Consumer complaint received 2026-05-26 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: KEYCORP
State: IN

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year>, I made a mobile deposit ( to my KeyBank account ) with a check from XXXX, my retirement account agent, in the amount of {$5400.00}. Shortly after, I received an email from KeyBank advising that a temporary hold was being placed on my deposit. Goes further to say " this hold period is used to ensure that the bank from which the check ( s ) originated will pay the amount you deposited. '' The notice states, your fund ( s ) have been delayed for the following reason ( s ) : Reasonable Cause : We believe a deposited check may not be paid for the following reason : Deposit monitoring processes identified an area of concern that indicates the item may not be paid. * * My account was significantly overdrawn at the time of the deposit. * * I also paid an additional {$40.00} to XXXX to have funds overnighted so that I could quickly clear the negative balance rather than wait for XXXX delivery. This ended up being a waste of money because the hold was placed on the deposit. I called customer service first thing, XX/XX/XXXX, spoke with a representative, she mentioned the XXXX XXXX hold and I explained that this hold was creating a financial hardship for me. Every dollar I have is tied up in that deposit. She took some information from me and told me that she would open an escalation for me and someone would get back to me, " hopefully by tomorrow '' she mentioned. I was speaking to her before XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and the best she could tell me was hopefully someone would get back to me before the end the day on XX/XX/XXXX, which happened to be a Friday and a holiday weekend. Since the message indicated some type of automated hold, I thought maybe taking the check to a branch so a live person could see it, that should help. Midday on XX/XX/XXXX, I went to the KeyBank branch at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, IN. I was greeted and helped by XXXX XXXX. I showed him the physical check and check stub, along with the FedEx envelope I received the check in that showed my physical address and the sender matching the name of the issuer on the check. I explained my situation again and told him that I have no money until they clear the hold on the check. He looked at the check, went on to explain that next time, not to use mobile deposit and to come to the branch because " some people do deposit fraudulent checks and take the money. '' He said there was nothing he could do but open another escalation, he was kind but never mentioned the manager could review and potentially release the hold. Since it was already XXXX, he did not think he would hear anything back from anyone before the following business day. He promised a follow-up, scheduled a call for XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX and sent me the email confirming the meeting. After leaving the branch, I called Customer Service because I wanted to see if there was any way to figure out who the escalation was assigned to and reach out to them. Eventually, I was put in touch with a XXXX who told me there wasn't really anything he could do because he is a Supervisor in Default and this was not his area. He also told me during that call that they have lots of escalations and they couldn't just stop to review my escalation/account, and in his words " even though it's important to you ''. He was also not able to tell me what I could expect as far as receiving a response. He said it might be tomorrow or next week. XX/XX/XXXX consisted of several calls and interactions with the KeyBank representatives. Some calls were worse than others, as admittedly, I was out of patience, but no one could give me a solid answer. Between supervisors and reps, everyone gave the same response .. nothing they can do, it's a XXXX XXXX hold, only the branch manager can release the hold, etc. I remember saying often, what happened to the human touch of banking. On XX/XX/XXXX, I did not hear from XXXX XXXX, as scheduled. I waited until after XXXX and called the branch, they told me XXXX XXXX been sent to another branch for the day. I asked to speak to the manager, he was with a client. So again, I call customer service. I speak with XXXX, explain my situation. He called the branch to see what happened the meeting I was promised and stayed on the call until he was able to put me in touch with a live person. He was helpful but the " escalation specialist '' I was finally put in touch with said that she had spoken with the department that placed the hold on the check and unfortunately there was nothing they would do to release the hold. At this point, it's after XXXX on a Friday before a 3 day weekend and I have no money and not getting anywhere with the bank. I did go back to the branch on Friday afternoon to plead my case and ask if the manager or someone could release the hold or some of the funds. The manager was not available to speak with me but spoke via instant message to the lady I was talking to. He said there was nothing he could do but if I wanted, I could schedule a time to come in on Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX to talk with him. I declined since he said there was nothing he could do. Today, XX/XX/XXXX the branch manager at XXXX was not available so I was transferred to another branch entirely. I spoke with XXXX at the XXXX XXXX XXXX branch in XXXX, XXXX. He listened, explained he had no authority to release the hold, but the branch manager at my home branch would. He called XXXX to validate the funds and the check, then called my " home branch '' to give them the information. He was the first person willing to deter from his day to day and offer that much help. I later called the branch and the manager had left early, but I spoke with XXXX who never apologized for missing the scheduled call, and also said that even though they had the information that XXXX provided from XXXX to validate the collectibility of the check, the manager probably wouldn't release the hold anyway. Told me that I am probably just going to have to wait until the XXXX for the funds to clear but he " could '' push it up the ladder to his regional to see. There are a few things I would like to point out : I was given so many reasons and every time I told them I knew what the code said, no one could offer a further explanation. I researched this issue and many people stated they were able to resolve it with a visit to the branch. My check was below the large amount threshold and there was no true reason to believe that the paying bank would not honor the check. I was repeatedly told that the branch manager could release the hold. ( When I explained that I had opened my account online, they did tell me the home branch I was assigned to was the XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, IN branch that I visited. ) I could understand the XXXX hold if the reason was for my repeated overdraws, but it was not. It was a reasonable doubt of collectibility that could be cleared up with a review of the documentation I had readily available or a phone call. I was told that my account was still new, I only opened it 7 months ago. I was told that it was because of the large amount. I was told that it was because I had never made a deposit that large. I was told it was because it was a " not on us '' check. Because my account was overdrawn at the time of deposit and there have been repeated overdraws over the months, this hold appears to be more of a " profiling '' decision rather than based on the merit of the reason provided. It has made additional bills late and caused me a lot of XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief