Forty-one years with the same bank. My “relationship manager” is now a chatbot that thinks I’ve forgotten my password. I haven’t. I’ve forgotten why I’m still with them.
Nobody asked us whether we wanted the branch shut. It just went, like the teller who knew my name, replaced by a QR code and a cheerful message about my banking journey. I am not on a journey. I am trying to pay a bill.
Here’s the thing that stings: we were loyal customers for decades, and loyalty now means being first in line to be automated. So — who should actually carry the cost of a human being behind a counter?
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My branch closed and the nearest one is now a 40-minute drive. For a signature. In 2026.
I actually like the app. There, I said it. Pay my bills in bed with a cup of tea.
It's not the app I mind, it's that there's no human when the app is wrong. And it's always eventually wrong.
Rang the "24/7 support" at 9pm. Spoke to a robot, then a person in another timezone, then the robot again.
Devil's advocate: “Apps are fine” has a cost too, and someone pays for it — probably you. Before you pile in behind “Keep the branches”, who foots that bill?
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