Consumer complaint received 2018-06-15
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low — Overdrafts and overdraft fees
Company: KEYCORP (AK)

My wife and I recently switched to Key Bank and moved a portion of our money over. We maintain 2 checking accounts and keep the majority of our money in one so that it makes us consciously think about it before making purchases. When we opened the accounts I went to the branch in south XXXX, AK to set up the overdraft protection to draw from our express checking account. The representative at the branch told us that it was complete and we left thinking everything was fine. 

A few weeks later on XX/XX/XXXX I noticed the first {$28.00} overdraft fee hit my privilege checking account. I called Key bank on XX/XX/XXXX to ask why there was a fee and explain that the overdraft protection from my express account should have kicked in. The representative refunded the fee and told me that it was now set up. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I noticed that after my call on XX/XX/XXXX three more overdraft fees hit the account. ( two for {$28.00} and one for {$29.00} ). I was not sure why this was happening because I am really very good about doing an internal transfer from the Key mobile application on my phone. The money moves instantly and then I use my debit card. I proceeded to call back into a representative on XX/XX/XXXX who told me the overdraft protection had not been established and that he would reverse the fees. He reversed two of the fees but left one on the account and told me that the overdraft protection was now set up.

On XX/XX/XXXX I realized that four more overdraft fees had been charged and at this point was beyond livid. I called customer service once again who now told me that the overdraft had not been set up and that you could not set up overdraft protection with another checking account, only a line of credit or savings account. This was the first time I was hearing this and was quite frustrated. When I asked her to refund the overdraft fees since I had been given the wrong information she proceeded to tell me that according to the notes on the account another representative notated that they already made me aware of this. I then asked to listen to the recordings and she was unable to do so. During this phone call I asked her why I was incurring these fees regardless of the overdraft protection since I had been moving money into the account prior to my purchases. She let me know that you incur the fee the second you swipe the card and according to her system it shows that I made the transfer after I made the purchase. I was worried about this happening so I took screenshots of the time the transfer was completed to compare to the time of the transaction and there was still nothing the bank was willing to do. 

Due to all of these items overdrawing the account, Key Bank has been reporting this information to XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. This reporting has stopped me from being allowed to open a bank account anywhere else. The reporting that Key Bank is doing is inaccurate and against the law. Not only does their system not accurately record the time of internal transfers, but the dates and times of purchases are not accurately recorded.