PNC Bank and JPMorgan Chase have filed to close several branches in several states, continuing a pattern that developed in recent years.
Data from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reveals PNC Bank filed for 19 branch closures—five in Pennsylvania, four in Illinois, three in Texas, two each in Alabama and New Jersey, and one each in Indiana, Ohio, and Florida.
JPMorgan Chase followed closely with 18 filings; three in Ohio, two each in Connecticut and South Carolina, and one each in 11 states, including New York, Illinois, Florida, and Massachusetts.
Citizens Bank came in third with eight branch closure filings; six in New York, and one each in Massachusetts and Delaware. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank filed for seven closures—three in Tennessee and one each in Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Illinois.
Bank of America made five filings; two in New York and one each in Texas, Massachusetts, and California.
Citibank filed for two branch closures; and Sterling, Bremer.
First National Bank of Hughes Springs, Windsor Federal Savings & Loan Association (FS&LA), and Aroostook County FS&LA made one filing each.
Altogether, banks filed to shut down 64 branches.
PERSPECTIVE
It is important for all of us to keep these bank branch closings in proper perspective.
There are a total of 4,823 local and national banks offering banking services in United States, with nearly 77,000 branches in 9,912 cities.
So 64 branches closed out of 77,000 is little more than a small rounding error.
The _actual_ effect on the general public, is pretty much zero.
For me personally, a couple years ago, my bank, CAPITAL ONE, closed its branch in Secaucus, NJ, about a mile away from my house. So I ended up using another branch in Hoboken. Then, last year, they closed that branch. So now I have to use the one in West New York, NJ.
For me, these closings are an inconvenience, but not a major one.
The root of me having to use branches is that people use MONEY ORDERS to pay their subscriptions to this web site, or to make donations to the Radio Show. MONEY ORDERS cannot be "Remote Deposited" with the banking app on my cellphone; the original MONEY ORDER must be presented to a Teller. So there's no way to deposit them unless I'm in an actual Bank branch.
If the bankers find a way to make MONEY ORDERS acceptable via the remote app, then I won't need to go to a Branch at all. Until then, I'm stuck.
