Many of us have been notified of the BofA’s plans to leave Lincoln.
For some of us, it’s good riddance! Terrible hours, horrible customer service (I was on hold for 40 minutes today waiting to ask a simple question of the BofA’s national customer service team), interest rates on deposits that sucked, and fees charged to customers that “blew” (the opposite of sucked when money flows in the opposite direction!).
Obviously, the Rural Land Foundation will be working hard to find a new bank, a better bank—one that is not just “here,” but one that is here for its customers.
Right now, there is one thing that all current customers of the Lincoln BofA branch can do to help the RLF attract a top-notch replacement: We can continue to rely on Lincoln’s BofA branch for safe deposit box services. Think of that not as maintaining a relationship with the BofA, but rather a relationship with the Lincoln Mall and the replacement bank that the RLF secures.
In evaluating the desirability of establishing a new branch in Lincoln, the existence of our large safe deposit box base will be an important inducement to open a branch here because it means not building a customer base from scratch.
For Lincolnites, maintaining a safe deposit box in Lincoln will be an inducement to keep the rest of our banking business in Lincoln, and that will help our new bank to succeed here.
Regards,
Steve Low
