A Walmart in Maine is the first national retail outlet to offer a personal teller machine–an ATM that displays a live person–courtesy of the $189 million Five County Credit Union in Bath.
The 23,000-member CU has installed a uGenius Personal Teller Machine at a Walmart Super Center in Skowhegan, the first such location for an installation by uGenius of Sandy, Utah.
Members interact with a teller through a video conference system that allows the same services as if the member were at a physical branch, including check cashing, deposits, transfers, payments and loan or other service applications.
The PTM allows the credit union to make full use of the 500 square feet it has in the Walmart store, said Five County Vice President Michael Foley. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday including holidays, Foley said.
“We had been looking for an innovative way to approach branching by better leveraging our staff resources and utilizing a smaller, more efficient, operational footprint while continuing to offer our extended hours of service,” Foley said.
Other credit unions among the clients who have deployed more than 100 of the PTM units in the United States, Canada and Australia are the $2 billion Coastal FCU in Raleigh, N.C., and the $711 million Mid-Hudson Valley FCU in Kingston, N.Y.
Coastal uses the service in more than a dozen branches, the company said, and offers 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. service daily, including weekends. Mid-Hudson uses the PTMs to provide 24/7 interaction with a live member service representative.
