With thousands of high street bank and building society branches having closed over the past decade or so, customers used to – or preferring – face-to-face contact about their finances can feel unsure about what to do next.
There are alternatives in place but many people may be not know which might suit their specific needs. Banks say the closures have been driven by a rapid increase in online and mobile banking and a rapid decline in the use of branches.
According to the consumer group Which?, 5,970 branches have disappeared since January 2015, reports The Mirror, with some town’s turned into ‘banking deserts’ due to the lack of any high street facilities at all. For those who have been reliant upon or used to face-to-face banking support, there are alternatives available.
Here is a guide to what these are and how they might help with specific needs such as access to cash; depositing a cheque, or managing an account.
Post Office
The first option available if your local bank branch has closed is the Post Office as it offers basic banking service for free to customers from nearly all major UK banks including Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander. These services include:
- Cash deposits
- Cheque deposits
- Cash withdrawals
- Balance enquiries
It also offers a range of other commercial activities, such as savings, investments, loans, insurance, money transfer, foreign currency, mortgages and postal orders, although many of these are own-branded. The Post Office also offers a document verification service – vital when signing up for some financial products – but, unlike banks and building societies, it charges a fee.
This service can be accessed in any of the Post Office’s 11,500 branches whenever it is open, including evenings and on Sundays where available. You can use the Post Office’s branch finder tool to locate your nearest and check its opening hours.
However, it’s by no means a like-for-like replacement for a local bank branch so you’ll find some services are more restricted. For example, to pay in cheques you may need a paying-in slip and deposit envelope from your actual bank and for account queries, changing details or applying for bank accounts, you will need to phone your bank directly or go to a branch.
Before heading to your local branch, you should first head to the Post Office’s website here to check what your bank offers and what you will need for each service. Simply select your bank from the dropdown list and the available options should appear.
Banking hubs
These are part of a new scheme designed to plug the gap after the banking closures. The banking hubs operate in a similar way to standard bank branches but several banks all share the same space – usually on one day of each week.
Inside each hub, you’ll find Post Office staff ready to help with regular banking transactions including withdrawing and depositing cash and making bill payments. Alongside this, each day a representative from a specific bank will take over the space and offer advice to customers on more complicated banking issues.
Currently, there are 32 banking hubs located throughout the UK and includes the following banks:
- Bank of Ireland UK
- Barclays
- Danske Bank
- HSBC
- Lloyds Bank
- NatWest
- Santander
- TSB
- Virgin Money
Cash Access UK, a bank-owned company responsible for the delivery of new hubs, says more are planned to open across the country. It is currently working with communities to find suitable locations for the hubs, obtain planning permission, re-fit the properties and get each location working.
Pop-up banks and community bankers
NatWest Group and Lloyds Banking Group have ‘community bankers’ – professional bank staff who travel to areas which don’t have branches and meet customers in shared local spaces, such as libraries, council buildings or leisure centres. These banking services allow you to do everyday banking including making deposits, withdrawing cash and paying bills.
Alongside this, they also provide customers with advice on more complex financial issues through one-to-one appointments and also offer open drop-in sessions. TSB runs ‘pop-up’ banks in selected community locations across England, Scotland and Wales. These again open in community places and offer the following services:
- Help with managing your existing payments, such as Direct Debits
- Internet and mobile banking registration, forgotten passwords and troubleshooting
- Reporting lost or stolen cards
- Non-cash payments to someone you’ve paid before, up to £10,000
- Help with general product enquiries
- Help with managing finances if you’ve suffered a bereavement
Barclays also offers Barclays Local which is a network of alternative branch formats in the UK. Again, they are open in places such as town halls and libraries, mobile vans and banking pods.
These offer customers a range of in-person support such as help with digital banking, financial reviews, balance check transfers and bill payments.
Mobile banking vans
Both the NatWest Group and Lloyds Banking Group offer mobile banking vans, which visit local communities and allow you to cash cheques, make deposits and withdrawals and also pay bills. They typically visit rural and semi-rural areas once a week.
Banks which offer this service include NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland. Barclays also runs a mobile banking van service under its Barclays Local model. With this service customers can get advice on the following:
- Buying a new home
- Online banking
- Saving for the future
- Setting up a business
You can find out what services are offered by your bank through its website.
