KEYPORT - Angie Polizzotto, who is blind, has a German shepherd named Molly to help her get around. She has a pair of headphones that she can plug into her bank's ATM to help her deposit, withdraw and transfer money. And she has created a system to figure out the denomination of bills in her hand.
Come Feb. 1, however, she'll no longer have a key component to help with her banking: her local branch.
"It's making it difficult to get cash," Polizzotto said.
PNC Bank is closing Polizzotto's branch inside the Stop & Shop supermarket on Route 36 in Keyport as part of a larger restructuring, the latest in a string of bank branch closings hitting Monmouth and Ocean counties.
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The PNC closing comes as consumers make more transactions electronically, giving them fewer reasons to visit their local branches. But consumer advocates say the strategy is hurting people with disabilities, seniors and low-income residents who continue to need access to the services traditional branches provide.
"We're losing branches all over the place," said Phyllis Salowe Kaye, president of New Jersey Citizen Action, a consumer group. "This is a really bad pattern that's starting to happen. We need people to be able to go into a local branch, look the teller in the eye, explain what they need."
In all, Pittsburgh-based PNC said it planned to close 127 branches it operates in Stop & Shop and Giant Eagle supermarkets in New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., as well as eight branches at ShopRite stores in Pennsylvania.
A PNC spokesman said the company will close branches in January at Stop & Shops in Point Pleasant, Neptune City, Brick, Toms River and Manchester. And it will close its branch at the Stop & Shop in Keyport in February.
"We remain committed to delivering on our purpose to move all forward financially, and we are confident that we can meet or exceed our customers’ needs at nearby branch locations, alongside other available methods of banking," the company said in a statement.
Depending on creativity and honesty
The closings continue a trend. During the past decade, Monmouth County has lost 27% of its physical branches, while Ocean County has lost 31% of its branches, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
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The shift has turned consumers such as Polizzotto into banking nomads.
Polizzotto, 56, was born without sight in her left eye and then slowly lost the vision in her right eye nearly 30 years ago from glaucoma.
But she has lived on her own in a Keyport apartment since 1989, maintaining her independence thanks to a combination of service dogs, public services, innovation and some creativity. Not that getting around has been easy. The NJ Transit bus often would pass right by her because her local stop didn't have a sign. At least, until she decided to make her own.
Banking poses its own challenges. Polizzotto can't distinguish paper currency — it all feels the same unless it's counterfeit, she said. So she created her own system in which she takes the bills from the ATM and folds them depending on their denomination. A $1 is folded into thirds. A $5 has a corner folded over. And so on.
And she relies on the honesty of merchants to hand her proper change.
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After her long-time bank, Wells Fargo, closed its branch down the street from her during the pandemic, she moved some of her accounts across Route 36 to PNC, which had bankers and an ATM inside the Stop & Shop.
The arrangement worked well. Polizzotto could catch the Skipper bus operated twice a week by the Keyport Senior Center to the supermarket, where she could buy groceries, pick up prescriptions and do her banking.
PNC made it easy, too. It provided her a Braille ATM card, along with headphones that she could plug into the ATM and hear voice prompts.
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Polizzotto learned in November, however, that PNC would close the Stop & Shop location. The bank directed consumers to its nearest branch four miles away in Holmdel. In a statement to the Asbury Park Press, it said customers needing accessibility support can call 1-888-PNC-BANK or visit the PNC Accessible Banking website.
To Polizzotto, the move is inconvenient; the Skipper doesn't travel there, and she estimated a taxi ride would cost more than $20 roundtrip.
"When I travel, I try to get the most bang for my buck, when I can get the most things done with one trip," she said. Stop & Shop "was a pretty good bang for my buck."
PNC's decision marks a reversal from the 1990s, when it announced it would expand its branch network by leasing space in supermarkets. Three decades later, the bank decided not to renew its lease, and Stop & Shop hasn't decided what it will do with the space, said Stefanie Shuman, a spokeswoman for the supermarket chain.
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'People left out'
PNC isn't alone. Banks picked up the pace of their branch closings during the pandemic, when consumers, isolated in their homes, turned to technology and found they could pay bills or apply for mortgages electronically, said Jason Richardson, senior director of research for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.
The transition happened fast. In 2017, just 15% of consumers said their primary method of accessing their bank accounts was through their mobile device. Four years later, that figure jumped to 44%, according to the FDIC.
The American Bankers Association, a trade group, said consumers continue to have robust access to banks. It noted that from 2013 to 2020, the average closed bank branch nationwide had 18 branches operating within a two-mile radius and 159 branches within a 10-mile radius.
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But consumer advocates said changing banks isn't easy — or cheap. Consumers face fees when they use services that aren't provided by their home bank, Richardson said.
"My concern is about the people left out of this shift," he said. "Older consumers, rural consumers, small business owners, disabled people."
The bank branch closings could spell opportunity. Unity Bank, headquartered in Clinton, Hunterdon County, said it plans to open a branch on Route 70 in Lakewood in space that once was occupied by Capital One.
But for now, Polizzotto said she will miss the convenience of one-stop shopping. She plans to transfer her prescriptions to a drug store that is around the corner from her. She plans to shop for groceries at Costco. And for banking? She's not sure, but there are still places that accept cash only.
"I guess when I go places, I'll just have to ask for cash back, that's all," she said. "There are several third-party ATM machines, but none of them are accessible. I would rather go somewhere where I know the people. They can either help me get the money out of the ATM machine because i know them, since I've been here (a long time), or I'll get cash when I check out from the grocery store or wherever."
Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannetetnj.com.
