diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index 0de69de70..98923d9cf 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -1774,9 +1774,12 @@ load_keybinds(void)
 
     /* Now load values from config */
     for (int x = 0; x < NUM_ACCELS; x++) {
-         p = ini_section_get_string(cat, acc_keys[x].name, "none");
+         p = ini_section_get_string(cat, acc_keys[x].name, "default");
+         /* Check if the binding was marked as cleared */
+         if (strcmp(p, "none") == 0)
+             acc_keys[x].seq[0] = '\0';
          /* If there's no binding in the file, leave it alone. */
-         if (strcmp(p, "none") != 0) {
+         else if (strcmp(p, "default") != 0) {
              /*
                 It would be ideal to validate whether the user entered a
                 valid combo at this point, but the Qt method for testing that is
@@ -2527,6 +2530,9 @@ save_keybinds(void)
         /* Has accelerator been changed from default? */
         if (strcmp(def_acc_keys[x].seq, acc_keys[x].seq) == 0)
             ini_section_delete_var(cat, acc_keys[x].name);
+        /* Check for a cleared binding to avoid saving it as an empty string */
+        else if (acc_keys[x].seq[0] == '\0')
+            ini_section_set_string(cat, acc_keys[x].name, "none");
         else
             ini_section_set_string(cat, acc_keys[x].name, acc_keys[x].seq);
     }