Where Have All the Bank Branches Gone? “Deja View All Over Again.”
More than 3,000 bank branches have left rural towns and urban neighborhoods since the pandemic. NPR’s Scott Horsley, on Morning Edition (March 22) described the effects in the Southeast, where some towns have been left without a single bank to conduct their day-to-day business. It hurts the economy, and hurts the social fabric.
As I wrote, the situation is much like what we encountered in the early 1980s, when sky-high interest rates and the advent of ATMs emptied branches out of low-income New York City neighborhoods. But there is hope today, thanks to CDFIs like Southern Bancorp and Hope Credit Union and to a huge new federal appropriation that could make a real difference.
To read more: Deja View
Hi Cliff, We have been involved in this same struggle for decades. Bank branches leave poor communities replaced with check cashers and payday loan providers bankrolled by the same banks that deserted their communities. At least immigrant communities have the advantage of informal savings circles – tontines, susus, where through disciplined savings within a group of fellow countrymen amass enough money to launch a business or make a down payment on a house, or at a smaller savings level take care of their daily needs. We who are interested in this area need to come up with solid, non-predatory alternatives.