Consumer complaint received 2026-01-09 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
Around XX/XX/25, I tried to transfer my money ( about {$5700.00} ) from my savings account with Ally Bank to a new banking institution ( XXXX ). I accidentally typed in the wrong type of account when setting up the transfer. Basically, I accidentally set up a transfer to a non-existing account. This triggered Ally 's fraud detection and they put a hold on my account so I could no longer access it. Up until here, I had no issue. I recognize that I made a mistake. 

My problem is that it's been almost two months and I still have not been able to access my money. I've called numerous times. Ally Customer Service is horrible. I have a XXXX that makes phone calls very difficult for me and it feels like after I mentioned that, Ally customer service agents are deliberately giving me a harder time. They gave me many different excuses when I called throughout XXXX and XXXX try to get this issue resolved. At first they didn't tell me they needed anything from me, I just needed to give them time for the Fraud Department to investigate. I called back the following week and was told again just to wait for their department. I tried calling a few times and got different excuses. One time, it was because the Fraud Department decided to leave early that day. Another, it was because the Fraud Department doesn't work on XXXX ( even though this is not information I can find online ). So every time I call, I'm having to take time out of my work day to get in touch with the Fraud Department. One of the agents I talked to during this was also very rude and mocked me over the phone when I said I wanted to escalate the issue. She said " I'll write in the notes that you'd like to escalate the issue. '' When I tried asking what that meant in terms of what would happen with my case, she just said " It'll be in the notes that you requested to escalate ''. I also had a number of agents simply hang up on me, after I'd already spent 20-60 minutes on hold, fighting through the robo-voice menu to get to a human, verifying my identity, and re-explaining my whole situation. When that happened, I was forced to call back and start over. 

Finally, on XX/XX/25, an agent told me that Ally actually does need some documents from XXXX. They asked for a letter from my external bank verifying routing number for ACH, account number for ACH, type of account, and the reason why the bank returned the transfer for non-transaction. XXXX said they could not give me a document regarding the reason for the return, because that non-transaction was not related to any account that belongs to me ( or even any account that actually exists ). I explained this to Ally and sent them the requested documents on XX/XX/25. Ally still has not lifted the hold on my account, they insist that they need a letter from XXXX that XXXX can not give me, for reasons I've explained over and over. 

It seems like I'm just talking to AI bots over messaging, and that the people I eventually reach over the phone don't read the case notes. I always have to explain everything from the beginning just to end up at the same place. Ally is asking me for a document that is impossible for me to give them. At this point I've wasted dozens of paid working hours on this issue, I don't know what else I can do.

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