Banker refuses to cash black woman's paycheck because he can't believe she's an architect

A black woman has revealed that a banker allegedly refused to believe she was an architect because of the colour of her skin.

Twitter user Sugar shared a Facebook post about what happened to her friend, Trish Doolin.

Doolin explained in the post that she had tried to deposit her pay cheque, but received a call from the banker when she got back to her car.

He allegedly said he thought her cheque was fake, and called her back in to ask her a few questions. He asked where Doolin worked and Googled the company, before calling them to check she was an employee there.

Then, when HR didn’t confirm her identity, Doolin claims the banker said they’d hold on to the cheque for nine days, just to be safe.

Doolin, 37, told BuzzFeed she had recently started a new job at the architecture firm and her direct deposit hadn’t kicked in yet.

She said the manager insisted his checks were for the bank’s safety, but didn’t ask to see her ID.

She said:

When I realized that I was defending who I was, trying to prove to someone I didn’t know who I was, I knew I was being discriminated against. It was just completely demeaning.

Doolin says she called the bank later on, and the woman who answered insisted the manager was “far from racist” and would have “done that to any other customer”.

He had explained to her that the reason they had to hold the cheque was because her bank account hadn’t yet been open for the required 30 days.

Her friend said on Twitter that Doolin received an apology from the bank's executive office.

A spokesperson for the bank, KeyBank, told BuzzFeed:

As a company, KeyBank values diversity within our organisation, our communities and our clients. We do not tolerate discrimination. Client confidentiality means we cannot speak to any specific client’s situation. We can however, describe our Funds Availability Policy regarding client deposits and holds that may be placed on client deposits. Generally speaking and in compliance with applicable law, we advise clients who are new to KeyBank that we may place holds for a short period of time on their deposits during the first 30 days after they open their account with us.

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