Eighteen First Niagara branches closed at 3:00 p.m. Friday, and when they reopen on Monday, they will reopen at Northwest Savings Bank branches. Northwest customers, for the most part, have received what they need by mail because that transition is currently underway. If you are a customer of one of those 18 Northwest branches, your First Niagara debit card does not work anymore. If you've received your Northwest card in the mail, now is the time to call and activate it, and it will work for making purchases and even ATM withdrawals at stores and markets. Depositing checks and other business will have to wait until Monday. Northwest tells Channel 2 that direct deposits and automatic bill payments will not be interrupted. Instead, customers have until November 9 to make any changes with their new account information. Channel 2 received a lot of questions today about both Northwest and Key Bank, and both banks worked with 2 On Your Side to provide you the following answers. Those answered by First Niagara were first published in Buffalo Business First and summarized by Erica Brecher. Colleen Basso: 'I received most info past 2 weeks, new debit card. ![]() No pin yet though? And I received 4 stacks of checks. Which I hope THEY are covering the cost of as I haven't written a check in about 3 years and didn't need them!! When can I expect to be able to get any money from acct Northwest? • Northwest: When you activate your debit by calling 1-866-985-2273, you’ll be asked to select a new PIN. You can start using your new Northwest card now. Tomorrow, you can start using your Northwest checks. If you’re an Online Banking customer, you can log in beginning Monday, September 12 at 8 a.m. Visit www.northwest.com/online_banking.htm for Online Banking login instructions, user guides and important conversion details. Clarence Geiger III: What happens to your mortgage? How to Activate an ATM Card. In the bank’s Online Banking system first and then use your access to activate your. To See if My Debit Card Is. Select a QuickBooks account to set up for online services. First National Bank Visa® Debit Cards are issued by First National Bank. ![]() • Northwest: If your mortgage is coming to Northwest, you should have received at least some of the following: a welcome letter, welcome booklet, letter that maps your old First Niagara account numbers and your new Northwest account numbers and a loan coupon book if you’re a loan coupon book customer. If it’s coming to Northwest, all terms and conditions of your mortgage will stay exactly the same, even though account numbers have changed. Melissa Lynn Falkowski: [Why] were some sold to Northwest and others to Key Bank? • Key Bank: For those few customers who opened accounts at multiple First Niagara locations, they were assigned to the branch where they most often conducted their transactions in the past 12 months, so they can continue to bank with a single financial institution. Customers who don’t visit a branch for transactions, using mobile and online banking instead, were assigned to the branch closest to their home address. Again, those whose accounts are converting to Northwest have been receiving information from Northwest since the summer, but any customers with questions can call First Niagara directly at 1-800-421-0004. Anne Gillick Piorkowski: Is it true that we won't have access to deposit services or that deposited checks will clear over the next 3 days? We have bills to pay and have already been dealing with delayed processing on our paychecks. If we don't have access to our accounts, we are going to get behind on our bills. • Northwest: Any transactions to and from your First Niagara accounts will automatically post to your Northwest accounts through November 9. This means that any direct deposit—from an employer or government agency—and any automatic payment using your account and routing numbers to a biller will continue without interruption. If you’ve paid bills using a First Niagara check that haven’t posted, they will also post from your new Northwest account. Elly O'Neill Crouch: Would love to know how they decided what customers went where. Our original accounts were started at a First Niagara (Lockport Savings), that turned into a Key but we will be Northwest customers. • First Niagara: For part one of this answer, please see the above response to Melissa from Key Bank. ![]() For part two, that requires explaining some Department of Justice regulations. When Key Bank acquired First Niagara, the bank first took all the branches. The government said that was an unfair amount of bank branches to own, considering Key Bank already has branches in WNY, and required Key Bank to sell 18 of those branches. Northwest bought those branches, and that would explain why you were first told Key Bank and later told Northwest. Mike Berlinger: Why are all my accounts moving to Northwest but my Mortgage is not? This really is annoying and aggravating. • Northwest: Many customer mortgage accounts are converting from First Niagara to Northwest. But, mortgages not being converted are those that have been sold by First Niagara to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac but which First Niagara continues to service. In those cases, First Niagara does not own the asset and therefore could not sell it to