For the third consecutive year, Ridgewood Savings Bank has been named to the prestigious Forbes annual list of America’s Best-in-State Banks 2022, Leonard Stekol, chairman, president and CEO of Ridgewood, announced on Tuesday, June 21. Additionally, Bankrate has named Ridgewood a top regional bank of 2022.

In the context of the announcement, Stekol said that for over a hundred years, Ridgewood had served the people of New York as a true community bank, providing customers with the best possible service and banking experience. “What separates us from other banks is that, simply put, we treat our customers like family, and we go the extra mile every day to deliver on service and trust,” he said. “On behalf of everyone at Ridgewood, we are very grateful to our customers for, once again, recognizing all that we do.”

According to Ridgewood, Forbes’ America’s Best-In-State Banks 2022 list comprises the top banks based on the results of independent surveys involving approximately 26,000 U.S. consumers who are asked to rate the financial institutions at which they have or have had checking accounts. Participants make recommendations regarding overall satisfaction and they also assess banks in the following areas: trust, digital services, branch services, financial advice and terms & conditions. The list of America’s Best-in-State Banks 2022 can be found here.

According to Stekol, Ridgewood is driven to exceed customer satisfaction and is committed to being responsive to customers’ needs at all times. The CEO cited several personal and digital banking services offered by the Ridgewood which he said help customers and their families, including:

• free green checking, an eco-conscious, paperless payment account with zero monthly fees;
• Ridgewood’s premier checking account which gives customers added perks, competitive interest rates on higher balances, free EZShield ID Protection Plus, the services of a dedicated financial consultant, and more;
• currency exchange and international wire transfer services that give customers access to 80+ world currencies;
• Ridgewood’s student lending referral source which gives students access, via the bank’s website, to private student loans through College Ave. Student Loans;
• Ridgewood’s online banking and, according to the bank, highly rated mobile app which allows customers to carry out their banking 24/7, including Alexa voice banking to help busy families manage their accounts while they multitask; and Ridgewood’s mobile wallet which lets customers pay for purchases by using their smartphones or smartwatches; and
• access to 90,000 surcharge-free ATMs, EZShield ID Restoration, EZShield identity theft protection®, Billpay + Zelle® and much more.

Stekol said Ridgewood’s reputation is built on a solid foundation of forward-thinking customer service. “We aim to provide an ideal in-person banking experience, while offering a full array of highly-rated digital banking tools that permit customers to bank from anyplace at any time, and a locally staffed customer contact center that is here to help in every manner,” he said.

A shortage of banking services in The Bronx has long been a concern for residents. As reported, Ridgewood opened an additional bank branch in Norwood at 320 East 204th Street on September 14, 2021, which replaced the former Norwood branch which had been located at 3445 Jerome Avenue.

As also reported, Ridgewood Savings Bank announced on Sept. 1, 2021, that its Sedgwick Avenue branch, located at 3899 Sedgwick Avenue in the Van Cortlandt Village section of the Bronx, would finally remain open, much to the relief of local residents. As reported, three months earlier, in May of that year, the bank had announced that the branch was expected to close.

In August 2021, we reported that, after an almost two-year wait, a new Chase Bank branch opened at 7 E. Burnside Avenue, just east of Jerome Avenue on the border of Fordham Heights and Mount Hope, close to the University Heights border. A former Chase branch located at 5 W. Burnside Avenue closed in October 2019, serving a blow to the local community. The impact of that closure was compounded by the subsequent closure of an Amalgamated Bank branch located at 94 E. Burnside Avenue in Mount Hope in September 2020. As reported, this was despite a rally being held at the location in an effort to keep the branch open.

Norwood News previously reported on a break-in and burglary in November 2020 of a Bank of America ATM, located at 3424 Jerome Avenue in Norwood. In addition to the ATM room, a Bank of America bank branch had previously existed at the location but had closed a few years prior to the robbery.

Meanwhile, in the context of a discussion on teaching younger people the value of money and of managing their finances, Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez (A.D. 80) recently commented on the advantages of having banks, rather than simply cash checking services, available within a community, saying, “Cash checking is not a bank. Having local banks that can help you with loans, creating saving accounts, is a huge step in just being in the mindset and the action of being cautious with your financials,” she said.

For more information on Ridgewood Savings Bank, visit RidgewoodBank.com.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.