NYC bank ATMs no longer home for the homeless: banks locking doors

Banks all around the Big Apple will be locking out ATM users and the homeless at night in order to stop the homeless from sleeping in the vestibules that also serve as toilets. While this will obviously be an inconvenience for people with jobs who care to use an ATM after hours, it will also require the homeless sleep elsewhere, such as subways and shelters.

Branches for Chase, City National Bank and Citizens have been surreptitiously locking their doors even to customers who have a bank card as early as 10 PM or 11 PM and reopening them early morning, according to The New York Post.

Bank branch employees told The Post that ATM lobbies have become refuges for the homeless who sleep in these small spaces overnight and often use the space as toilets, leaving their feces behind and creating a stinky safety hazard for employees and customers who are afraid to enter the lobbies lest they slip or get mugged.

“A lot of stuff happens at night,” said an ATM technician who did not want to be identified because he’s not authorized to speak to the media. 

Bank of America did not respond for comment as they were engaged in cleaning away a mess left the previous night before they finalized their decision.

Citizens acknowledged the disruption to its service, citing “safety issues.” Surprisingly, they never mentioned the ambience issue as well.

“Like a number of other banks, we have temporarily closed some ATM vestibules overnight at certain New York City branch locations where we have seen repeat activity that could present a potentially dangerous situation for our customers or colleagues,” spokeswoman, Eleni Garbis said in a statement.

A spokesman for Chase, Jerry Dubrowski, said the situation is “fluid” and that the bank is “constantly evaluating the environment in a community.” His definition of "fluid" was not made clear but one can only imagine what Jerry meant.

Some Chase branches may close for a period of time and then reopen for full 24-hour access again, he said, adding that the limited hours apply to a minority of Chase branches in the city.

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Some banks have hired security guards to sit inside the vestibules in the early evening hours, Matt Roberts, president of the 17th Precinct Community Council, and adding that some homeless people have bank cards and can let themselves into the lobbies, but they rarely make withdrawals, only deposits.

Now with New York's illegal immigrant sanctuary city policy, the homeless problem may run amok if they run out of 5-Star hotels to house the illegals and they may end up seeking other places to crash and dump.

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