Northwest. Channel 2: When can Key Bank customers expect to start receiving information? Many see their Northwest neighbors receiving materials, and Key Bank customers are concerned that theirs have not come yet. • Key Bank: This weekend only those 18 branches, and associated customer accounts, are being converted to Northwest. Customers whose accounts are converting to Northwest this weekend have been receiving information on this transition over the past couple of months, including information available at www.northwestsavingsbank.com/welcome. Those with questions can contact Northwest at 1-877-672-5678. • Key Bank: All other First Niagara customer accounts are converting to KeyBank early next month, and welcome kits went in the mail to all these customers just this week. The welcome kits will have everything an account holder needs to know about October’s conversion, and why First Niagara and KeyBank are better together, better for customers and better for Western New York. For example, Buffalo is now the home of our Northeast Regional Headquarters and our second-largest market outside of Cleveland. More information for First Niagara customers who’ll join KeyBank in October is available at www.meetkeybank.com, and they can also call us at 1-800-421-0004. I asked my domestic partner to pay my car payment for me. He has been paying it right along ever since First Niagara sold out to Key Bank. Right along there has never been a problem. Today, he called to pay my car payment and was told that he could not pay it because he was not listed on my account. I called Key Bank and was told a third party could not pay my bill, so I requested for the bank to place a note in my account that he was allowed to pay it. I told them that it was very inconvenient for me because of my working hours. They told me no. I told them I did not care who knew my account information and if anybody wanted to pay on my account that they could. I am very upset with this. I will be switching my account over to my bank. Key Bank just lost a good customer. I pay my bills every month and on time. Key Bank needs to review their policies on this matter or they will be losing a lot more accounts. Thank you so much for nothing. First, it automatically categorizes your transactions. You cannot shut off this feature. It labels transactions completely inaccurately, naming as 'income' amounts that actually have a minus sign in front of them. It does this consistently with anything that is a check, as opposed to a debit card transaction. You can, of course, correct them if you go in and do so manually. But for checks, there is no way to correct the problem for good. Each new check you write will be labeled 'income,' even though YOU wrote the check, obviously making it a debit. Catching these errors is time consuming, but even worse, unless you are checking each day, it is easy to make an error and not catch it at all until you go to download transactions for monthly or annual reporting or in order to prepare taxes. Then, the errors are interspersed throughout the various categories of the report, and you have to review hundreds of transactions to find them. So, to avoid have errors hidden beneath weeks or months of transactions, I literally open my account online to check EVERY DAY, so I won't miss anything. Which brings me to the second problem: There is no reporting function. You can, of course, download an undifferentiated list, and then sort it yourself. Their 'date' function does not work, so no matter what dates you type into the search bar, it downloads your entire history. You can, of course, delete the hundreds of dates that are not the period you want to report on (say, I want to download all of 2016, I will have to delete all the 2017 transactions in order to get a 2016-only report). As you may imagine, the several problems associated with sorting takes hours. A reporting function that KeyBank used to provide took MINUTES to get an error-free report. Given basic Excel-type programming, it seems HW could easily build in a feature that would allow you to check boxes for specific income and expense categories, then print out reports or subsections of an overall report labeled, 'groceries,' 'auto repair,' etc., with automatic sub-totaling But NO. You can't do this. You have cut and paste, move columns and rows, then sort each sub-category that you create by date, and enter your own Excel formulas to create sub-totals. It's ridiculous for KeyBank to have chosen this as a replacement for something that had functions that HW simply does not have, and therefore cannot replace. When I talked to a KeyBank rep about this at my branch, he kept repeating to me with great irritation, 'you're asking it to do something it's not meant to do.' I replied, 'I'm asking the bank to live up to its promise that HW would do what the old program did.' He shook his head at me in exasperation. It seemed it was irritating to him that I just somehow could not get his point that it was fine to take something away, say they would provide a new tool to do what they took away, then blame the customer for too high of expectations when it didn't. Other than this, I don't have serious complaints about KeyBank. Most of the face-to-face service at my own branch is good. But it is highly rep-dependent. I had my mortgage