Consumer complaint received 2022-06-16
Company: KEYCORP
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I am one of millions of Americans who is having difficulties managing in the current, economic situation, especially because we are a one-income family due to my spouses unemployment. Can you imagine how much harder things became for me when a check I mailed out to pay a bill for {$75.00} was altered to a much higher amount of {$6500.00}? 
When I discovered on XX/XX/XXXX that several checks I mailed had not been cashed, I brought it to the attention of the post office on XXXX XXXX. Three checks ( dated XX/XX/XXXX, see copies of the carbon duplicates attached ) that were mailed on the same day from the same mailbox ( XXXX and XXXX XXXX in front of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) had not been cashed. I asked the desk clerk at the post office to have someone check into that mailbox as I thought the carrier for that location was failing to pick up mail. The post office employee said nothing. I asked him to please bring it to the attention of his supervisor. At no point did he say I could file a complaint with the postal inspection service. As I left the post office, I dropped off replacement payments into a mail slot for the debtors who had not received the payments I had mailed on XX/XX/XXXX. 
I went to purchase groceries on XX/XX/XXXX and my debit card was declined. I knew I had enough money to cover the {$20.00} in groceries that I went there to purchase. On my way home, I opened my KeyBank app and it showed two overdraft fees and a deposit for {$6500.00}. I had no idea what that deposit was, but I was sure it was a bank error. I called KeyBanks call center and they advised me to go to the local branch on XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX to see what was going on. I rushed over to the branch, because it was near closing time. The teller said she knew nothing and couldn't tell what the deposit was. She then asked, " Did you write a check to someone for {$6500.00}? '' I assured her that I had done no such thing. 
Why would an attempted withdrawal show as a deposit? The bank had not sent me any notification that a large withdrawal was attempted, and I had enabled that setting. All the teller told me is that it was check # XXXX that had been written for {$6500.00} ( see copy of bank letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, 2nd page of letter shows check # XXXX is for {$6500.00}. ) To make matters worse, the bank returned some of the checks for smaller amounts that could have been covered with the balance I had. 
With no further information, I went home to look up check # XXXX since I have carbon duplicates of all the checks I write. Check # XXXX was written on XXXX check to the XXXX of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$75.00}. I then realized that this check was one of 3 checks missing from the payments that were never cashed that I had dropped at the mailbox on XXXX and XXXX streets. The bank did not give any proof that such a check had been submitted for withdrawal. I could only surmise that the check I wrote to the XXXX of XXXX XXXX for my taxes had been changed to a much higher amount ( and maybe to a different payer? ) I then checked my phone and I saw a message from a number that I did not recognize. There was a message from someone named XXXX from KeyBank about my checking account from the XXXX branch. I discovered the message in the evening, and the bank was closed by then. I returned the call in the form of a voicemail to XXXX using the information that the XXXX XXXX branch had given me about a check for {$6500.00} and reassured him that I had made no such transaction. 
Normally, I do not answer personal calls at work unless it's an emergency. I was having a particularly busy week since my supervisor was out and the duty of finding coverage for absent teachers had fallen to me during a particularly busy week. I spoke to XXXX XXXX the next day and he directed me back to my local branch on XXXX XXXX to have the overdraft charges removed and to close the account and transfer the balance to a new one. He made it seem like a hassle-free process and was very respectful of my situation. I followed XXXX 's advice and visited the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX branch. 
Once I was at my branch, I spoke to the same cashier who I had visited a day earlier and who looked into my account. I asked her to close my account, waive the fees and give me a new account. She said that she couldn't waive my fees because my account was on hold ; furthermore, she couldn't close my account and transfer the balance because only the branch manager could do that, and she was busy with another client. I could only close the account and transfer the balance during business hours if I made an appointment with the branch manager. I told her that I could not miss work on this critical week to transfer a balance. She told me to sit down and wait for her to remove the hold and reverse the fees. While I waited, I went online and opened a new account over the internet. I took whatever checking plan it defaulted to so that I would at least have a new account to transfer my balance to since Branch Manager was not going to help me. After waiting for roughly an hour and a half the cashier who was trying to remove the hold and waive the fees, lost interest in me and tried to hand me off to another cashier who was even less interested in helping me. Between them, a cashiers check was issued for the balance of the account that was going to be closed so that those funds could be deposited in the new account I opened for myself over the internet. Eventually I walked out of the bank with a receipt showing a balance in the new account. The former account was not closed at that time, but the bank sent a confirmation dated XX/XX/XXXX that they were closing the account. 
