Woodforest is taking the trend of more banking hours to its outermost limit. What Woodforest is doing is very unique and will pay off in many, many new customers. But none have branch managers and tellers on duty overnight, she said. The first branch, in the northern Houston suburb of Spring, changed its hours in October 1999. That convinced executives to open a second all-night branch last month, and a third is scheduled to open in another suburb in March, Marling said.
Some bankers are skeptical about the all-night hours.
Miguel Lopez, night manager for Woodforest's first all-night branch in Spring, said that when he took the job three months ago, he figured he would spend a lot of time sweeping floors. The all-night branches do much of the system's balancing and bookkeeping to free up daytime staff for other tasks. Overnight workers also are answering the bulk of e-mail questions from customers. You may be half asleep, but I'm not. Marling said the branches are prominently placed across from cashiers inside the Wal-Marts, near store employees and security guards.