( locked vs. unlocked ), forcing me to re-submit sensitive personal information over the phone and to undergo repeated security checks for no valid reason. At XXXX point I received an urgent text instructing me to call a number and provide personal identifying information a protocol that exposed me to the risk of unauthorized disclosure and potential fraud, since that number could have been answered by anyone. This combination of dishonest timestamping, contradictory agent statements, and unsafe request procedures is unacceptable and created real privacy, security, and professional harms.

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