Ally Financial Lawsuit Alleges TCPA Violations

An Ally Financial lawsuit has been filed alleging that the bank used an autodialing system to send repeated, harassing calls to a consumer.

Plaintiff Robert F. recently filed an Ally Financial lawsuit against the bank, claiming that he was harassed with automated calls. Robert claims that he received approximately 500 calls from Ally Financial in an attempt to collect on an auto loan.

In his Ally Financial lawsuit, Robert argues that the calls were placed with an automatic dialing system. According to the claim, the calls began with an automated message stating “Thank you for calling Ally Financial.”

Robert believes that the calls were placed via an automatic dialing system due to the vast amount of calls he received and the extended pause or clicking heard when he picked up a call.

Robert also claims that he repeatedly told representatives for Ally to stop calling his cellular telephone. He states he repeatedly told the representatives that “the calls he was receiving were harassing, demanded that they stop calling him and only communicate with him through mail.”

According to his Ally Financial lawsuit, Robert had separate conversations with representatives in July 2015, February 2016, October 2016, and November 2016 in which he asked them to stop calling. Each of his requests were allegedly ignored.

“For each and every call placed without consent by [Ally Financial] to [Robert’s] cellular telephone, [Robert] suffered the injury of invasion of privacy and the intrusion upon his right of seclusion,” the Ally Financial lawsuit alleges.

Telephone Consumer Protection Act

Unwanted calls and harassing behavior can be inconvenient and stressful for consumers. According to the Ally Financial lawsuit, the Financial Communications Commission (FCC) states “Unwanted calls and texts are the number one complaint to the FCC. There are thousands of complaints to the FCC every month on both telemarketing and robocalls.” The FCC received more than 215,000 Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaints in 2014 alone.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act was passed by Congress in 1991 to restrict abusive telemarketing practices and protect consumers from harassment. Requirements of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act include:

• Telemarketers cannot use automated calling systems without previous consent.
• Telemarketers cannot call individuals if they have revoked their consent for telephone communications.
• Telemarketers must obtain written consent from customers before robocalling them.
• Telemarketers cannot trick customers into giving consent using a “established business relationship.”
• Telemarketers are required to provide automated opt-out mechanisms during each robocall.

Victims of unfair telemarketing practices are able to file a lawsuit against the company in violation to recover damages. Under the TCPA, victims of unfair telemarketing practices are entitled to $500 in damages for each violation of the act.

Robert claims that Ally Financial violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and argues that he is entitled to compensation. He seeks statutory damages, punitive damages, actual damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The Ally Financial Lawsuit is Case No. 6:18-cv-00751-GAP-DC in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

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If you were contacted on your cell phone by a company via an unsolicited text message (text spam) or prerecorded voice message (robocall), you may be eligible for compensation under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

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