Consumer complaint received 2025-04-23 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Opening an account — Didn't receive terms that were advertised
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: MI

Complaint narrative:
Was referred to ALLY BANK by an online contact using their provided link which offered a {$100.00} bonus if the account was opened within a specified time frame and then a direct deposit was made to the account. I registered for the promotion and received a confirmation email from ALLY BANK that I was eligible to apply and receive the bonus. 

On XX/XX/year>, I applied for the account using the referral link with the bonus promotion attached and displayed on the screen. The account application was approved and opened automatically. I immediately initiated a {$100.00} transfer to fund the account which posted to the new account on XX/XX/year>. I also arranged for my next direct deposit to be sent to this account to fulfill the terms of the sign up bonus. A {$100.00} payroll deposit posted to the account on XX/XX/year>. The {$100.00} promotional bonus should have been credited to the new account by XX/XX/year> per the terms of their offer. 

By XX/XX/year> the bonus {$100.00} still had not been credited so I contacted ALLY BANK support staff to inquire into the matter. The agent I spoke with said that because there is an account at ALLY BANK owned by a trust for which I serve as Trustee, I am already in their system and thus the bonus was not automatically issued. We went over the terms of the bonus offer together. The terms of the bonus list " Excluded Friends '' who are not eligible for the promotion as a person who has an account at ALLY. It does not exclude the trustee or beneficiary of a trust, and even if the trust is being treated as an " artificial person '' as per the law, that artificial person is separate and distinct as a trust - not an individual. The terms of the bonus also specifically exclude trust owned accounts from being eligible for any of their promotions so ALLY BANK does consider them different from actual new customers as per their own terms. The agent agreed with me that the terms were met but had no authority to act on the matter so assured me they forwarded the matter to what they called " back office review ''. I was then given a confirmation number ( XXXX XXXXXXXX ) and told someone would manually initiate the promotional bonus from the back end and contact me within 7-10 business days. 

By XX/XX/year>, I still had not received the {$100.00} promotional credit and no one had made any effort to contact me by telephone nor mailed me any information. I spoke with another agent to check on the status and provided the confirmation number. They had no additional information about my investigation but assured me someone would contact me within XXXX business days. I was never contacted and the promotional credit is still not in my account. 

This morning, XX/XX/year>, I have attempted to reach out to ALLY BANK and was given the same speech as my call on the XXXX, leading me to believe there is no actual back office investigation and or the customer support agents are not following the proper steps to get this matter resolved.

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