Love ATM Fees? Move to the Bronx

According to a new tally, the Bronx has less banks than any other borough except Staten Island—it has only 154 bank branches compared with 701 in Manhattan, 428 in Queens and 343 in Brooklyn. In some parts of the borough—including the Van Nest neighborhood which hasn't had a bank in over ten years—you can walk for a mile without coming across one, reported the NY Times. “I don’t think you can have a thriving business community without a bank in the area,” said state senator Jeffrey D. Klein. “They really need a bank to serve as the anchor for the community.”

The bank shortage, which was reported by the FDIC, has larger implications than an excess of ATM fees. It's an inconvenience of course, but local officials and politicians say it's also had a soporific affect on the area's economy. Sen. Klein met with bank owners recently to discuss getting a branch for his community though all but one declined a move to the quiet neighborhood outright.

But while Manhattanites complain that Citibank and Bank of America mar the landscape, Van Nest, a quaint old Italian area, continues its quest for a branch of its own. “It sends out a signal like there’s actually life in the neighborhood,” said the fourth-generation owner of a Van Nest funeral parlor. “We won’t be that ‘sleepy’ neighborhood anymore.”

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By Sabrina Jaszi in News on February 1, 2010 1:20 PM

Comments [rss]

silver

Why would a bank open branches in the ghetto? We already see what happens when you loan money to the disadvantaged. They never PAY! Bank branches exist to make mortgages and loans, thats why 75% of the floor space is mortgage brokers. Or 100% cashless banks such as Washing Mutual Occasio branches.

Sommelier

OK... then Tishman-Speyer gets to walk away leaving billions in debt, but you want to stereotype the disadvantaged? How do you explain the Kiva loans made in the poorest countries: they have an almost 100% timely repay rate... higher than the mortgages made in Greenwich, CT.

Excuse me, but your stereotypical racism is showing.

silver

When you have a 50% interest rate and credit checks like Kiva loans have, of course you can't loose your investment.

Boogie Down

Read above. Van Nest is hardly ghetto, unless you think nice, old Italian ladies are ghetto.

ANGRYGOD11

One of the few concentrations of banks in the South Bronx is The Hub (149th& 3rd Avenue). You will not find worse service than these banks. The long, slow lines at Midtown branches at lunch on payday are nothing compared to the lines are these branches. The staff is overworked and equipment remains unfixed.

The demand is there, but ignored.

Boogie Down

"Who cashes checks?" Are you new here?

jaycjay

"The bank shortage, which was reported by the FDIC, has larger implications than an excess of ATM fees"

Excess of ATM fees? Not sure what that even means, but I don't understand the focus on "ATM fees" in the headline either. The linked article makes no mention of ATMs and refers to fees only in the context of cashing checks.

Reading comprehension issues, I guess.

ATM fees in fact are often lower at privately operated ATMs than at some banks for people who don't have accounts at that bank.

longacre

Also nowhere to go to deposit or cash a check unless you trek to one of their Manhattan office or mail it. Same drawback of all online banks.

whitecastlerock

fewer banks means fewer bank robberies

Boogie Down

I can't really see bank robbery being a big problem in Van Nest. Ever been there?

whitecastlerock

umm yeah-Now that I have qualified myself for you, what is your point? You think bank robbers don't hit up banks in quiet, allegedly safe neighborhoods?

Boogie Down

My point is that many assume that the Bronx is comprised of nothing but crime-filled neighborhoods and will often use this as the reason to explain away the lack of banks. I can completely understand not wanting to open a bank in the middle of all those PJs in the South Bronx, but Van Nest is a pretty quiet residential area. I really doubt you were referring to the preponderance of bank robberies in such "quiet, allegedly safe neighborhoods".

altoid

thats terrible.....so people in these neighborhoods have to get raped by the check-cashing place in order to cash their paychecks because there's no bank for at least a mile away.