Branch closures are depriving local communities of essential services, leaving them with few alternative ways of banking

Carol Cropley was under no illusions when she took over as treasurer of her local village hall in Wilby last year: it would involve reams of paperwork and a large chunk of her time. But the 60-year-old hadn’t also expected to be penalised by Britain’s inexorable drive towards online banking and its damaging effect on rural communities. Mrs Cropley quickly realised her village hall, in its remote area of Suffolk, still relied on an old Alliance & Leicester bank account. The former building society had been bought by Spanish bank Santander in 2008 and the nearest branch was now 14 miles away in Stowmarket. Although she was able to pay in cheques at her nearest Post Office, this was a four-mile round trip, and her petrol costs quickly escalated. Telephone banking was equally costly and frustrating, with long waiting times.....Read more here

Previous Blog about cash machine in Rural areas:
One in three cash machines could disappear from rural areas in big banks shake-up.............Read more HERE