Ally Financial Repeated Calls to Relative’s Cell Phone TCPA Class Action

Is it lawful for a financial company to repeatedly call a person regarding a loan taken out by a family member? The complaint for this class action alleges that Ally Financial, Inc. violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in refusing to stop calling a woman in regards to her brother’s alleged car loan.

In its second paragraph, the complaint quotes a 2018 case in the Sixth Circuit as saying, “The primary purpose of the TCPA was to protect individuals from the harassment, invasion of privacy, inconvenience, nuisance, and other harms associated with unsolicited, automated calls.”

Ally Financial is described in the complaint as “a prominent banking institution that provides consumers with various banking services, including mortgage and car financing.” The company had no business relationship with plaintiff Christine M. Barry when it began placing calls to her cell phone in February 2020.

When Barry answered that first call, she heard a long pause, of about three seconds, during which she said, “Hello” several times. Then she was connected with a live Ally representative. The representative asked to speak to Joseph Barry, Barry’s brother. Barry allegedly had a car loan financed by Ally.

Barry responded that she was not Joseph and that Joseph was not available. She then asked Ally not to call her again.

However, Ally continued to call her, ostensibly trying to contact her brother. The complaint alleges that the company called her cell phone at least four other times after she asked it to stop—on March 12, 16, 18, and 23, 2020.

Barry had never given Ally her phone number or consented to receive calls from it on her cell phone.

According to the complaint, Ally did not necessarily believe that Joseph Barry was available at his sister’s number. It claims that the calls “were part of [Ally’s] scheme to collect delinquent car loans from borrowers. Specifically, [Ally’s] scheme is to place phone calls to borrowers’ relatives and acquaintances in an effort to pressure borrowers to make payment on their loans to avoid the embarrassment of being perceived as ‘deadbeats’ by the borrowers’ relatives and acquaintances.”

The class for this action is all persons living in the US

• Who do not have an existing account with Ally Financial,
• To whose cell phones Ally Financial, or a third party acting on its behalf, placed a phone call
• In connection with a delinquent car loan that is not owned by those persons
• Using an automatic telephone dialing system
• At any time between August 31, 2016 and the date of class certification in this case.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Privacy
Tags: Failure to stop calling faxing or texting when requested, TCPA, Unsolicited Cell Phone Calls, Use of Automatic-Capable Dialer