PNC, Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo behind spate of bank branch closures - is YOURS affected?

PNC filed to close 11 branches across the Northeast, Midwest and Texas in a single week last month.

That is more than half the total planned US bank closures of 20 announced between March 17 and 23, the latest full week for which figures are available.

Citibank, which has tended to close fewer branches than rivals in recent years, said it would close three - two in New York and one in San Francisco.

Bank of America is to shut two, in Florida and New York, while Wells Fargo said it would close one in California. Lesser known Citizens Community Federal - unrelated to Citizens Bank - Alerus and Town Bank are closing one each.

It brings the total number of closures announced so far in 2024 to 288. Scroll down to see the most recent closures, plus links to all the others this year.

Three of the openings were reported by Chase, which has already filed to open more than 50 branches this year alone.

By comparison, over that same week, banks notified their regulator the Office of The Comptroller of the Currency of seven openings.

Those were spread between Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.

That sets it apart from most national banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citizens and US Bank, which have become increasingly confident that online banking can meet most customers' needs and shut predominantly rural branches.

Banks said they would close 41 branches in a single week in January - the highest number over a week so far in 2024.

Closures can lead to significant savings. The average freestanding branch costs $2.6 million a year to run, according to Bancography, an Alabama-based consulting firm that advises banks. 

The last year in which the number of branches in the US increased was 2011, when there were more than 85,000 throughout the US, according to FDIC data.

Since then the number has dropped steadily to 70,000, with an uptick in closures during the pandemic.

But while banks have been aggressively shutting their branches, credit unions appear to have been bucking the trend.

The number of credit union branches has increased over the last decade, according to a DailyMail.com analysis.

Some 4,800 credit unions now cater to 135 million Americans and operate around 20,700 branches across the country - that is 500 more than there were in 2023.

Fed-up Americans are fleeing major banks in favor of credit unions after becoming tired of low interest rates and dwindling branch numbers.

One example is 69-year-old Anita Kennedy.  In the early 1960s when she was just six years old, she opened a savings account with Bank of America as part of a school program encouraging children to save.

She stayed with the bank for more than 60 years, but last month - exhausted by predatory fees, terrible customer service and relentless branch closures - she moved all her accounts to a local credit union.

'I have absolutely no regrets,' she said. 'It's more personable - a human answers the phone, not a computer, and they seem to actually be willing to help solve problems.'