Keybank 1

I am closing my accounts with Key on Monday. Banking with has been a constant nightmare: improper service, improper fees, broken promises/deadlines, unclear/incorrect bank statements (leading to fees), unusable cards/account access, incompetence, borderline fraudulent fees and oh yeah did I mention the ridiculous amount of fees?

1) Ordering checks cost me $115. I opened an account and was IMPROPERLY OVERCHARGED for ordering checks which overdrafted my account and subsequently brought on another overdraft charge. Literally they charged me $25 more than they said they would for my checks + the $80 in overdraft fees. Eventually Key fixed this and refunded me, only after 3 days of not being able to access any money or use my debit card... this all in the first week of banking with them. Way to go.

2) My family received new debit cards in the mail, ALL OF WHICH DID NOT WORK for 2 AND A HALF WEEKS!! This was a COLOSSAL FAILURE on Key's part. My stepfather was traveling when he found out he could not use his card or access his money. My mothers card was drawing money out of my account (WTF?) which quickly racked up well over $200 worth of overdraft fees (not all of which were refunded). My card did not work at all. I called Key every day, the 1800 number, the local branch, and they basically bullsh*tted me for 2 weeks because no one really knew what was going on. I got the MANAGER OF THE LOCAL BRANCH to APOLOGIZE and ADMIT THEY DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS WRONG FOR 2 WEEKS! Long story short, my entire family could not access any money in their accounts for 1 week, and could not use the cards for another week and a half. Oh, all of this was right before Christmas too. Not all the overdraft fees that were, of course, tacked on during this process were refunded. Only at Key would they do this. Unbelievable.

3) Customer service does not adhere to PROMISED DEADLINES or call you back at the time or day they say they will. In fact, they will not call you at all and you will have to call them to explain the situation to a different person every time.

4) FAULTY/FRAUDULENT/EXCESSIVE OVERDRAFT CHARGES. I understand a Bank's need to charge overdraft fees -- fine. But when they are the result of incompetence, wrongful charge, "computer problems" (actually told to me at my local branch), or other "mistakes" they are inexcusable. Since opening my account at Key one year ago I have been hit with well over $600 of overdraft fees (!), about 75% of these were ADMITTED BY THE BANK to have been THEIR FAULT (see above). Whenever this happens my account and card are locked and it is a 2-3 day process of getting thinks working again, every time.

Example: Lets do some math (from a real recent bank statement): If my account is hit with a $39.00 overdraft fee, and my subsequent available balance is -$32.00 what does that mean? I had +$7.00 in my account and was charged with an overdraft. REALLY? Key admitted that there was a mistake processing ATM fees and agreed to refund the charge. This is the kind of BS that I put up with ALL THE TIME.

I had an account with Wachovia and only managed to rack up about $50 worth of fees during my 4 years of banking with them.

OVERDRAFT REFUNDS TAKE SEVERAL DAYS TO POST. While Key has no problems immediately hitting you with overdraft fees, any promised "refunds" will take several days to show up and post in your account. I guess this ends up working out because your card is usually locked during this time anyway.

5) PENDING CHARGES WILL ILLICIT IMMEDIATE OVERDRAFT FEES WHILE PENDING CHECKS YOU DEPOSIT WILL NOT BE ACCESSIBLE FOR 1-2 DAYS. This is amazing to me -- according to Key, "pending" money people charge you is real, whereas "pending" money you deposit is not. This is a clear double standard. I understand how "pending" activity works and banking in general works, but Key needs to have one standard as to how they treat "pending" activity. This is a very dirty trick and in my opinion this is fraudulent banking. Of course, none of this is apparent even when it shows up on your online bank statement the next day.

6) EMPLOYEE INCOMPETENCE. As you can imagine i've spent a lot of time at my local Key branch. What amazes me is every time I talk to a different person, I get a different answer.

Example: My debit card is locked and 1/3 of the people don't know hot to fix it, another 1/3rd fix it incorrectly and the other 1/3 fix it differently every time with a variety of outcomes and or delays.

Example: The teller charging me the wrong amount of money for ordering checks.

Example: 3 new debit cards, all of which did not funtion and took 2 and a half weeks to fix.

Example: Customer service not calling me back (ever) when they said they would.

Example: Customer service, Branch managers and Key officials not knowing how to fix a serious banking issue, culminating in an admission that they did not know what the problem was.

Example: Improper data entry, accounting, computing and incompetence resulting in literally hundreds of dollars (hundreds of dollars!!) in "mistaken" fees. This happens on a regular basis.

Example: forgetting to refund all mistaken fees as promised in addition to not completing this task in any timely fashion.

Bottom Line: Key Bank has a bad reputation in my area, I would not recommend them to anyone. Key has lost me and my entire family as customers. My stepfather was so furious about not being able to access his money while he was traveling he closed his accounts months ago. I should have done the same. Literally its one thing after another. Since banking with them for only one year, my debit card has not functioned (for one reason or another) for an estimated 30 days total. I have been charged with well over $600 of fees, most of which are not my fault and not all have been refunded as promised. I could go on, but the basis for my complaints are outlined in this review.

Do not bank with Key.