I have worked for four different banks. I worked for The Dime Savings Bank of New York in New Jersey for about two years until they were bought by much larger Washington Mutual Bank, which I worked for for almost two years before joining the Army for four years. When I got out of the Army, I started working for Yardville National Bank, a small bank in Central new Jersey. YNB was recently bought by PNC Bank, a large regional bank headquartered in Pittsburgh. We are still transitioning into PNC’s systems and the signs on the branch say YNB, but we are officially under PNC’s chain of command and offering some of their products.
When i started working at The Dime, i had no banking experience so I started as a teller. I told my boss that I didn’t want to be a teller, I wanted to do sales or customer service because they made more money, but with my lack of experience in banking that was not going to happen. The main thing with retail banking sales that sets it apart from most other retail sales jobs is that banking has a very strict set of government regulations that rule all banks that you must comply with. Plus, you are dealing with people’s money, which people take very serious for obvious reasons.
I went through my teller training class which lasted about two weeks. They went over the computer system, types of transactions, and banking regulations. Due to things like money laundering the government has set rules that require the banks to report certain types of transactions to them. For example if a customer deposits or withdraws more than $10,000. in cash, the bank must report that to the government. Customers who are suspected of something suspicious can also be reported by bank employees. If you have ever seen the movie Scarface with Al Pacino, there is a scene where Scarface’s men are hauling duffel bags full of cash into a bank. While this may be an exaggeration, the drug lords of the 1970’s and 80’s laundered millions of dollars of drug cash through financial institutions because there were no guidelines set forth to report this. That has all changed now.
Working as a teller to me, has always seemed like a glorified cashier. The transactions, deposits, cashing checks, loan payments, may be important to the customer, but to me the teller it was just another customer. My personality required that I do more than just be a cashier. Tellers in most banks are required to make referrals. For example a customer who comes in and has a savings account but no checking account, you the teller, seeing this ask them to open a checking account. If they go speak to a sales rep about opening an account and then actually open an account, this is a referral. Most banks offer some small incentive to their tellers for referrals like this. Through referrals and good customer service, and of course staying on top of my boss, I began training as a sales associate after only a few months as a teller.
Moving onto the “platform” side, as it’s called, was a big step for me. Instead of standing behind the teller line cashing checks and making small talk, I would be behind a desk actually working with the customers financial profiles. My interactions with customers would be more drawn out and in depth. I would get to know much more about the people I was dealing with and be able to offer them the products and services that they most needed. In turn my salary would increase. Banks pay their platform employees a salary, plus commission. The commission, or incentive as most banks call it, varies from bank to bank. Washington Mutual paid an excellent incentive to their employees. They had several tiers where you could draw a lower base salary, but a higher incentive payout. So, employees working in a very slow branch could choose to have a higher salary, but make less incentives on their products since they would not be selling as much due to less traffic. However employees who worked in a busy, high traffic branch that were constantly opening accounts and selling loans and insurance, like me in my branch, could choose to earn a lower base salary, but the payout on their sales incentive was much higher. I made out very well.
Some banks want you to obtain your license to sell insurance and investment products. When I worked for The Dime, I took classes so that I could get my life and health insurance license, required by the State of New Jersey, to sell insurance products. This was very profitable to me, as the bank paid very high incentives for sales of annuity products to the customers. I made a lot of sales, and made a lot of money. And the best thing was that the bank paid for me to take the classes, and to take the test required to get the state license. Other states may be different, but thats how it is done in New Jersey. Not all banks push their reps to get licensed. Washington Mutual has in-branch financial consultants who work for WM Financial Services, a subsidiary of Washington Mutual Bank, who they prefer to make the annuity and insurance sales. So they do not pay for their bank employees to get licensed. YNB does not even offer annuities or insurance in the branch, so they wont pay for a license, however PNC Bank does offer these products, and they will pay for an employee to get licensed.
There are not many ways that banks make money. The main ways that banks make money are, by lending out their money in mortgages, home equity loans, car loans, etc. and through fees, such as overdraft fees, ATM fees, monthly service charges, etc. These are also the products that the bank pays the highest incentive on. I made a lot of money on loans and mortgages back in 2000, 2001 and 2002 when the interest rates were so low because people wanted to refinance their mortgages. With Washington Mutual I could go from application to closing within a week on some home equity loans and lines of credit, and for me not to close 1 million dollars a month in loans, was strange. Checking accounts, accounts that are most likely to draw some sort of fee income for the bank are also a good product that pay a good incentive. At YNB I only made $3.00 per checking account because their incentive plan was pretty horrible. But at PNC you get paid a flat amount to open the account, then three months later you get an additional credit if the account is still open and in good standing.
My main problem working at the bank is that I get bored easily. Working at The Dime and Washington Mutual I had a large customer base from all walks of life and all financial situations. Working at YNB and PNC I have mostly wealthy customers, and the branch is very, very, very slow. Keeping busy is good, and sitting behind a desk is a good way to get fat and out of shape, something that happened to me when I worked for The Dime and Washington Mutual. And, despite the amount of work that I had, I became bored with the paperwork, and the meetings, and conference calls, and all the other unexciting things that come with working in an office. I became restless and unhappy with the corporate environment and decided to do something that I always wanted to do. I took a giant leap and joined the Army. After four years in the Army, I have returned to banking. I am again restless, so I have begun to look into law enforcement.
However, my personal preferences aside, working for a bank is a good job. You will be offered a decent salary, and as a platform rep your earnings potential is unlimited and if you get into a busy branch with a diverse clientele, and you are a good seller, then you can make excellent money. Banks offer competitive health and dental benefits as well as discounts on their products and free accounts. You will have all government holidays off as well as vacation and personal time. Most banks are not open at night, closing in the evenings and not open too much on the weekend. Some banks open Sundays, but most are closed. Another thing which to me is one of the most valuable things about working for a bank is that you will learn about money. You will learn the rules to banking, borrowing money and saving money, three things that you will definitely use in your life. Most banks are very similar. While some might pay better incentives, or have more branches, I always say, if you’ve worked for one bank you have worked for them all. So for anybody looking to work in a bank, I say go for it, they are nice places to work, just remember that it is still an office, and there are still customers to deal with.
