Page 2: Bank of America closing, Urdi update

Bank of America Will Close in May

Bank of America Media Relations Officer Colleen Haggerty has confirmed that the Mammoth branch of Bank of America is set to close on May 2. “The decision to close a banking center is never an easy one,” she said, “and is driven primarily by a decline in transactions as customers increasingly rely on other channels such as mobile and online banking.”

Haggerty noted that across the nation, Bank of America customers use their cellphones to log into their accounts 155 million times per month, depositing 158,000 checks via Mobile Check Deposit every day, and that customers make more than 4.9 million transfers each week between their accounts and other people’s accounts.

The Mammoth Lakes Bank of America lease at its Main Street location was due to expire in May, Haggerty explained, “which provided an opportunity to assess the longevity of the banking center and a timeline for closure.”

Letters were mailed last week to notify customers of the imminent closure of the branch.

Haggerty said that customers will still be able to access all deposits and account services online or by mobile phone, or at other banking center locations, such as the Bank of America branch in Bishop.

“The closure does not impact automatic deposits or bill pay withdraws,” she said. And, “For Mammoth residents, we will maintain an ATM in town.”

Urdi update

The Sheet met with Mammoth Lakes Tourism’s John  Urdi to get an update on his thinking this week.

He said that he has not given up on winter … yet. “We’ve got three weeks, but if it doesn’t snow by President’s weekend, we’ve got to switch gears.”

Because of the nature of the delay in collecting the new TBID marketing money (he’s been receiving payments about three months behind the actual month billed), the TBID has thus-far been a non-factor. In fact, the first two checks (totaling about $400,000) went to cover the air service subsidy for last summer.

Further, he’s not sure a marketing blitz right now would produce the desired effect. “We’re in a position of keeping our powder dry … right now, we’d be overpromising and they [potential visitors] wouldn’ttrust us again.”

The strategy right now is simple. “Maximize what we have,” says Urdi, “and strike when we have something to talk about.”

Expect MLT to start spending TBID money in April to market for summer business.