A week ago — yet again — Key Bank locked my online access. If you read my previous rant about Key, you’ve probably already guessed that I was too angry to call them for several days. Instead, I logged into a still-open account at my previous bank to pay the bills.

Key’s story/excuse this time was different, naturally. (They’re so creative, they come up with a totally different reason/excuse every time I call.) This time the so-called customer service rep said my Quicken program was to blame. He sounded quite serious as he explained that my Quicken app had been accessing my account every day, day after day (he read all the consecutive dates), and of course, after a certain number of attempts, their super-duper security program locks the access. Didn’t matter that I always log out of the program when I’m done, that I have no automatic updates scheduled, that Quicken doesn’t know my Key password because Key won’t allow it to be stored in Quicken, or that the same thing wasn’t happening with the other three banks I deal with. (Yep, I called them and asked them specifically.)

I discovered online that people using Mint have had similar problems; Mint was acquired by Quicken Online last fall. (Humor me. I’m sure I’m crazy to imagine all Quicken products work off the same basic code.) Seems this little Mint/Key snag has existed for more than a year, with Mint and/or Key either unable or unwilling to fix it. Funny nobody at Key said anything about this. If they don’t want to play nicely with Quicken, fine. But don’t lie and keep telling me it’s my fault.

And yes, I’ve switched almost all my business back to my old bank.

Update, 10/10/2010: I left enough funds at Key to allow me to keep a safe deposit box there. However, several weeks ago I received from them, in rapid succession, a notice for the annual box fee and a $25 inactivity fee for not using my accounts, both to be levied at the end of the month. That finally pushed me out of procrastination mode. I went up there, closed out my accounts (was surprised they didn’t assess a “closing fee”), emptied my box, and before leaving, gave them an earful about why I was doing it.