Changed my direct deposit info for NY unemployment - when will payment hit KeyBank?

When I cancelled my direct deposit last year, it took about 7-10 days before my payment showed up in KeyBank. You'll need to wait for the physical card to arrive in the mail which took about two weeks for me. The card comes in a plain white envelope so check your mail carefully! You might want to call KeyBank directly to check if your account is set up - their customer service is actually decent compared to trying to reach unemployment.

After struggling with this exact same problem, I found this service called Claimyr that got me connected to an actual human at unemployment in like 20 minutes. Best decision ever - the agent was able to confirm my KeyBank account was set up and tell me exactly when my payment would post. Seriously, it was the only way I could talk to a real person after days of busy signals. Check em out at claimyr.com or watch this explainer: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE - talking to an agent got my money unlocked so fast.

KeyBank is the WORST. My roommate went through this back in April. The card took forever to arrive, then he had to call to activate it, which was another nightmare. And their ATM fees are ridiculous. If you can switch back to direct deposit with a different bank I would.

For those saying u need to wait for the card - that's not always true! You can actually call KeyBank customer service (not unemployment) once your account is established and set up online banking before your card arrives. Then you can transfer money out electronically if u need it before the card comes. Saved my butt when I was waiting for my card and had bills due!

In my experience, when you switch payment methods, there's usually a 1 week delay in payments. So if your weekly certification was processed yesterday, it probably won't hit KeyBank until next week. NY unemployment systems run on ancient technology and any change takes FOREVER to process. The most annoying part of the whole system tbh

My advice - call KeyBank directly at 1-866-295-2955. They can tell you if your account is active and if there are any pending deposits. Way easier to get through than unemployment. If a payment has been sent from unemployment to KeyBank, they'll be able to see it even if it hasn't posted yet.

Here's what happened with me when I cancelled direct deposit last year: 1. It took about 5 business days for the payment to actually hit my KeyBank account 2. The card took almost 2 weeks to arrive (regular mail, plain envelope) 3. You can call KeyBank directly to check if money is in your account before the card arrives 4. Once you have the card, future payments are pretty quick (1-2 days) The most important thing is to keep certifying weekly even while you're waiting for all this to sort out. And if you're in a real bind waiting for the card, try claimyr.com to get through to unemployment - they might be able to rush your card or give you more specific info about your account status.

the whole system is a joke. took me 3 months to get my first payment last year and another month when i had to switch to keybank. the govt doesnt care about us 🤡

Quick tip: If you're really desperate for the money before the card arrives, you can call KeyBank and request an emergency cash advance from your balance at certain bank locations. Saved me when I was about to get evicted waiting for my stupid card to come.

NY unemployment and KeyBank have like zero communication with each other which is the most frustrating part. Unemployment will tell you the money was sent, KeyBank will say they never got it, and you're just stuck in the middle like 🤷‍♀️

WHY does ny unemployment make everything so damn complicated??? Every other state has figured out how to make direct deposit work smoothly but new york is still stuck in 1985 with their systems 😤

Can someone explain to me why KeyBank even exists? Like why can't NY unemployment just use normal direct deposit like every other government agency? The whole debit card system feels like it's designed to make us wait longer for our money and pay more fees.

I had to cancel direct deposit in February and switch to KeyBank. Took exactly 8 business days for money to hit my KeyBank account, and another 6 days for the card to arrive. The most annoying thing is there's no way to check the status during that waiting period.

Not sure if this helps but i found i could get way more information by contacting my local state assembly person's office. They have special contacts at unemployment and can often find out exactly what's happening with your claim/payments when regular customer service is useless.

Hot take: the KeyBank card is actually better than direct deposit if you have a bank that hits you with fees. No monthly fees, and you can transfer the money out to your regular bank for free once it hits. The initial wait sucks but after that it's smooth sailing.