The closure of bank branches continues to make the news and with good reason. The ongoing shift towards digital banking on the part of many financial institutions has made it so that clients find it easier to make their transactions online rather than go into a branch, and few financial institutions have done this as thoroughly as Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the United States.
In a move to optimize operations and helped by the investment into digital accounting made during the pandemic to be able to keep operations going, Bank of America has closed most of its branches in the last few years, leaving many areas of the country in what is now called, a banking desert.
It makes sense, closing underperforming or duplicate locations frees up a lot of money to be able to invest in the digital realm to improve customer’s experience. And if you add to that the reprogramming of ATMs to be able to handle even more tasks as efficiently as a bank teller, it seems like a great idea.
In fact, most banks are running with it, since 2009, the number of branches in the United States has fallen from nearly 100,000 to fewer than 80,000 today, and there seems to be no stopping it. Luckily for consumers there is a way that they can at least be informed of the closings before the branch they were counting on just disappears into thin air.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The OCC charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. It also monitors and reports on branch closures. This is why banks are required to submit a 90-day advance notice to the OCC prior to closing a branch, giving customers enough time to make any necessary arrangements, like closing a safety deposit box, before it is too late.
Thanks to their work, we know that nearly two dozen Bank of America locations are shutting down for good this month (November) and that more will in the month of December before the New Year brings about an even bigger downsizing effort.
Exclusive: Two California Walmart Stores Set to Shut Down from Next Week!
Although not all is positive about the closures, many individuals have issues that cannot be addressed online or on the phone and are more incensed every day from having to drive out of their way to solve their issues. This has made some change institutions periodically to a bank that has a branch near them that can accommodate them. At some point a balance between online and in person banking will need to be stricken, but for now all we see are closures and it does not seem like it will stop any time soon.
Bank of America locations closing
Arizona
9325 North 7th Street, Phoenix
California
6905 Capistrano Avenue, Atascadero
2101 West 6th Street, Los Angeles
Connecticut
100 Federal Road, Brookfield
Florida
3010 Cypress Gardens Road, Winter Haven
Georgia
1674 Monroe Drive, NE, Atlanta
3985 Sugarloaf Parkway, Lawrenceville
Illinois
3210 W IL Route 60, Mundelein
40 N Randall Rd., Lake in the Hills
Maryland
3731 Branch Avenue, Hillcrest Heights
7501 Redland Road, Derwood
Missouri
3100 Main Street, Kansas City
New Mexico
4301 Wyoming Boulevard, NE, Albuquerque
New Jersey
367 Springfield Avenue, Summit
6718 Black Horse Pike, Egg Harbor Township
New York
900 Third Avenue, New York
Ohio
3029 West 117th Street, Cleveland
South Carolina
104 Regency Drive, Columbia
Texas
6401 NW Loop 410, San Antonio
1515 SW Loop 410, San Antonio
Virginia
4101 West Broad Street, Richmond
12881 Braemar Village Plaza, Bristow
Washington
1600 Riddell Road, NE, Bremerton
14440 124th Avenue NE, Kirkland
1201 Madison Street, Seattle