Bank Of America Introduces ATMs With Live Remote Tellers On Video Screens

Instead of screaming in frustration at an unresponsive machine, Bank of America is introducing the potential for customer to interact with more than just a hunk of machinery by way of its new remote teller video ATMs. And this isn’t some weird computer-generated customer service tool, the ATM will have a live video link for certain transactions.

The new machine is hitting a branch in Boston this month and will spread from there around the city as well as in Atlanta, reports the New York Times. The live tellers are there to assist with things you can’t usually do at an ATM like cash checks and split where your deposits are going. Eventually the machines will allow customers to pay mortgages and make other loan payments as well.

While you tap away at the machine, a live teller sitting in a call center will show up to help with such transactions at drive-up lanes as well as inside bank lobbies and 24-hour vestibules.

“Customers want expanded capabilities,” BofA’s senior vice president and head of ATM business told the NYT. Those extended capabilities include what boils down to expanded branch hours for banking, as the live tellers will be on hand between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends.

And of course you don’t have to use the live teller for other transactions, especially if you don’t want anyone else to see that crestfallen look you make when the ATM informs you  of “insufficient funds.” No one wants to see that, believe me.

An A.T.M., With a Real Teller on the Screen [New York Times]

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