Consumer complaint received 2026-06-10 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On Friday, XX/XX/year> at XXXX XXXX I deposited a check for {$430.00} into my newly opened checking account ending in XXXX at Ally Bank under Deposit Reference number XXXX. That evening the check officially posted to my account but the funds were completely restricted due to an extended hold, claiming this money is subject to an extended hold because they have confidential information indicates that the check may not be paid. Ally Bank placed an illegal hold on these funds until Friday, XX/XX/year> ( 5-business days after deposit ) and sent a noncompliant electronic notice via email. On Wednesday, XX/XX/year>, Allys Corporate team extended this timeline by an additional 5 to 7 business days resulting in an unlawful 12 business day total delay to access the next day state government payroll check. Ally Bank has strictly violated Regulation CC and its own Disclosures in the following ways : 1. Violation of Next- day rules for government checks ( 12 CFR 229.13 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( i ) ) : under Federal law even during a 30 day new account period, checks drawn on a state government must be made available on the next business day for the first {$5500.00}. Because this check was issued directly by the California State Controller and paid from the States Treasurers General Fund, 100 % of my {$430.00} was legally required to be fully available on Monday XX/XX/year> and there is XXXX risk of the check not being paid. 2. Breach of Stated Bank Policy ( section IV.C.6 ) : The hold email sent by Ally Bank Provided a link to their deposit agreement, specifically Referencing Section IV.C.6 ( Special Rules for New Checking Accounts ). Their policy states that for checks Payable to the account holder, Up to {$5500.00} is Available two business days after deposit ( Which would have been Tuesday XX/XX/year> ). Because my check was only {$430.00}, Ally Bank is Directly violating its own customer terms by forcing me to wait five business days until Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. 3. Violation of maximum hold duration ( 12 CFR 229.13 ( h ) ) : under federal law even when a valid exception hold is applied a bank can not extend the hold beyond a reasonable period strictly defined as a total of 7 business days for deposit accounts. By adding a 5 to 7 business day administrative review timeline on top of an existing five business day hold, Ally Bank Is unlawfully restricting a government payroll check up to 12 business days. 4. Strict Content Omission ( 12 CFR 229.13 ( g ) ( 1 ) ( i ) ( E ) ) : The electronic notification sent via email on XX/XX/XXXX completely omitted a specific funds availability date leaving the hold timeline open ended. I was only verbally given the Friday, XX/XX/XXXX date after escalating to a supervisor. 5. Refusal of Manual Review and Lack of Internal Controls : When I Escalated this issue, A supervisor informed me that she could not do a manual review, that there is No button to push to release funds early or to override the automated system flag And that I had to just wait until XX/XX/XXXX for a check i deposited XX/XX/XXXX. A Financial institution can not use rigid automated System limitations to bypass federal funds availability timelines. Misinformation via support chat, phone Escalation, And severe consumer harm : On Monday, XX/XX/year>, I Attempted to resolve this through multiple channels : Support Chat : Prior to calling, I chatted with Ally Customer service. The Representative gave false compliance excuses, Claiming that this illegal hold was completely Standard banking. I have fully screenshotted this conversation as proof of corporate misinformation. Phone Escalation ( XXXX ) : Immediately following the chat, I called customer service. I was on the line for 33 minutes, spending most of that time on hold. When I finally reached a supervisor she acknowledged the call was recorded and showed great Indifference when I declared that the severe emotional and financial distress this illegal hold is causing me and she acted as if it was no concern of theirs. As an XXXX provider, This check is my primary livelihood. By locking away my money, Ally Bank left me unable to purchase basic survival necessities like food and toilet paper and put my beginning of the month bills in past due status, causing late fees to incur and putting me at risk of disconnection of services such as utilities ( Water, Cell phone etc ). This has caused me Intense emotional XXXX and immediate financial panic, which the supervisor just didn't care about. Corporate stalling and bad faith resolution timelines : On Wednesday, XX/XX/year> I received an email response from Ally Banks Corporate escalation team. Instead of addressing the active federal banking violation, the bank issued a generic apology and stated that a case had been created but that a back end review would take an additional 5 to 7 business days to get back to me. I immediately replied to their email and initiated an urgent in app chat, Explicitly informing them that a 5 to 7 business day stall tactic on top of an illegal hold leaves me actively deprived of funds to purchase food today. Ally Banks Corporate team was explicitly notified that their automated systems left a consumer facing a severe household crisis, Yet they deliberately chose to enforce an administrative delay rather than executing a manual system override to address this urgent matter promptly. Critical preventative action required : My wages are normally paid via direct deposit. However due to a delay in processing my updated banking details with my state of California my next 1-2 paychecks will also be Issued as physical paper checks from the California state controller. Because Ally Banks Animated system is broken, I face an immediate threat of my next payroll checks being illegally frozen as well. Ally Bank must Place a permanent compliance note and Automated override flag on my account profile to recognize the state payroll checks immediately upon deposit. Requested Resolution : I request that the CFPB compel Ally Bank to : 1. Immediately released the full {$430.00} to my Available balance. 2. Provide financial restitution by refunding any fees stemming from this hold. 3. Issue a {$1000.00} customer remediation credit Directly to my account to compensate for the severe hardship, XXXX and total disruption to my opening banking experience. 4. Review the live chat transcript from Monday, XX/XX/year> and pull the recorded supervisor call from XXXX XXXX to address the systematic misinformation and indifference behavior. 5. Apply a permanent system flag to my profile ensuring all future physical payroll checks from the California state controller are granted immediately next day availability under regulation cc. 6. Compel immediate restitution for bad faith delays : My request that the CFPB Penalize Ally Bank For utilizing a 5 to 7 business day automated tracking delay to stall an active, High priority Regulation cc emergency than involved a total deprivation of a consumers basic livelihood. 7. Correct or automatic algorithm so that state government checks under {$5500.00} are not erroneously subjected to extended new account holds.

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 explanation