Why it pays to bank locally

Here are three stories about National Grand Bank (NGB):

1.On the Monday that Hurricane Sandy was blowing into town, Harborside Realty had a closing scheduled where the buyer was getting a mortgage from a “big box” bank. Said bank decided not to open that day, but did not feel it was necessary to inform their customers. What to do?
A call to NGB, an immediate meeting and the buyer walked out with a cashier’s check and the closing went ahead as scheduled. The buyer, while known to the bank, did not have a checking account at the time – but does now, as does his broker.

2.I was selling a condo in a mixed use building and the buyer, a first time buyer, had been turned down by three multi-state banks. One call to NGB, a meeting that same day, and the buyer left knowing NGB was going to make it happen – and did.

3.When we moved to Marblehead in the 1990s and wanted to buy a house I was unable to get a mortgage from my bank because I did not have US tax returns. I was advised to go to NGB and, yes, I got my mortgage. But there’s more. I was in the bank one day and a woman approached me and said she had heard that I was buying a certain house. She told me that the house had been built by a builder who had moved to Nashville and built the same house there. Further, she knew his number in Nashville and gave it to me and I was able to talk to the man who built my house.
One of the “big box” banks – yes, that one – claims to have a relationship with half the households in America. I guess it depends on what you mean by “relationship”.