and credit card through First Niagara, which was purchased by Key Bank. My first experience with Key was when they called me a week or so after my mortgage payment was due, asking me why I missed my payment. I have never missed a payment on anything, and my credit score in all three bureaus is over 800. I told them that I mailed my check in well in advanced to my due date (which it's ridiculous that I can't pay it online without a Key Bank bank account, which I don't want and will never have!). They proceeded to tell me that if I sent in the payment, it is likely their issue, because they lost a large number of payments from former First Niagara customers, and that the transition was causing some issues. It would have been nice if they lead with that, instead of harassing me that I didn't make a payment. I mean, come on, look at my history and see that I have never missed a payment before accusing me of missing it. The representative then proceeded to tell me that I will not be charged any late fees, but that I should check in another couple of days to make sure that they found it and the payment was made, and that if the payment wasn't make, that I would have to cancel the check and make the payment again. Which by the way, I would not reimburse the fee for a cancelled check, even though it was their fault the payment was lost. I waited about 4 days, and finally the payment was made, so luckily I didn't have to battle them on a canceled check fee. When I was on the phone with them they suggested that I open a Key Bank checking account so I can make my payments electronically. You guys are horrible at everything. Why would I trust you with my money? I wish I could choose who owned my mortgage, but with this, I am stuck! Now, for my credit card experience with them. I loved my First Niagara MasterCard. I used it for everything I did and paid off the balance at the end of each month, so I could gain rewards points to use for travel. They had great customer service, did an amazing job catching fraud, even before I noticed it (which is good considering I am a Criminal Investigator that deals with fraud on a regular basis. I did miss one payment with them a few years back and had no problems. I called when I realized it, zero-balanced my card, and they happily removed the late fee. Unfortunately the card is now Key Bank, since they bought First Niagara, and in a short few months I have already had multiple problems with them. Last month we had one of the worse snow storms we have had in 30+ years in Upstate NY, and it fell right around the time that my credit card payment was due. Dealing with the digging out and such, I forgot to make my payment. Literally 4 days after my payment due date, I went to make a purchase and was declined. I have never been declined and figured it was an error with the card reader, so I paid cash and moved on. Then I got an email that one of my automated monthly reoccurring payments that uses that card was declined. I immediately called Key Bank and they told me that I did not make my monthly payment, and it is their policy that the card cannot be used until the payment is made. AFTER ONLY 4 DAYS??!? I proceeded to explain what happened with the snow storm and made my payment online right away (which why can I make my credit card payment online, but not my mortgage). They then told me that it would take up to 2 business days to post to my account. This was on a Friday, so this meant I could not use my credit card until at least Monday. I asked to speak to a manager and asked her to please unlock my card so I could use it since I just made the payment. She said that she was unable to do so. I asked to speak to HER manager and she said I can go all the way up the change, and no one would be able to do that because it is an automated system that can't be changed. That is crazy. I can see if you went a full month without making the payment, but late by 4 days? She said that as soon as the account is late the credit card is unusable. I understand that they are allowed to do this as a company, but that is a crazy ridiculous policy. I found that I can set up an automated alert to remind me before my payment is due, just to make sure if something is going on, I will be reminded to make sure I made the payment. Which brought on the next issue. I was easily able to go into my account online and set up alerts for various actions. For instance, when a payment was due, past due, etc. One of the options was to alert when your balance was over a specific amount. I set them all up so I could see what they looked like and how often they triggered, figuring I would go back in afterwards to reduce the noise and shut some off. The problem occurred when I went back in to shut off some of the alerts. I could no longer access the options to change my alerts. I called their tech support and was elevated to level 2 support. I spent well over an hour on the phone with them, and he could not figure out what was going on. After him going back and forth with his manager, he finally said that they have no idea why it's not working and that he was going to have to dig in further and would call me back. Of course, I never got the callback. I just called this morning, about a week after, and had to go through the entire thing AGAIN. I told them that I had tried