I thought I'd give some follow up on my original late August post. I was finally able to get my account unlocked in early September with the help of Ally's fraud Dept. Almost immediately, I then transferred all but a few dollars to an account with my local bank. A huge relief, let me tell you.

Around the same time frame (9/7) I send in a 2nd signed affidavit denying responsibility for the approx. $140 in unauthorized charges on my account, which was what originally triggered this whole fiasco. Today is 9/20 and still no resolution. So I called, but got the same story: "We don't have any record of receiving your denial form, but let us check into it."

The form I sent in comes with a pre-addressed postage paid envelope. So how could it disappear, twice? The Postal Service isn't that unreliable.

So now I'm back in limbo again waiting to get a callback from their fraud dept. Unbelievable!

I feel sorry for the well-intentioned reps working in customer service at Ally Bank. But if you are unfortunate enough to have any fraudulent activity on your account, you will be left feeling just as helpless as they are.

There is a definite breakdown in communication between Ally's customer service and fraud departments. If you're considering opening an account there I would advise questioning them on their "disputed charges" procedure and how your account could be affected. Tell them you would like a phone number for their fraud dept. so you can better understand the process. The answer should be your first indicator of what could lie ahead.

To those that say (online) banks need to be extra diligent to avoid fraud, I totally agree. But it also shouldn't come at the expense of the legitimate customer who has meet all security challenges.