It just got a lot harder to find a bank in Ocean County after one-third of the county’s bank branches have closed. Joseph Vicari, county commissioner, says the trend is particularly concerning because the community is home to close to 200,000 seniors, many of whom suffer from mobility issues, visual impairments and cognitive deficiency.
In 2020, U.S. banks set a new record for shuttering retail branches as more consumers bank digitally. In 2021, banks shattered that record. And New Jersey saw a net loss of 134 banks in 2021.
Maria LaFace, the director of the office of senior services in Ocean County, said she is concerned that those most vulnerable to exploitation and fraud will be scammed more frequently and easily with the increasing elimination of tellers.
“Now without those tellers — which I call the gatekeepers, the first line of defense for our older adults and for disabled residents — there’s no one that is going to see these transactions that are occurring, they’re occurring digitally. That’s my big fear,” she said.