The next day I had to cancel the direct deposit of my payroll check to the former account ending in XXXX. The waiting period started for a new debit card and checks. My employer would not allow me set up a direct deposit without a voided check. In the meantime, I received in the mail on XX/XX/XXXX my payroll check which I deposited using a mobile app and the funds were made available the next day. The debit card and checks eventually arrived and I tried to resume normal life. My debtors questioned why I was late paying my bills. I was also concerned that the city would tow my car because the check Id written to them was stolen and they could tow my car, impose tow fees, and my car could possibly be damaged in a towing lot. I used my new debit card to pay that online. 
My next paycheck arrived on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, and I deposited it using the mobile app. This time however, my payroll deposit confirmation was followed by a message that check will be on hold for 7 days : REASONABLE CAUSE TO DOUBT COLLECTABILITY : Deposit monitoring processes identified an area of concern that indicates the item may not be paid. ( See email dated XX/XX/XXXX from KeyBank. ) So, basically, after I had been the victim of someone who stole a check and wrote it for a large amount, I was being penalized despite the fact that the check I deposited was a payroll check from the City of XXXX XXXX ( see copy attached ). 
Monday morning XX/XX/XXXX, I called KeyBanks call center to request that my funds be released given that the deposited check was a payroll check. I was told to call the XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX branch. I called the XXXX XXXX branch and the automated message said that " no one was available right now and to leave a message. '' I called the XXXX XXXX branch again and I spoke a teller and asked them to please release my funds. I was told that XXXX ) the hold was my fault for using a mobile app to make a deposit ; XXXX ) and making such a deposit on a weekend ; XXXX ) she could not remove the hold ; XXXX ) that no one could remove the hold ; XXXX ) there was no manager at the branch. I was then advised to call the XXXX XXXX branch manager. 
I called the XXXX XXXX branch manager as instructed and her phone said that " she was away on the XX/XX/XXXX but would return on the XXXX and to leave a message and to call another number for immediate help. I then called the number she gave as a number to call for " immediate help. '' I explained to the person that I was the victim of someone who tried to use my account. The person told me that she could not remove the hold ; that no one could and that there was no branch manager. I called the call center number again and the person told me that releasing the funds was at the discretion of the bank. I asked her name, and she gave me only the first name, which was XXXX and no other information. She asked me to wait while she escalated the call only to disconnect me. I later found a voice mail message from phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX from a XXXX XXXX that was left at XXXX pm who promised to help me get the funds released in a shorter amount of time. He said he was a manager in training and would look into it and would call me tomorrow morning. As of XXXX pm, my payroll deposit has not been released. 
As I read the results from XXXX about KeyBank " Today, KeyCorp is based in XXXXXXXX XXXX and we are one of the nation 's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately {$180.00} XXXX, '' I know that KeyBank can XXXX {$920.00} to a mom from XXXX XXXX who is just trying to pay her bills and pay the loan on her XXXX XXXX so that the lender doesn't repossess it for having missed XXXX payment. Your bank is not going to go under from releasing {$920.00} from a reliable depositor like the XXXX of XXXX XXXX. 
When you decide that you can hold my paycheck and deprive me of my earnings for a week for no justifiable reason, you are showing no respect for me or for my work. I get up in the morning at XXXX am so I can be at work by XXXX am. I have to make sure that all 1600 students at the local public school have a teacher in each classroom and on time. I have earned that pay and you have no right to withhold it from me or my family. Your bank isnt going to go bankrupt because I get the {$920.00} that I earned. I know that you like getting paid for the work that you do and at a higher rate of pay. So please, dont deprive me of the little I get. 
This is what concerns me about my experience : 1. Inability of bank executives to understand that victims of identity theft face real problems such as not being able to meet financial obligations while they are waiting for direct deposits to activated. A missed car payment can result in a vehicle being repossessed by a lienholder ; or a car to be towed for taxes owed to a municipality. 
2. That KeyBank never provided any proof that someone attempted to deposit a fraudulent check # XXXX for {$6500.00}. Is the bank investigating the parties involved? 
3. That I was never advised to report the incident to the police nor given the required documentation to file a police report. 
4. That the post office took no interest when I notified them that there was a problem with a mailbox at XXXX and XXXX streets in front of a high school. I was never told to file a complaint. 
5. That the call center never answered any questions or provided any solutions other than to telling me to contact my local branch. The call center didnt escalate my call but disconnected me. 
6. That the XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX branch did not provide me any proof that someone had submitted a check for {$6500.00} and told me that no proof was available. 
7. That there are no managers available at the bank branches or someone to whom complaints can be escalated and that the employees who are available are not authorized to help customers.

8. That there is only one person who can close an account and transfer a balance and that an appointment has to be made with that one person at their convenience.

9. That KeyBank finds it acceptable to hold a government payroll deposit for 7 days when the XXXX of XXXX XXXX is reliable and has not bounced payroll checks. 
10. That KeyBank find it acceptable to withhold the earning of a person who has done nothing wrong and from whom someone attempted to defraud.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation