Consumer complaint received 2017-05-09
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Problem with fees
Company: KEYCORP (NY)

In XX/XX/XXXX we opened a credit card account with KeyBank because our bank teller said we could be earning points toward cash back or to buy items and that it would not cost us anything if we paid the balance in full every month. At that time it was called a " XXXX '' XXXX. We decided it would be a good deal for us if we put all our groceries and regular expenses on the credit card and we would have no trouble paying off the balance every month and we would get the bonus points. In XX/XX/XXXX we signed up for automatic payments to pay off this credit card in full each month so we would n't have to think about it, as we always carried enough of a balance in our main account to cover any charges on the credit card. We proceeded to not pay much attention to this account, and indeed did accrue bonus points which I always used to put cash back into the account. I would get emails from KeyBank letting me know my statement was available and also how many points I had accrued. This went on for 2 years ( as I mentioned we did n't pay attention to the statements, knowing we always had enough in our main checking account to cover the automatic payments to this charge card account. ) However, in XX/XX/XXXX, I did finally look at some statements and noticed that we had been accruing interest and late fees for a total of around {$1800.00} because the automatic payment date ( the XXXX ) was AFTER the due date ( the XXXX. ) I first called KeyBank customer service and was told that there was a form that we had signed requesting the payment date of the XXXX of the month. The customer service representative said she would send me a copy or we should be able to get it at the branch. I believe I requested that she send me a copy and I waited for it, but never got it. I went in to the local branch and explained the situation. The " personal banker '', XXXX, that I spoke to was sympathetic and did remove one {$37.00} late fee but said that 's all she could do. At that time she could not find the original document which we signed when requesting automatic payments. I was not very satisfied so I called KeyBank 's customer service again and the person I spoke to said he would contact my branch and that I should hear from them within 24-48 hours. No one got back to me so I called XXXX at my branch again. She said she was eventually able to find the document online, and reiterated that since we had selected that payment date and because so much time had gone by that she could n't refund us any more of the interest and fees. I ca n't remember why we picked the XXXX, but the document instructs you to select a payment date 14 days before the due date, so I assume that we were informed when the due date was. The person we signed up with no longer works there. The only signatures on the document are mine and my partner 's so we do n't have the name of the person who arranged this. There is also no mention of a due date on the form. I subsequently called XXXX 's boss at the branch and was given the same response, that he could not refund me any of the interest and fees because we had requested the date and so much time had gone by. My main question to them was, why did the bank not alert me to the fact that our auto-pay date was after the due date and that we had been accruing charges? Or was there some change in the due date that they failed to tell us about, ( I believe the date we opened the account for the credit card and then arranged for the auto-payments may coincide with the change in name from " XXXX XXXX XXXX' to " XXXX XXXX '' ) or did the person who filled out the auto-pay agreement have incorrect information? In other cases, like when I travel to XXXX or XXXX, the bank has called me to make sure the charges are really mine ( which I appreciated ) so obviously there is a computer mechanism for monitoring the activity on an account. It seems like there should have been some red flag to alert them, and me, that this was happening. We would never have knowingly picked an auto-pay date after the due date!