Wainwright Bank will become Eastern Bank on March 19

[ron_newman]

According to a mailing I received today, all Wainwright Bank branches and accounts will officially become part of Eastern Bank effective Saturday, March 19.

Eastern has a web page with further information, including a Consumer Welcome Kit for individual customers and a Business Welcome Kit.

(Previous LJ discussion is here.)

Comments

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

Out here in the 'burbs I use Eastern Bank, and I have never dealt with a more friendly and helpful bank staff. Here's hoping that trend continues with the Wainwright acquisition.

[cn-i-crash-here.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. I joined Wainwright because they billed themselves as a "nice" community bank, but the staff were never very friendly.

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

I've always had positive experiences with Maria (a manager) at the Davis branch since I opened my account there in 2002 or 2003. I have not used the tellers much.

[ron_newman]

Same for me.

[nathanjw]

I just read that mailing. The change with the most obvious effect is that the low-end checking accounts have $2 fees for using the ATMs of other banks (SUM excepted, not that there's a lot of that left). That's in addition to whatever the ATM's bank charges. That might be enough to drive me off, since several other banks do the opposite and refund a certain amount of ATM fees from other banks.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I've pretty much always been able to get around this fee when I'm not near a Wainwright bank by using the cash back option at grocery stores. I'd rather spend a buck or two on bananas than on a bank fee. :-)

[nathanjw]

Yeah, I used to do that (for convenience more than to duck ATM fees), but my credit card company has successfully bribed me to use their card instead for the 2% kickback. I suppose I have some math to do.

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

I'm a WW customer, and while I'm a little skeptical, this seems to be an OK move. Wainwright and Eastern have complementary locations -- both in eastern MA, but with WW being more urban and Eastern being more suburban and exurban... so it won't likely lead to many branch closings. It *does* mean a bigger organization. But Eastern is also privately held, not publicly traded like Wainwright is. So Eastern's owners (who seem to have similar values to Wainwright's) actually have a little more freedom to pursue those ends, without worrying about fiduciary pressure from shareholders.

[ron_newman]

They're keeping open both headquarters on Franklin Street in Boston, but I can't imagine why -- it would make sense to close one of them. Other than that, their branch locations don't overlap at all, except in Newton, and I expect they'd want to keep all three existing Wainwright and Eastern branches there.

[andy1818.livejournal.com]

Hi folks…

Andy from Eastern Bank here; I recently read some various threads about our acquisition of Wainwright Bank and wanted to address some of the questions posed.

I hope that my answers help clarify any concerns that you have:

1. Will Wainwright’s Davis Square location continue to offer Munchkins, coffee, a fireplace, CNN news on TV, and The New York Times to read?

Yes to all!

2. Will all of the current Wainwright branches remain open, including 63 Franklin St. in downtown Boston?

We have no plans to close any Wainwright Bank offices. The Franklin Street offices really serve two different areas. The Eastern Bank location is in the Financial District, while the Wainwright Bank location serves Downtown Crossing, so we’re planning to keep both offices open.


3. Are Wainwright Bank branch staffs remaining in place?

The people you see today inside Wainwright Bank branches are the same people you will see when they become Eastern Bank branches on March 19.

I hope this helps and please do not hesitate to visit our Wainwright Welcome Center at: https://www.easternbank.com/site/marketing/Pages/wainwright.aspx?WT.ac=wb_welcome_tile where there is a lot of information and plenty of resources.

Thanks,

Andy

[ron_newman]

Thanks for your reply -- some of which is to this Universal Hub post, I think.

A few of the comments above are about a fee increase -- can you address that as well?

[andy1818.livejournal.com]

Hi Ron,

When it comes to questions about fees, the most comprehensive set of information regarding this is in our Consumer Welcome Kit: https://www.easternbank.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/Wainwright/eb_welcome_kit_consumer.pdf

In regards to the comment above about a fee attached to using a non-Eastern Bank ATM here is some additional information:

Our Free Checking product includes no monthly fee and does not require a minimum balance. There’s also no charge for checks, or to use online banking or bill pay. We are waiving the $2 fee for transactions at other bank’s ATMs through 12/31/2011 for current Wainwright Bank customers.

Thanks,
Andy