Former Moree mayor now fulltime fish and chip shop owner Katrina Humphries is among hundreds of locals furious about Westpac shutting its local branch and ATM machine.
Fishabout on Frome Street in Moree pays about $600 in fees every month to Westpac, Humphries said.
"I reckon, quite conservatively, I could multiply that by 100 (Moree) businesses and that'd be about $60,000.
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"Now it's not costing them $60,000 to keep those doors open every month."
Westpac announced in October that the big bank would be closing down a further 23 branches nationwide, including in Moree and Hay in regional NSW.
It follows 72 closures declared by Westpac Group which includes St George, BankSA and Bank of Melbourne, this year.
Humphries said Westpac has made a lot of money out of her family and many other locals over the years with mortgages, home loans and credit cards.
"I don't want to move banks. It will cost me to move banks," Humphries said.
She said her grandchildren are fourth-generation bankers of Westpac and that her father worked for the institution when it was called the Bank of NSW in the 1950s, "so we're entrenched".
"So, no, I don't want to change banks. I don't. I'm with Westpac. I feel secure with Westpac."
"They've bled these towns for that bloody long and now they're walking away from them. And to hide behind technology is just totally wrong"
- Moree RSL manager Robert Shields
Moree-based electrician Greg MaGarry said it was a "very low act" of the bank and that every customer should just close their business with them.
"Imagine all the farmers, small business, tradies... all the billions they've made out of the regional area, I just think it's a disgrace," MaGarry said.
MaGarry said having a bank branch open in rural areas is dire for people like the elderly who need face-to-face communication with their bankers.
The local electrician said people need to be able to visit their bank teller if they cannot get through to them over the phone or if they are having difficulties online.
"Yesterday I tried calling the Commonwealth, and in the end, I just ended up hanging up," Mr MaGarry said. "At least I can still go and talk to someone (in the branch)."
Moree Town and Country president Penny Boydell said she doesn't know what their club is going to do when they need lump sums of cash for functions once Westpac shuts.
"And a lot of elderly people don't have computers to do internet banking," Boydell said.
RSL manager Robert Shields said any bank that leaves a country town like Moree is a disgrace.
"They've bled these towns for that bloody long and now they're walking away from them. And to hide behind technology is just totally wrong," Mr Shields said.
The Commonwealth Bank, Regional Australia Bank, ANZ and Suncorp are among others with branches still open in Moree, but with some now only opening until about midday.
A Westpac spokesperson said they were shutting the Moree branch due to a significant shift in people "choosing" to bank online which has resulted in a decline in the number of customers using branches across their network.
But the former Moree mayor Katrina Humphries said the bank needs to look at how much is spent and earned, especially in relation to the magnitude of agribusiness in the region, because the bank receives enough to keep the branch open for those who really need it.
The Moree Champion has requested Westpac to respond to claims about whether staff had a limit of over-the-counter transactions they could make each day, with any of those customers above that number being redirected to the ATM or online service.
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