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That was the situation facing the Cincinnati suburb of Lincoln Heights. When a locally owned bank closed about 10 years ago, its 4,800 residents, many of whom are low-income, found themselves without banking services. Since May of this year, however, that void has been at least partially filled through a unique project sponsored by Huntington Banks--a Mobile Banking Center.
The mobile bank is housed in a custom-designed recreational vehicle staffed by two Huntington personal bankers. It offers savings and checking accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and home mortgage and consumer loans. The center also contains an ATM which, in addition to the standard services, allows customers to cash checks.
"Our primary goal with this unit is to provide service in areas where traditional services hadn't been available," explains Carl McCrary, the office's manager. "We felt there was a lot of potential for new business in Lincoln Heights, along with Avondale and Bond Hill (two Cincinnati neighborhoods) because the people there did not have ready access to a bank." The unit spends one day a week in each area.
McCrary says that as of late October, the mobile unit had opened about 1,200 savings accounts and 100 checking accounts, originated two home equity loans, and sold a couple of CDs and mutual funds. "We re very pleased with it so far," he adds.
LaVerne Mitchell, village manager of Lincoln Heights, says the mobile center has been a welcome addition to the community. "It offers banking services we do not have, and it s in a place people can easily get to," she says. Already a Huntington customer herself, Mitchell has used the center to obtain an ATM card.
Mitchell adds that Huntington has become more involved in the community since opening the center. "They helped get a new scoreboard for our high school gymnasium, and they advertise in our village newsletter. They've become a real friend to the community," she says.
The mobile office is the brainchild of Stephen Daniels, senior vice president for retail banking in Huntington's southern region, which includes the Cincinnati metropolitan area. "We had developed a concept we called community-centered banking, where we were working with churches to reach residents of inner-city neighborhoods," Daniels recalls. "But the churches pointed out that we didn t have any banks in areas where their members lived.
"We started to ask ourselves what we could do to correct that situation," Daniels continues, "and I said, What we really need is a mobile bank. The more we thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense." Daniels contacted companies specializing in custom-designed vehicles, and eventually had one built at a cost of about $250,000.
The unit's success has led Huntington to start thinking about purchasing another vehicle, as well as mobile ATMs. Says Daniels, "The concept has pleased our existing customers and helped us attract new ones, so we are definitely looking at expanding it."
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