{"id":13271,"date":"2020-06-23T15:16:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T22:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/?p=13271"},"modified":"2022-06-13T15:53:57","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T22:53:57","slug":"why-you-should-ditch-bank-branches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/why-you-should-ditch-bank-branches\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Ditch Bank Branches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Note: This post was updated on September<\/em> <em>21, 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can\u2019t imagine there are many people who get excited about a trip to their local bank. Unless you have a penchant for capless ballpoint pens, uncomfortable waiting room chairs, and stale hard candies, there\u2019s not much reason to visit your bank\u2019s nearest retail branch. More likely, visiting the bank feels like a waste of time. You search for parking, you wait in a long line, you fill out a form or discuss a question you easily could have handled online \u2014 if only your bank would let you or provide an FAQ that showed you how.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, it\u2019s not terribly surprising that our clients tell us they don\u2019t visit branches very often. Accordingly, over 30% of our clients surveyed haven\u2019t visited a bank branch in at least a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We think the future of banking is branchless, and we\u2019re excited to build that future. If you haven\u2019t given much thought to your relationship with bank branches, here are some things to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Branches cost you money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>By one estimate, it costs between $200,000 and $400,000 a year to operate a bank branch. Someone needs to pay for these branches, and it ends up being customers. If you assume $300,000 in annual costs and divide it by the national average of approximately 1,500 customers served per branch, that works out to approximately $200 per customer per year to maintain that branch. When your bank branch installs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/7-banks-that-feature-rainbow-furniture-coffee-bars-and-a-grand-piano-2018-8#virgin-money-based-in-the-uk-offers-free-food-and-drinks-to-customers-5\">a coffee bar or a grand piano<\/a> in a misguided attempt to impress you and appear cool, you end up paying for those expensive \u201cbenefits\u201d even if you have no interest in spending additional time (or any time at all) at your bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No branches means no fees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>More branches mean more <a href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/what-you-should-know-about-bank-fees\/\">account fees<\/a>. Traditional banks have long charged fees as a way of generating revenue and paying the large overhead costs associated with maintaining a network of branches. In recent years, fintech companies have disrupted the traditional banking industry by offering banking services with no account fees. Unlike the business models of traditional banks, fintech companies\u2019 business models allow for this because they don\u2019t have large networks of retail branches to open and operate. In short, if you bank with an institution that doesn\u2019t have to maintain branches, they are much less likely to nickel and dime you with annoying fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The customer experience stinks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bank branches were built for your parents, not for you. Baby boomers are accustomed to going to their local branch to sign papers, ask questions, and shake hands. But this isn\u2019t the experience you\u2019re interested in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, you want convenience. You want to manage your finances from an app on your phone \u2013 you don\u2019t want to wait on hold to speak to a representative, or worse, visit a branch to speak with someone in person while they try to upsell you additional services.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why at Wealthfront, we build our products to be convenient and easy to use so you never need to talk to us (although our <a href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/meet-wealthfronts-product-specialist-team\/\">highly qualified team of Product Specialists<\/a> is always here if you need them). For example, our clients are often surprised to learn how easily they can get cash by using our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wealthfront.com\/portfolio-line-of-credit\">Portfolio Line of Credit<\/a>. Instead of making multiple trips to their bank, filling out a ridiculous amount of paperwork, and waiting weeks to get a loan, Wealthfront clients can get a loan secured by their Investment Account with just a few taps on their phone and have cash as soon as the next day \u2014 and at a lower interest rate than they would pay a bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bank branches are already failing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Branches pose an <a href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/retail-branches-pose-an-existential-threat-to-banks\/\">existential threat<\/a> to banks, and they\u2019re already becoming a thing of the past. Over the last decade, branches have been shuttering at a precipitous rate. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1805018\/the-probability-your-local-bank-branch-will-be-shut-down\/\">study<\/a> conducted by Quartz using FDIC data, 12,000 full-service U.S. bank branches closed their doors between 2010 and 2019. We expect that trend to continue and <a href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/covid-19-has-put-bank-digitization-on-fast-forward\/\">even accelerate<\/a> as COVID-19 speeds up bank digitization and more customers adopt digital banking services. There\u2019s no guarantee your local bank branch will remain open, and Quartz even <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1805018\/the-probability-your-local-bank-branch-will-be-shut-down\/\">built a tool<\/a> to help you predict when it might close.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Wealthfront, we offer nextgen banking services without branches. This means you can <a href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/the-wealthfront-cash-account-now-comes-with-checking-features\/\">enjoy high-interest checking<\/a>, keep your $200 each year, and do better things with your time than wait in line to speak with a teller. Wealthfront\u2019s app integrates with all of your accounts and uses technology to help you conveniently manage your money. Our free service Autopilot can even <a href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/meet-autopilot-a-new-service-that-automates-your-savings-strategy\/\">automate your savings strategy<\/a>. Best of all, you can do all of this from the comfort of your own couch, knowing you\u2019re building the financial future you want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: This post was updated on September 21, 2020. We can\u2019t imagine there are many people who get excited about a trip to their local bank. Unless you have a penchant for capless ballpoint pens, uncomfortable waiting room chairs, and stale hard candies, there\u2019s not much reason to visit your bank\u2019s nearest retail branch. More [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":13287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2390],"tags":[2374,1296],"coauthors":[82],"class_list":["post-13271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saving","tag-banks","tag-fees"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why You Should Ditch Bank Branches | Wealthfront<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/canary.kcprod.info/blog\/why-you-should-ditch-bank-branches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why You Should Ditch Bank Branches | Wealthfront\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Note: This post was updated on September 21, 2020. We can\u2019t imagine there are many people who get excited about a trip to their local bank. Unless you have a penchant for capless ballpoint pens, uncomfortable waiting room chairs, and stale hard candies, there\u2019s not much reason to visit your bank\u2019s nearest retail branch. 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