I am not buying this; I agree that poor people not using banks is an issue, and I appreciate a number of interesting reasons why this is the case (the list iterated by patio11's comment is amazing): I do not, however, think it is because banks are turning into impersonal institutions with which you never interact with a person.
Sure: this author doesn't generally interact with her bank. She doesn't see the need to, so she isn't choosing to; but, the bank she is using does have a branch she went to, and if she actually went there at all often the people there would get to know her. The building might be "impersonal", but the people are still people.
This doesn't even just apply to small banks (a friend of mine has always used local banks): I use the Bank of America, and almost everyone at my local branch knows me because I go there often and actually talk to them. I seriously look forward to making a wire transfer because I enjoy the interaction with the people I know there.
Corporations with local offices are still made out of people; like, while I prefer automated payments, if I end up in a situation where I need to write a check, somehow that's on the other side of "I may as well drive to your office and hand-deliver it"; this meant for a long time I even knew the people who worked at my car insurer ;P.
Anecdote of one: I bank with Wells Fargo, I go inside the branch less than once per month, and I rarely see the same tellers or "bankers" (the ones that sit at a desk) from visit to visit. I think it's pretty high turnover. I don't know the reason, but I suspect it's because the bank is trying to sell me services like insurance, and there's pressure on bankers to make sales. It may also be because a teller or banker job is a young person's first career-like job, from which they move on and up as soon as possible.
In fact I hate it when I have to talk to a banker, I get annoyed when they try to sell me services that have nothing at all to do with what I went in for, or with why I'm a customer in the first place.
Also, I suspect because of turnover, they usually can't answer my questions when I ask. They just do not know the answer to "how do I do this particular bank-like thing" without researching and asking the branch manager. But man they do know all about their insurance products.
I think it is actually a good thing that lots of people do not want to use bank accounts. It keeps the alternatives afloat for when I ever need them. Furthermore, I welcome alternatives like bitcoin with open arms. We don't want the banking system to have as much power as they have now. They must be made to cave in and become service providers again, instead of some kind of overlords, over other people's money.
Sure: this author doesn't generally interact with her bank. She doesn't see the need to, so she isn't choosing to; but, the bank she is using does have a branch she went to, and if she actually went there at all often the people there would get to know her. The building might be "impersonal", but the people are still people.
This doesn't even just apply to small banks (a friend of mine has always used local banks): I use the Bank of America, and almost everyone at my local branch knows me because I go there often and actually talk to them. I seriously look forward to making a wire transfer because I enjoy the interaction with the people I know there.
Corporations with local offices are still made out of people; like, while I prefer automated payments, if I end up in a situation where I need to write a check, somehow that's on the other side of "I may as well drive to your office and hand-deliver it"; this meant for a long time I even knew the people who worked at my car insurer ;P.