Massive Banks Are Now Closing 79 Branches in The U.S.

June 6, 2024

Massive banks are now closing 79 branches in the U.S. all within the span of one month as more customers turn to online banking.

Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America are closing bank branches in several states as more customers turn to online banking.

In total, 79 stores will be closing all within the span of a month.

California has been hit the hardest by the string of closures, with 20 locations having already shut down April 20-June 1, per The-Sun.

The ball got rolling as JPMorgan closed 18 of its Chase banks, followed by Wells Fargo which closed 17 of its branches, AS reported.

Within the past week, Wells Fargo closed a total of eight of its in-person banking locations.

Bank of America continued the trend by shutting down 16 branches in California, New Jersey, and Florida.

At least 400 U.S. bank branches are expected to be closing brick-and-mortar locations by the end of 2024.

The last time banks saw a surplus of bank branches opening was in 2009, the FDIC reported.

In 2009 there were around 100,000 bank branches operating, today there are less than 80,000.

These U.S. bank branch closures mean that customers will now either need to rely on online banking for their banking needs or drive to a further location.

Steven Reider, founder of Bancography, told the Daily Mail, “Banks are willing to close a branch that isn’t really overlapping any other branch on the gamble that customers are willing to drive a little bit further.”

“I think Bank of America has leaned into that more than the other large banks have,” Reider continued.

In 2023, over 1400 bank branches closed according to American Banker.

Surprisingly, that number was down significantly from 2022 and 2021, two years which saw high bank branch closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 marked a record year for bank branch closings after nearly 3,000 bank branches shut its doors.

Many banks are closing locations in an effort to save money on operating costs and to move customers to primarily online banking.

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Also Read: A Massive US Bank is Now Closing Credit Cards

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A banker is now convicted for stealing money from customers while working at Bank of America over a 10-year period.

The personal banker was arrested after her years-long scam, resulting in nearly $300,000 being stolen, came to light.

Police in Seneca, South Carolina said they received a report in 2013 about missing money from an account with Bank of America.

The victim, who also reported the incident to the Customer Service department, told police he was missing around $30,000.

Investigators worked with Bank of America for several weeks after the crime was reported and learned that an employee who had been stealing money from several people in Oconee County.

The police said the victims would use the Bank of America location in Seneca as their primary bank and Bobbi Cortese was their personal banker.

Seneca Police investigators and the US Secret Service spent nearly a decade doing more interviews.

Meanwhile, Bank of America was given time to complete an internal investigation.

It was revealed that Cortese had stolen nearly $300,000 from four people while working at the bank.

Some of the money was in the victims’ bank accounts for life insurance payouts related to the deaths of their spouses.

Others had a lifetime of earnings that was supposed to be used for their retirement, said police.

Cortese would open accounts under the victims’ names without their knowledge or consent and would perform a “shell game.”

This is when a scammer uses the money from one victim to replace what she stole from another victim.

After investigating further, police said Cortese forged several documents and issued them to the victims to hide the theft.

She committed these acts for about four years while working at the Bank of America, said police.

Cortese was arrested in May 2023 and charged with four counts of breach of trust and two counts of forgery.

She was later fired by the bank, reports The-Sun.

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Also Read: A Massive Bank Now Freezes Money From Direct Deposits

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