Loss of Beatties Ford teller lanes upsets Bank of America customers

Bank of America announced this summer that it would end drive-thru teller service at its Myers Park branch on Providence Road. But when customers complained, the bank changed its mind.

Now, the bank is contending with customers upset over loss of the service in July at a branch on less-affluent Beatties Ford Road.

Bank of America says it’s too late to do anything about the Beatties Ford Road branch, where the drive-thru teller setup has already been removed.

To offset the loss, the Charlotte bank says it plans to install a high-tech automated teller machine that customers can access from their cars. The ATM will allow customers to converse via video with tellers in call centers outside normal banking hours, including evenings and weekends.

“It’s not a lessening of service. It’s an increase,” said Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess.

But it doesn’t feel that way to some of the bank’s older customers, such as 86-year-old Mary Jones of Charlotte, who said she is frustrated by the bank’s move. Jones said she still prefers to do her banking by talking with a live teller in a drive-thru lane, and she has no use for ATMs, online banking or mobile banking.

“I’m just one of those old-fashioned old ladies,” she said. “I think they did us a disservice.”

Such complaints underscore the challenges banks face as technology evolves, with some customers embracing new modes of banking and others preferring a more traditional setup.

Lenders are also under pressure to reduce expenses at branches, which are costly to operate. Controlling expenses is a major focus for banks these days, as low interest rates continue to constrict their revenue growth.

Riess, the spokeswoman, said the lender based its decision at the Beatties Ford Road branch partly on low customer usage, the same reason the bank has given for ending the service elsewhere.

Bank of America would not disclose the total number of U.S. branches where drive-up teller service has been discontinued. So far this year, a Monroe branch is the only other Charlotte-area location where Bank of America has ended drive-thru teller service, Riess said. Before this year, the bank has discontinued the service at other Charlotte-area locations, she said.

Myers Park keeps service

Some are questioning why the Beatties Ford branch experienced a different outcome from the Myers Park branch.

“Why they pulled Beatties Ford Road so quickly as opposed to Myers Park, I don’t know,” said Charlotte City Councilman Al Austin. “It doesn’t feel good at all.”

Austin, whose district includes the Beatties Ford Road branch, said he’s heard from about a dozen customers who complained to him about drive-thru teller service ending.

To Austin, who is African-American, “the optics didn’t look good” for Myers Park to keep its drive-thru teller service.

“The demographic along this particular area (Beatties Ford) is African-American,” he said. “Myers Park is more affluent, possibly, and more Caucasian.”

Riess, the spokeswoman, emphasized that the bank never discontinued drive-up teller service at the Myers Park branch, unlike Beatties Ford, which has already lost the service. The bank announced changes at both branches in advance. Riess declined to say when the bank began receiving complaints from customers of either branch.

“We’ll modify financial centers based on the habits and preferences of the customers we serve at that financial center,” she said.

In August, explaining the decision to reverse course with the Myers Park branch, Riess said: “We know that the drive-up teller service at this location is highly valued by our customers, and we took that into consideration.”

1977 law governs banks

Leaving the service intact in a more affluent area such as Myers Park while removing it from Beatties Ford could raise concerns about the bank’s compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act, said Ken Thomas, a Miami-based bank consultant who has written two books on the act.

The 1977 federal law is designed to hold banks accountable for meeting the credit needs of all the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

How Bank of America treated the Myers Park and Beatties Ford Road branches “may suggest that they are favoring the customers in that affluent area versus the low- to moderate-income customers at the other branch,” Thomas said.

“They’ve been a leader in so many areas of CRA, so I’m kind of surprised that I see … what appears to be differential treatment here,” he said. The bank declined to comment.

Last year, a federal regulator downgraded Bank of America to a “satisfactory” rating, the second-highest of four grades, in its most recent evaluation of the lender’s compliance with the act. The evaluation period covered April 2009 to the end of December 2011. The regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, cited evidence of discriminatory or other illegal credit practices that hurt Bank of America’s rating. But the OCC also said the bank’s lending performance was good throughout the U.S., based on geographic and borrower income reach.

Considering a new bank

Bank of America’s decision to close drive-thru teller service at Beatties Ford Road has some customers considering changing banks altogether.

“I may have to leave Bank of America. But I would hate to do that after being with the branch for so long,” said 91-year-old Elaine Brown, who drives about five minutes to get to the Beatties Ford Road location.

Riess said Bank of America has not finalized when it will install the video ATM at Beatties Ford. She said the teller who worked at the closed drive-thru window is now serving customers inside the branch.

Riess noted that Beatties Ford customers still have access to two drive-up ATMs. She also said the bank is planning an “educational component” to familiarize customers with the new ATM but did not give details.

Jones said the new ATM “probably would not taste well” with older customers like herself.

“I’m speaking about those of us who are of age,” she said. “Quite frankly, I’ve never used ATMs, because I don’t like the principle of them.

“If this is the only thing they can supply us with, they’re going to have to do some teaching,” she said. “They’re going to have to do some educating of the people.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Loss of Beatties Ford teller lanes upsets Bank of America customers."