Corporate Accountability and GMAC: A Consumer’s Guide
Any company can be reviewed by those who patronize its goods or services. The consumer makes their evaluation based on the performance of the company: did the product or service measure up to their advertised standards? Was the service prompt and courteous? Was the experience of purchasing or dealing with the service pleasant? Would they choose to patronize such a company again in the future, or recommend it to others? In the United States, private corporations and businesses can be formally graded by such organizations as the Better Business Bureau, Chambers of Commerce, and state and federal information databases.
However, how does one evaluate the work of a huge company such as GMAC, which has its hold in so many aspects of the nation’s finance? Hardly any U.S. citizen is exempt from having some kind of stake in GMAC, whether it is by owning a car manufactured by them, or having a home or car loan issued by them, or having insurance covering said car or home with them. Many companies have received startup money from GMAC’s venture capital and corporate funding arms. Thousands have utilized GMAC’s banking arm and its revolutionary internet banking.
Regarding the current state of the U.S. economy, and the role that GMAC and its stumbles in the home mortgage lending and foreclosure crises of the past couple of years, it is not hard to find many consumers with serious complaints against GMAC. For example, since the housing crisis began in 2007, GMAC foreclosures have skyrocketed, resulting in thousands of evictions and repossessions. It has been discovered that a large number of these foreclosures were done by unqualified personnel, in a hasty and sometimes illegal fashion, and this has caused a general negative feeling about GMAC in many. The company is trying to alleviate these bad feelings by re-branding itself Ally Financial in 2009, which has stated strongly, that it will clean up the mess done by GMAC, and handle its business in a forthright fashion from here on. Whether this will end as claimed, it only to be guessed at.
The GMAC customer, especially one who holds a mortgage backed by this company, should keep careful and detailed records of their dealings with GMAC to safeguard against any potential future improprieties. Also, any suspicious incidents taking place in the past should be reported to state and federal authorities, to ensure that GMAC/Ally Financial are kept to their assurances or positive change.