three different browsers and my phone's browser, and had the same issue everywhere, and just because I knew they were going to ask, I cleared my cache on all as well. It didn't matter, she wanted to talk me through the steps on clearing my cache. So I did, again, then she forwarded me to their level 2 support. I was having deja vu! I spent another 45 minutes on the phone, and at one point they said that if I wanted to set up text message alerts, they could do it for me without me having to log into my account to do it, so I said, 'GREAT, let's do it!' Then she came back and said that text alerts are not support with the credit card accounts, lol. OK, Great, thanks for knowing your job enough to offer me a service you don't even have. Good job level 2 support! Anyway, they had to escalate it to THEIR tech support, and I was told that I would be getting a call back in 3 to 5 days. In the meantime, my email is blowing up with a ton of alerts that I don't want any longer. If I didn't have over a million reward points I would close my account immediately and start using a different card. As soon as I use all my points for travel, I will never use the card again and am steering everyone I know away from Key Bank. I could understand having one issue, but all of this has gotten me fed up, to the point where this is the first time I have ever written a review about anything. I hate you Key Bank and wish you never purchased First Niagara. This past week has been hell on earth for me with this bank. Let me start by saying I was a customer of this bank for many years dating back to New Haven Savings Bank with NO ISSUES at all through any bank take over since then until now. In the past my available balance was just that, available. I have been charged with overdraft fees all week that have been corrected by someone at a local branch but even though I haven't used the account I am accruing more fees each night because that is when 'processing' is done and it takes a day or two for that. I have gone into my local branch 3 days in a row this week to try to fix this problem. Each time I leave there I leave with a positive balance and leave the account as it is. The next morning I again have a negative balance because of the overnight 'processing'. I'd close the account today but I have a direct deposit going in so I need to leave it open until I can get a paper check or move it to another bank. Friendly advice, avoid the aggravation I have unfortunately experienced and bank elsewhere. Opened an account with Key Bank and was never told about the 'new account hold'. I went to deposit for the first time when I got paid. They told me about the new account hold and that if I deposited any checks for the first 14 days they would be held for a period of 9 days. Went back two weeks later, was told that the new account hold is 30 days. Went back after 30 days, was told it was 60 days. Went back after 60 days and for the first time heard about their 'case by case policy' in which they will start holding my checks for up to 5 days to make sure my employer actually has those funds. After my frustration over the misinformation I asked to close my account and was told I would have to pay $50. I went to another branch and a teller just cashed the check for me. A few weeks later I went to cash another check at a location I have never been to. The teller told me Key Bank will only cash checks if your account balance is equal or greater than the check. My available balance will change several times within a matter of 24 hours even if I only use my card once or not at all. I never actually know what my real balance is at any given time. Customer service representatives through their telephone system cannot help you with anything. Was given the run around from Key Bank customer service regarding an account that I closed nearly 2 years ago prior to the merger. Apparently the account was not closed and has somehow racked up nearly $800 in charge fees over the past few months. Despite zero activity on the account since the merger Key Bank was unwilling to reverse the charges claiming that I needed to remember the branch I visited 2 years ago when I closed the account so that a paper record could be tracked down. This combined with their practices of prioritizing credits over deposits to charge overdraft fees is 100% illegal and I will be moving forward to pursue legal action. Bank of America just got in trouble for these corrupt banking practices last year - Key Bank you are next. I used to have a neutral if not decent opinion of Key Bank but in the past year, I have come to hate them. Despite my credit rating going up to 746, they have raised the interest on my equity loans twice in 4 months!! My highest interest rate credit card was through them so I paid it off recently and closed the account. I wonder if they are trying to make up the difference by overcharging my existing accounts? Over the years they have added fee after fee and any correspondence with them has been either hostile or completely uninterested. I am in HR and our employees come to me often for banking recommendations/advice. Key is one bank I am telling them to avoid. To Key: you will lose business when you treat a 20 year customer this badly. There are plenty of other choice out there. I opened an account in