University officials ended a three-year partnership with Union First Market Bank and signed a two-year contract with BB&T Bank in September.
Richmond chose BB&T Bank after reviewing proposals from a credit union and three other banks: Union First Market Bank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, said Louie Love, Richmond's director of treasury services.
"BB&T offered the best proposal and they were in complete agreement to write the proposal the way that the university [officials] wanted without any changes," Love said. "The other banks wanted to make very exclusive changes."
In the proposal, BB&T Bank officials agreed to reduce the normal $3 ATM transaction fee for non-BB&T Bank members to $2. In addition to the ATM on the first floor of the Tyler Haynes Commons, which was installed on Dec.1, the bank officials were also willing to place an ATM in the athletic facilities, Love said.
During the basketball season, the ATM will be located in the Robins Center, and it will be moved to the E. Claiborne Robins Stadium for fan accessibility during the football season, Love said.
The proposal also appealed to the university administrators because BB&T officials will allow other banks to advertise their services on-campus at the beginning of each semester, which was not permitted in previous contracts, Love said.
Love said that the monetary value of the BB&T Bank contract had been confidential information, but that it had been significantly greater than past contracts.
"We definitely saw the opportunity to work with the university as an investment," said Aimee Creamer, assistant vice president and certified BB&T@Work sales officer. "We try to work with organizations in the markets that we serve. It's a good thing mutually, because we were able to bring the ATM to campus as well as offer banking accounts to the students and staff."
Throughout the spring semester, there will be announcements in SpiderBytes about frequent campus visits for students and staff members to open accounts from a table in the Commons, Creamer said.
BB&T officials will be offering a free student banking account with no monthly maintenance fee, no minimum balance requirement, a check card, a cash rewards program, mobile and online banking, and text message alerts, Creamer said.
Students who register for a BB&T Bank account are also given a refund card to be redeemed at any time for an overdraft fee, a money order fee, an official check fee or a stop payment fee. If a student opens an account with a bank representative in the Commons, he will receive $25 to put into the account, Creamer said.
There is also a special employee banking program available for university faculty and staff members and students who are employed by the university, Creamer said.
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BB&T Bank has two branches close to the university, one on the corner of Patterson Avenue and Libbie Drive, and another on River Road behind the University Forest Apartments.
Contact staff writer Erin Moyer at erin.moyer@richmond.edu
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