Banking since COVID-19 has taken on a different form. From wearing a mask to not being able to talk with a teller, several changes have been implemented in recent months.
At Michigan Legacy Credit Union, a cashless transaction requiring the help of a teller can now be handled from home, from the mall, or by the lake. They launched the virtual teller app in early July.
"As long as you don't need a cash transaction, you can open up a membership, you can apply for a loan or a mortgage," Teller Michael Castano said. "There's so many different member service opportunities you can have just from the comfort of your home."
"Only 7 percent of our transactions are done by members in our lobby with a teller. Everything else is electronic format," CEO Carma Peters added.
Peters said declining transactions in brick-and-mortar branches has fueled the credit unions to push to mobile banking, and since COVID-19, there's been a massive increase in mobile banking.
"We let members call us, text us, chat us, use our mobile website. Our mobile logins went up in the month of April by 50,000," Peters said.
She said the plan was to equip branches with virtual tellers before launching the app. That comes next.
Banking in-person has also taken on a different look. Wearing a mask during a visit prior to COVID-19 might raise suspicion. Now, it's encouraged at all credit unions.
For banks that remain open, the American Banking Association has also called on all banks to adopt a face mask policy.
This story was first reported by WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.