January of 2017. It took them 2 months to send a debit card. Because I was switching banks I had to receive a paper check from my job and then switch to direct deposit. I deposited my check yesterday. Tried to use my card today and for some reason it was declined. I call the branch and they said my payroll check was fraudulent. I knew it was too good to be true, because I work for a corporate company. I spoke with my payroll department and from their end everything was fine, and cleared. So Key Bank made another excuse on why they were not releasing my funds. I went up to the branch they called the police on me. So now my job is overnighting a new check. And avoiding the one Key Bank has. Stay away from this company. They are a scam and will do anything to steal your money. Horrible service. Key Bank phone service does not hold a candle to First Niagara. First Niagara phone reps were local folks based in the USA who had the ability to solve problems. Key Bank uses offshore reps who are unfailingly polite but are very limited in what they can do to help. During transition I followed instructions but still was forced to change my user name because the previous one was voided out. Few months later I called to obtain details on how to set up account beneficiaries (payment upon death) and could not get any info about whether or not I can establish primary and contingent, and if the percentage distributions can be unequal. I am not at all pleased with the customer service at Key Bank. I went today at 9:05 am and had to wait because the teller had not gotten her money drawer or signed into her computer when I arrived at her window. I thought they opened at 9 am??? Had to go to the only other teller open after waiting for another customer to finish. After making my request, the teller handed me the deposit slip WITHOUT A WORD - of thanks or even acknowledgement - NOT THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED. One more time and I am taking my account elsewhere. I did NOT ask to be a customer of this bank, First Niagara was bought out recently by this bank. Don't have good customer service - I don't care, but don't be surprised when customers bolt. You are not providing any special service that any other bank could not provide, so will look for a professional, courteous teller at another bank soon. My story is the absolute same as every story on here. I've been with Key Bank for 2 changed names since 2008. I have NEVER had so many near strokes than I have in the past however months with this nightmare. I do almost all my banking, bill paying, and such online. I have had so much trouble reading my online statements on who was paid, who's due to get paid, and TRUE available balance. I regrettably overdrew my account and as fast as I could took care of it. Today I left my lawyer's office with an $11,000 check. I knew I wouldn't be able to use all right away but I knew I could at least pay my bills. Teller tells me before I deposit the check, 'Yeah you can readily use $5000 but have to wait for the rest to clear. No problem I just wanna be able to eat and pay my bills, sign the check, deposit check. Uh oh teller says 'Oh there's a hold on the entire check due to continual overdrafts!' 1x last month and called them 3x about not understanding who got paid and when. So give me my check back, I'm closing my account. I'm done with this bank. 'Oh you have to wait for the check to clear' What! I don't owe you any money, why can't I have my check back so I can get it cashed so I can avoid all the late fees on my credit cards and feed my kids? 'Yeah sorry you can't have it until it clears even though it just came out of escrow and you don't owe us any money.' NEVER EVER AGAIN. I WON'T LET THEM COUNT MY CHANGE. After Key bank took over First Niagara Bank I encountered a huge problem. Apparently they take all ATM withdrawals before a deposit on the same day. Because they did this it cause my account to go negative each time. In the matter of a 2 week period they had taken more than 700.00 in fees from me. No one in the bank would do a thing for me. I had been a First Niagara customer for more than 20 years and was even employed there. I had no choice but to close my accounts and they couldn't even get that right. Resolution response: March 15, 2017 After 7 days the hold was released and the check was cleared. However my account had restrictions placed on it because of the hold, so therefore I couldn't access my normal direct deposit until I went into a branch and had the restrictions removed. I was upset and may have over reacted when my own direct deposit wasn't accessible but this process was a terrible. The phone representatives telling me to go to the bank branch and the bank branch directing me to phone representatives was bad enough. But the rude phone representative with the accusatory tone and pointing out that since I've had past overdraft's it's somehow my fault. Although I've never deposited a fraudulent check was the worst. I was contacted by client relations and she was very helpful in understanding my side of it and expressed Key's apology for this. I also have a bank teller who knows me from coming in and he was also very helpful in explaining why this happened and getting the restrictions released from my account. So for those two I give