por Yashenka Baca
Occupy SF protesters rally in front of Welss Fargo Bank: (PHOTO BY OCCUPY WALL STREET WEBSITE)
More than 680,000 people nationwide moved their money from a major bank to a credit union or a community bank last month, spurred by the “Move your Money Day” and “Bank Transfer Day”, on Nov. 5. According to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), about $4.5 billion was transferred to new accounts in credit unions. Bank of America Corp., announced on Sept. 29, they had decided to start charging a $5.00 fee to debit card users (now rescinded). The news was not welcome by customers, who were irritated by the idea and started looking for alternatives.
Los Angeles artist Kristen Christian was one of many Bank of America customers fed up with fees and charges. She created a Facebook page called Bank Transfer Day and set Nov. 5 as the day of action. Through the page she encouraged her 500 friends to transfer their money from a big bank to a local non- profit credit union, cooperative, or community bank. The page went viral and after just three days it had more than 8,000 people ‘attending’ (the social media equivalent to: yes, I’ll do it).
On the other side of the country, the same idea had being circulating for a year and a half through online financial freedom communities. The Move your Money project, “a campaign that aims to empower individuals and institutions to divest from the nation’s ‘Too Big To Fail’ Wall Street banks” also started encouraging people to move their money to local financial organizations. According to Move your Money’s website, over 4 million people have already moved their money during the last year and a half.
Both movements gained tremendous momentum when Occupy Wall Street supporters echoed the idea during numerous rallies and marches around the country. Protesters saw Bank Transfer Day as a perfect way to take action and demonstrate that people are not helpless against big banks.
Bill Cheney, CEO of CUNA, said “consumers doubled the pace on November 5 … they should be given credit for being smart about what to do with their money.” The association revealed that only on Bank Transfer Day, credit unions got 40,000 new members and $80 million in new savings account funds. Bank of America representatives would not comment on the loss of customers.
Money moved in the Bay Area
Demonstrators protested against corporate greed showing support for “Move your Money Day” outside Bank of America in downtown San Rafael. Carrying sings like, “Leave Vampire Banks, Join a Credit Union” and, “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail” protesters tried to encourage people to switch financial institutions and leave behind the bailout giants for a small community oriented bank or credit union.
A bank clerk from a San Francisco branch of Wells Fargo, whose name is omitted to protect his job, said to El Reportero that customers had been coming frequently to the bank looking to close their accounts. “Last Saturday, we had 20 people close their account in support of the Bank Transfer Day campaign”, the clerk said.
Protests were seeing outside major banks in Berkeley, Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco. In Palo Alto, home of the affluent Silicon Valley community, dozens of people also took to the streets carrying signs reading “Main Street before Wall Street” and “We are the 99%.” The group marched to all four Palo Alto big bank locations in support of the action day.
Many Bay Area residents celebrated November 5 as “financial freedom day.” Messages posted on Twitter and Facebook referred to November 5 as “just the beginning.” Credit unions expect growth from new customers continuing to transfer during the rest of November and into the future, as the grip of major banks loosens.
