BANKS AXE LEAVING POOR IN THE LURCH

Branch closures hit vulnerable the most in deprived regions

BIG banks have closed four times as many branches in poor areas than richer regions, a survey reveals.

Some 990 outlets shut in the most deprived areas of England in eight years while just 230 went in well-off parts.

Those closures often involved the bank’s free ATM also being lost – with critics saying that this hits the hard-up and elderly more as they rely on cash.

The most vulnerable must trek miles to go into a branch or they are forced to pay rip-off fees to use cash machines.

More than 5,000 bank and building society branches closed between 2010 and 2018 – that is 31% of all such outlets, Office for National Statistics data shows.

Analysis by Pockit, the online account provider, found the 10% poorest areas lost, on average, nearly one in three of their branches.

Yet in the 10% most well-off areas, just one in five shut.

Southwark in London, the

23rd most deprived local authority, suffered the biggest loss of branches, down from 230 in 2010 to 50 in 2018, a 78% decline. Virraj Jatania, chief exec of Pockit, said: “Big banks are marginalising the poorest in society by shutting up shop. “These findings suggest high street lenders prefer serving the most well-off rather than the most in need. “Banks should be supporting customers to improve their financial health, not abandoning them.”

The Mirror has revealed that poorer areas are more likely to have fee-charging ATMs.

In all but one of 20 UK areas with the highest ratio of pay-to-use machines, there is higher than average unemployment. Branches were shut in the 10% of the poorest areas across England MOST DEPRIVED