kudos. Original review: March 7, 2017. I have banked with Key Bank for about 2 years. Never had any problems with depositing checks. I deposited a state issued unemployment check in the ATM drawn on a Chase bank account. The first $100 was made immediately available after the deposit. The next day the full check is available for use. I make a couple of purchases and then get declined. I check my account and it's negative. I call Key Bank, the representative doesn't know why but a fraud alert was put on the check and it's now being held for 7 days. Although the funds were just available a few minutes ago. The representative tells me they will connect me to Fraud Department. I get transferred and the lady tells me she can not help me. This line is only for bank employees. I call Key Bank back again. This time the representative states if I go inside a branch, that a Branch Manager can verify the check and release the hold. Okay, I leave work, go home and get the check stub and a letter from unemployment about the check. I go to the closest Key Bank and the teller tells me the bank manager won't be in the office for another 2 days. So I drive to another Key Bank and the Branch Manager there tells me there is nothing she can do. So I once again call Key Bank, explain my situation for the 5th time today. The representative calls the Fraud Department, she states they don't know why a hold is on the check. Then she says 'Let me call a Branch Manager.' She comes back and says the Branch Manager won't be back until tomorrow (it's noon) and that she will contact her tomorrow. I express my displeasure on one of Key Bank social media sites. I get a call back from Key Bank with some rude representative that wants to explain to me the whole ATM check deposit process. I ended up hanging up on him and can't wait for this to be resolved so I can close my account. So now I have to wait 7 days for some fraud hold on a state issued check when I could have walked across the street to Chase and cashed the check, paid an $8 service fee and been done in a matter of minutes. I'm a former First Niagara customer, and I didn't think that the merger would have been so bad, so I just kept my account knowing it would become a Key Bank account. That was the worst thing I could have done for myself. The very first day of the merger, I was on hold multiple times dealing with online banking not working, even exceeding 3 hours on hold at one point. Key Bank was supposed to give First Niagara customers $100 because of this sloppy merger, but they apparently decided who would get that $100 and I was not one of those customers. I called the Queen Anne branch and he seen there was another card on my account. He said you're not allowed to have 2 cards but he doesn't know what happened. Long story kinda short, I filed a claim the same day and filed a police report. 2 days later, I call Key Bank to follow up, they said they denied it, first because the second card was in my possession, noticed it wasn't activated with my phone number and sent out a second denial letter stating it was a family member in my home. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I'm arguing with the lady, telling her I can show proof of all of their phone numbers, proof I was at work and such. I asked her when the police find out who it was and proves it was NOT me or my family would I get my money back and she says NO! THEY ARE NOT LIABLE. What in the actual **!!! So, I left work 5 hours early, went to the bank, was there for almost 2 hours to get answers, why did they send out another card and I was not aware? They don't know is all I got. Why was 2 cards able to be used on my account? They do not know is all I got. She called the fraud department and they tell her pretty much what they told me. She looks at the account and tells me 'well, it doesn't look good for you because the purchases were all local'. You're kidding right??? Then asks if I trust my sister in law! I told her not to ever disrespect my family like that again. It's just assumption after assumption. I posted on their Facebook page to warn people about this place. Someone from the executive office called me and acted like this was going to get taken care of. He calls today asking for proof I was at work, I sent him that. I already know they are going to come up with something else to not return my money! I asked him the same question, when the police proves it wasn't me or family would I get my money and he says he isn't sure. How are you in the 'executive office' but you don't know?? I asked him again, 'why did this card get sent out without me knowing?' He is still 'looking' into it. I asked why did they allow 2 cards on one account when it isn't allowed? He is still 'looking' into it. This is recent so imagine I'm still so mad about this! It's ridiculous. The only good thing that's looking up for me is the police department. They did call me today and let me know they have started the investigation and they are getting footage of all the places this person went. I can't wait to prove to these people! I have contacted an attorney today. I will NOT let this go on any longer without a resolution. It's just so insane! PLEASE AVOID USING KEYBANK! They are no good!!! I want people to know, this bank is just HORRIBLE! I called to find out the status of my unemployment card since it's been loaded with over a thousand dollars for two weeks. The very incompetent lady tells me it was mailed out on the 21st that she can cancel it and expedite a new one for 15 dollars. I told her no because obviously the one they mailed would come first. Well she says 'oh I'm so sorry. I already cancelled it.' Of course I get the cancelled card in the mail today and lo and behold they tell me there's nothing they can do about it. 