Recently, I’ve been thinking about leaving Bank of America. It’s hard to do, because it’s a comfortable, stable relationship, and Bank of America is always there when I need a few fresh 20s to succor my lonely wallet. But Bank of America’s little habits grate my nerve – the snap-judgment overdraft fees, the bizarre customer service behavior, the creepy megacorp polish of their marketing materials. I can’t help but to fantasize about all the other banks out there, and what they’re like to do banking with.
Then, in today’s mail, I received a letter from Bank of America, informing me that “At 2:00pm, August 17 2007, we will be closing the Amherst Banking Center at 75 E Pleasant Street, Amherst, Massachusetts.”
Why would I, a resident of Natick, care that they’re closing a bank branch over 80 miles away? Because 12 years ago, that Bank of America was a Bay Bank, a bank that I excitedly signed up for as a college freshman. The balance of my savings account was perpetually $4.25, the exact cost of a veggie calzone from DP Dough. I can remember many hungry nights when that $4.25 taunted me with its inability to be withdrawn from an ATM. I was so young and reckless, and so, so poor!
Of course, relationships do change. BayBank became Bank Boston. Bank Boston became FleetBoston. FleetBoston became Bank of America. But even a dizzying series of buyout and mergers can’t erase the history we have together. Somewhere in its megalithic computer system, it remembers that I joined Bay Bank 12 years ago. If that’s not romance, I don’t know what is.
