New Technology Aimed At Keeping Trips To Tulsa Banks Safer

New technology rolling out this week at an area credit union is putting the teller back into ATM. The goal for the new machines is to make your trip to the bank safer.

At the Tulsa Federal Credit Union, there aren't any tellers at the window; instead, they're on a video conferencing call with you.

At 111th and South Memorial, Andy Tripp with TFCU gave us a look at the future of banking, saying the days of talking to a teller through a loud speaker and putting money in a tube are gone.

"It's security. It's functionality. It's convenience. All of the above," he said.

Instead of an ATM, the credit union is using an ITM, Interactive Teller Machine.

When you pull up, a teller appears.

"It's actually integrated, so it's not just a video kind of outside it. She can actually make the driver’s license scanner light up and things like that," Tripp explained.

The teller on the other side can dispense money and even verify your personal account information.

Tripp said, "It tells you exactly where your cash and coin is going to come out. So it just dispensed coin, and, you can see on the machine, it's actually lighting up."

The employee operating the machine is at an off-site location; and with a recent string of bank robberies in the Tulsa area, the technology has safety built into it.

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"So, what we found with the interactive teller solution, is that robberies are virtually eliminated because thieves no longer have access to cash drawers. It's actually secured in a safe that only the cash company has access to," Tripp said.

There's still face-to-face interaction with the credit union employees inside the lobby, but the ITMs are the future.

The new technology is available at the branch in Broken Arrow too. And, in a couple of months, they may roll it out at some grocery stores around Tulsa.