'Sorry you have to wait for a new one.' Come to find out they didn't even mail it till today. This is absolutely a joke. I will never deal with these idiots again nor recommend them to anyone because the retard tried making a 15 dollar sale. I'm screwed and can't access my own money. I called in on Dec 20th a few days before Christmas asking what was my balance. Next few days I go shopping and my debit card doesn't work, saying invalid. When I call customer service, I was told I REPORTED MY CARD STOLEN!!! Again, these words were never discussed. Key Bank does their investigation and admit they are wrong. Key issues me another debit card that arrives the following month. I use my card for several weeks with no problem in January. In February I once again, call customer service and ask if a deposit showed up there yet. This next time when I use my card, and it doesn't work.:( I call Key Bank and they say my card is RESTRICTED! No one knows why. So I must wait again for a card in the mail. ** is wrong with the customer service department. My money with Key Bank is limited more than it is available!!! Work for the company for over 20+ years. Last 10 years have not received a raise. Company says I make too much as a teller, just an excuse. Are you serious? If you look what teller makes at Key Bank it's probably one of the lowest, just above poverty. I know they're trying to force out the older workforce, this is just one of the ways they are trying to discriminate. They constantly open up an authorized credit card accounts on customer's accounts without them knowing about it just to make your quota. Key Bank management in Utah does nothing about it, they allow it. Worst place to work and bank for I do not recommend even to my worst enemy. I immediately went inside of the branch, receipt in hand. Hoping to have the situation rectified, only to be looked directly in the face by a rep and ask 'I mean, did you even notice a difference in your account balance?' I was then told 'Well, I can't just give you one hundred dollars.' And was passed a number to file a dispute. The phone call alone was a 15 minute wait. I now have to wait an additional 10 business days for an audit to be conducted on their ATM. I must say that was extremely aggravating and inconveniencing, seeing as how it was their machine's problem. I came to Key Bank when Brenda ** was the manager there. Brenda bent over backwards helping me set up a new business. She truly cared and it showed. She would actually call me to make sure an issue was resolved. She was a total delight to work with. Myron was a wonderful as well. After that, the whole atmosphere of the bank changed. Joanne (teller) refused to help me in any way. I had two issues I needed help with and both times she handed me an 800 number and told me to handle it through them. After spending much time attempting to rectify the issues myself, I complained to corporate about her total lack of customer service, she must have been notified because she has made me pay ever since. I inherited a substantial amount of money and one of your tellers (Alon) suggested I invest the money in a CD and quoted me a rate. I agreed and Tanisha started setting up the account. I called to finish the transaction and Joanne said, 'Too bad, the interest rate you wanted expired yesterday and Tanisha is on vacation'. After I called corporate, she called back and said she would honor the rate. I noticed another staff (Lisa) had picked up on her behavior as well and the few times I called, they would bounce me back and forth - keeping me on hold for ridiculous periods of time. Last week I needed to send a wire transfer, I asked the price and Jill said $25.00. I was charged $30.00 and asked Tanisha about it. She said 'Lisa make a mistake and I corrected her, however, I will not refund the $5.00 because you signed the wire transfer contract.' I have never been treated like this before and am stunned that this seems to be acceptable by Key Bank. Alon will never receive credit for the money I would have invested with Key Bank had staff behaved in a competent manner. Alon has been a pleasure to work with. Key bank lost an excellent customer that would have stayed with Key Bank for life had I been treated with respect. I hope their behavior was worth it for them, because it sure didn't benefit Key Bank. I was mistreated by the Latham Branch office manager, Susan **. I am a Key Bank silver money market member and have a good credit standing. However, on February 3, 2017 9:30 AM, I was treated by Ms. ** like a potential criminal with poor credit when I tried to deposit three checks from Charles Schwab and asked to cash out one of the checks. She told me I could not get any cash as she does not know me and would not trust Charles Schwab's check either. Even though I urged her to review my bank records to show my