B of A to Shutter Branch, Leave ATM

Bank of America will close its Fillmore branch in about four months, leaving the city with only one bank.

The decision means that only one bank, Santa Paula-based Citizens State Bank, will maintain a branch in the agricultural community of 12,800 people.

“I’m angry. I’m more than angry, I’m livid,” Mayor Roger Campbell said after he received the news Monday. “They told me they want to provide better service for their customers. Now, I can’t quite figure out how they’re going to do that if they pull out of here.”

Campbell said bank officials told him that they will consolidate Fillmore accounts at their Santa Paula branch about eight miles away, leaving only an automated teller machine and merchant depository in the city.

Bank officials tried to put a positive spin on the news Monday.

“We recognize it is an inconvenience for those customers, but we do feel that using some of our other delivery systems, we’ll be able to provide them with the same level of service they have been experiencing,” said bank spokeswoman Jane Feledy. “We’ll work to make this transition as smooth as possible for our customers. Their accounts will be automatically transferred to the Santa Paula branch unless they choose another branch.”

Feledy did not know how many customers the bank has in Fillmore, but said the decision was probably related to the volume of transactions. The branch’s employees will be transferred elsewhere, she said.

Campbell, who got the news Monday at his auto-repair shop, said he will cancel the business account he has had with Bank of America for about 30 years. He will recommend that the municipality do the same, he said, adding that he plans to contact his counterparts throughout the county to request that they stop doing business with the bank.

The move is a blow to the image of Fillmore, a low-income community that has tried to remake itself as a tourist draw since the devastating 1994 earthquake.