The familiar Provident Savings Bank’s former headquarters at Howard and Saratoga Streets. More than half a century ago, when Howard Street was a thriving retail hub and Baltimore’s department store business was booming, the now long-shuttered Hutzler’s, which is located next-door to the former bank, wanted to tear down the iconic Provident building to expand its down- town store. Provident refused to sell however, and so Hutzler’s accomplished its expansion by building around and behind the bank, as can be seen in this recent photo. Except for the bank, all the buildings shown are Hutzler’s.

MERGERS AND AUTOMATION
HAVE CHANGED THE WAY
THE BANKS DO BUSINESS

Familiar branch managers and tellers
have all but disappeared from sight
 
By David Maril
 
A merger announcement in the Baltimore Sun, about Howard Bank purchasing Patapsco Bank caught my eye the other day. The story said the deal putting two banks together I have never heard of, would create one of the largest locally owned banks in the region.

This started me thinking about how much the banking industry has changed in the last several decades. So many familiar banks in regions have been bought up, absorbed by larger national establishments, and the names have disappeared forever.

A few old Baltimore names that come to mind include Equitable Trust, Maryland National Bank, Savings Bank of Baltimore, Mercantile Safe Deposit & Trust Co. and Baltimore Federal Savings & Loan.

Other, smaller, local institutions from bygone days that were once household words also include Loyola Federal Savings & Loan, Metropolitan Savings Bank, Colonial Savings Bank and Eutaw Savings Bank.

You used to be able to walk into your local branch and deal with the same teller or manager for years. They would know you by name and remember how many kids you had and what you did for a living.

Today, some branch managers seem to transfer around from state to state before they can even buy local license plates for their cars. Tellers have all but disappeared and you are encouraged to make transactions at ATM machines or on Internet websites.

It’s easier to be picked to participate in a network reality TV show than gain access to the local phone number of a neighborhood bank office.

After a while, the big national banks don’t seem so enormous any more.

It took years, but I have finally given in and no longer remain adamant about dealing with a small, local bank. You rationalize about the convenience of banking at the same institution in practically every state and not having to pay ATM fees when you use a money card.

I HAVE FLEET TO THANK FOR MY SURRENDER

I didn’t make this concession to dealing with big banks overnight. The process took several years and I have a former New England bank, known as Fleet, to thank for my surrender.

By the time they had gotten through with me, I was actually cheering Bank of America’s $47 billion purchase of their holdings in the New England region.

My tale of woe with Fleet began four decades ago with a college checking account that was opened up at Worcester County National Bank.

For a first checking account, it seemed like a fine bank. Even though there were no ATM machines, the Worcester County National Bank branches had drive-in windows, and when you did transactions inside the buildings, all the teller windows were staffed, and the tellers remained on the job long enough to recognize customers and not have to ask for IDs.

Even working for a newspaper at the time that was a little slow depositing its weekly payroll, and had trouble with bouncing salary/payroll checks, wasn’t a problem for me.

It didn’t seem to matter as long as you were a regular. The branch manager, who always OK’d my weekly check, assumed the responsibility if there were any questions.

When Shawmut National, ten years later, took over Worcester County National Bank, the transition seemed smooth and the quality of service continued.

And why not?

Baltimore’s Loyola Federal Savings & Loan Building, located on North Charles Street at Preston. The building has been converted for use by the University of Baltimore.

Shawmut had been a familiar, friendly force in the New England banking world for years. Who could forget those old television commercials with Red Sox “Impossible Dream” pitcher Jim Lonborg describing Shawmut as a place where “the man you talk to is the bank”?

Shawmut’s statewide coverage was a bonus when I moved out of the Worcester area: Only my bank branch changed.

Unfortunately, the quality of service at  Shawmut was abruptly interrupted in 1995 by the announcement it was being acquired by Fleet.  Soon after the  assurances that little would change for Shawmut’s old customers, I received a notice that my accounts were being shifted to a new local bank located in Worcester.

Hurrying over to object at my Shawmut — soon to be Fleet — office, I was told that since I’d opened the account 20 years before at a branch in Worcester, I was always officially listed as in that bank. Part of the merger agreement was that all those accounts had been sold to a startup bank.

When I insisted I hadn’t used that branch in years and wanted to stay with Fleet, the bank officials said there was nothing they could do.

“This is a banking law safeguard for consumers to prevent one bank from gaining a monopoly,” the branch manager insisted.

When I asked how I was being helped as a consumer by being forced to do my banking with an institution whose closest branch was 30 miles from where I lived, the manager said the only thing to do would be to close the accounts and open up new ones.

“There’s nothing else we can do,” she said. “Our hands are tied. This is a tough transition for everyone. People are even fighting over which management people will get to keep those Shawmut Indian head busts as souvenirs.”

There seemed no other alternative but to close down the old accounts and start up new ones with Fleet. The only problem was that when the new accounts were opened, Fleet refused to provide nearly half of the different options I’d had for years with Shawmut.

A NEW CUSTOMER WITHOUT CREDIT

“You are a new customer and have to build up credit here,” I was told.

The branch manager just shrugged when I reminded her I’d been with Worcester County National and Shawmut for nearly 20 years.

Enough was enough and I moved all the accounts over to BayBank, which seemed as customer-oriented as Shawmut and Worcester County National. And even, a few years later, when they merged with Bank of Boston, the quality service continued.

But before I could even use up my BayBank labeled checks, Fleet jumped back into the picture in 1999 and swallowed up my bank again, purchasing BankBoston.

This time, I surrendered, figuring if I took the trouble to switch to another bank, Fleet would probably purchase that one also.

Staying turned out to be the right decision. If you don’t like your bank, just stay put and the chances are it will be bought up by another.

Before Fleet could harass me with more fees and headaches, Bank of America bought them out and suddenly I could bank just as easily in Baltimore as Boston.

Believe me, I am not going to make a case that Bank of America is a friendly, comfortable old- fashioned bank. Like all the other corporate national financial institutions, they make their share of negative headlines over policies that come from “being too big to fail.”