I got a letter in the mail today from my local bank.
Now, before we get any further, I would like to elaborate and explain that when I say my local bank I mean that quite literally.
One of the things I have really liked about living in this smaller town is the fact that most business here is not owned by multinational conglomerates, but instead significantly dominated by local or regional operators.
Hard to believe as it might be, the bank I have my accounts at was founded in 1904 and has been in the ownership of the same family and group of investors ever since then. 122 years is a very long run for a bank, particularly for one that just operates in a very small region, and has about 12 branches, total.
As you can probably figure out this bank has made it through two world wars, the Great Depression, the banking crisis of 2008, Covid lockdowns and various other negative situations that have put under many other — and much larger banking organizations.
Anyway, getting back to the letter I got, it was to announce that the bank is merging with Heritage Bank — a fairly large Regional Bank serving Washington, Oregon, Idaho and part of California.
To be honest, I was a little bit shocked! Of all the things that might happen this year, I really did not expect my bank to "go corporate" after all these years.
Naturally, the letter implied that the same people and the same locations would continue to services here, and that makes perfect sense because we don't actually have a Heritage Bank branch in our town. But it does make me wonder how this change is going to affect things like services and fees, and the fact that I've been banking there for so long that I get to do all kinds of things "on a handshake" because they're locally owned and run.
In a way it's kind of disappointing, but I suppose it's also not surprising in a world where all the smaller players tend to be gobbled up by a handful of market leaders, whether it is banking, supermarkets, auto parts stores or something else.
Of course, it may not tun out all that badly... Heritage Bank is an older bank (chartered in 1927) and has its roots in nearby Olympia and Seattle.
Maybe I'm just kind of old-fashioned in my thinking, but it felt like the world lost a little tiny bit of color today.
In a more practical sense, my concern is that many of the "no fee" services we currently enjoy — like a free checking account, free personal money orders, and such — will probably become a thing of the past. Seems like virtually all financial services try to nickel-and-dime you to death with fees, these days!
For the moment, we really don't know, so I guess I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise!
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