credibility, she refused to listen to me. I was humiliated by her abrasive tone of voice and a lack of interest in what I have to say as a customer. She did not take any time to listen to me but showed an arrogant attitude towards me. I am shocked by her attitude and behavior. If Key Bank is indeed a neighborhood bank, then building a relationship with customers is crucial for the success of your bank. Given the numerous number of banks are available now and the popularity of online banking, isn't a branch office staff's role is help its customer face-to-face? If not, then I see little value of the branch office. My horrible experience with the Latham branch office is not limited to me. When I was at the bank on 2/3/17, I also heard other customers complaining about the treatment received. I hope this problem is unique to this branch office, particularly Ms. **'s management style. After all a bank built on its customers. If staff are unfriendly to its customers, how would you be a successful bank? I was a First Niagara customer. Never had any problems. Boy that didn't last long after KeyBank took over. I always check my account online. They have a habit of not deducting your debits from your balance which in my opinion causes confusion. They all took two hundred dollars from my account and the only explanation I got was the online system wasn't accurate. If your online system isn't accurate what's the darn purpose of having it. They bounced my account because my statement was returned in the mail because they sent it to the wrong address. Ten dollars fee plus thirty nine for bounce fee. I'd like to BOUNCE them!!! Run from this bank. I walked in and waiting for two tellers to stare at me and do nothing. Then the third continued on the phone, and I remained waiting a full four minutes. Then she stared until I walked up to the window, and greeted me. I told her I wished to cash two checks and set them on the counter. She asked me to repeat myself, and I did so and endorsed the checks. Then she asked if I had an account, and that I would have to pay a charge, and noticed it was a company account. She looked at the amount and gave me a rude look. Then she cashed my volunteer stipends, and counted out my money with a look of contempt and counted out the money in a sloppy pile, cash front and back and facing different directions on the counter. I could not reach all of my money. I had to neatly stack what I could, turn the bills all facing the same direction. I had to ask her to hand me the money. What kind of service was THAT?! I will find another bank! Yesterday, a Keybank account rep called me about two online gaming charges on my account. I didn't know they happened until I checked my online account. I never made those transactions. They said they cancelled my card and I will receive a credit but when I called the day after to inquire about the credit I was told I have to wait 21 days to receive it. I don't have much money and waiting 21 days is out of the question. I have had accounts at other banks and if you dispute charges you don't have to wait 21 days. As soon as I can, I will be closing my account. Keybank sucks!!! Bonus for signup not honored and nothing but trouble. In short form, I signed up with Key early December 2016 at a previous First Niagara branch in my town: local folks, should be easy enough. Wrong: the 200.00 promo that I qualified for is being denied at this time. Key stated that they did not have a Promo Code. My bank associate had been prepared for any such problems and I was willing to afford Key the benefit of the doubt for a new system with normal glitches. I kept the Promo Code and we resubmitted. Having now read the numerous complaints about Key, still not getting satisfaction regarding the promo and also getting blunt responses and lack of follow up to my emails to I am increasingly regretful for my decision to open an account. I write to inform others of my experience. They BANK on that fact that most people do not read the fine print in their policy agreements and then go crazy on your bank account. They have so many hidden charges that it should be a crime. Their banking app NEVER reflects what you spend and what's in you account. They're telling me I had one thing in my account when I didn't and she tried to keep going but luckily I took a snapshot of my balances. And then she had no reason as to why it was happening. Almost every other bank does not charge like that. I really think they are abusing people with charges. My account was transferred from First Niagara AND IT IS A NIGHTMARE! 300$ in rogue fees (changed setting of overdraft w/o my knowledge), HORRIBLE service, sullen employees (formerly of First Niagara), 2 and 1.5 hours wait time on hold, nothing gets resolved EVEN WHEN YOU VISIT THE BANK - THEY GET ON A PHONE AND YOU SIT THERE WAITING (1 hour!!! And I gave up and walked out). On top of it, THEY DID NOT LET ME CLOSE MY ACCOUNT!!! THIS BANK SUCKS. Now they added extra FEES AT KEYBANK CASH MACHINES!!! I sincerely hope they get investigated. I'm closing my account TODAY, AND IF THEY WON'T LET ME, I'M COMING INTO THE BRANCH WITH BACKUP - lawyer, private investigator, or whatever. Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the for more information. 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