Advising customers via a letter dated September 25, the bank said the Regents Park branch was closed earlier this year as the staff were needed in their call centres, but they had decided not to reopen because customer needs were changing with more opting to bank online.
The letter also advised that the ATMs would only be available until October 23.
Phong Tran said: “I am not happy at all because this will be so frustrating. Now I will have to bank in Auburn, it’s very unfair on the older members of the community.”
Nalanie Ye said: “This will be very hard on pensioners and I will have to go Lidcombe which I’m not looking forward to.”
Vince Smith: “It’s not good at all. My mother brought me here to get my first piggy bank 40 years ago and we couldn’t believe they closed during Covid and now to think the ATMs are going, it’s just too much.
“I’ll have to go to Chester Hill now but I’m not looking forward to it. Last time I was there, the queue was lined up along the street. I’m old fashioned, I like to go into the branch but if you do that now for a withdrawal, they charge you extra. They want all of us online but what about all the seniors who aren’t. Is anyone thinking of them?”
Tiana Mimaoui and daughter Ameena, 13, are also frustrated.
“We will have to go to Chester Hill now but I would rather not since it is so busy there,” Mrs Mimaoui said.
Local factory worker Michael Wiscowksi said it was a sign of the times.
“They want us all online but you still need to get out cash,” he said. “I’m not happy, it’s not fair.”
Bank shut door, now scraps ATM
SHOCKED and dismayed upon hearing the Commonwealth Bank in Regents Park has now permanently closed, with the ATMs to also be removed this month, residents have slammed the move and the inconvenience it will bring.