THE WEEK after Christmas leading up to New Year is one of the shire’s busiest, it is when holidays start, visitors arrive and cash registers and eftpos machines are running hot.
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So Nambucca Heads business owners were more than a little miffed to discover that the local Bananacoast Credit Union (bcu), the community bank with which many of them have their accounts, was closed for the entire period.
“I only discovered it a few days beforehand when I happened to notice the little sign in the window referred to a complete closure rather than only the public holidays – it made me cranky because we are a tourist town and this is our busiest time,” business owner and chamber of commerce vice president Jenny Ellis told the Guardian.
“I feel really disappointed and let down.”
Chamber secretary Tony Stokes said many of the town’s 47 businesses bank with bcu and the closure caused a lot of inconvenience.
“Businesses rely on daily banking to ensure they can cover their outgoings such as wages and other payments,” Tony said.
“To remain closed on normal trading days is not normal for a bank – it sends a bad message.”
And it was not only businesses that were inconvenienced, local residents too were unable to access their accounts apart from the automatic teller machine.
“Elderly customers often require the services of a teller rather than a machine,” chamber president Michael Beattie said.
Business owners were united in deriding the bcu’s suggested option of banking at the Macksville branch, which remained open apart from public holidays.
“The traffic queues were kilometres long, it took more than an hour to get there and back,” Nambucca Liquor Store owner Kirsty Bush said.
“And then you have to either go yourself, pay someone to replace you or pay them to sit in the car.
“We were told staff leave was the reason for the closure but I really don’t understand the management choices – this is our community bank and this was a huge inconvenience to the community.”
Responding to a letter of complaint sent by the chamber, the bcu executive officer for member care wrote:
“We advise that transaction volumes are generally significantly lower during this period and in some cases businesses are closed over the holiday season ... store staff have been in discussions with local members and businesses over the last few weeks with regards to individual needs ...”
The Guardian rang bcu for clarification of these points but had not received a response before publication deadline.
