Monday, January 25, 2010

Move Your Money

There's a grass roots movement afoot to move your money to locally banks and credit unions. Banks too big to fail? Let me relieve you of some of my money. From a story on Huffington Post:

People fed up with the nation's biggest banks, whose casino-style investment practices are partly responsible for the financial crisis, are pledging to move their money to small community banks and credit unions. They're taking the power into their own hands and voting with their dollars to help put an end to predatory lending, outrageous fees and impersonal service.

Can it really change the way the big banks do their business? Yes. Banks need each and every account to finance their actions, and when you move from the major banks you hinder their ability to engage in risky behavior at the same time that you help local institutions invest in the community. It's a win both ways. People who use small banks and credit unions also report that they are treated better than they were with the big guys.

The grassroots campaign has caught on, and people are using the tools at moveyourmoney.info to find solvent financial institutions nearby and make the switch.
Good bye Wells Fargo, hello Pioneer Savings!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not that I disagree with this but I had my little bank taken over, which was then taken over, and then again and then again. Oh course this was during the 90's.

Gavin said...

When I set up my account at Wells Fargo in 1985 after moving to CA, it was an also ran to BofA and First Interstate. That is a whole nasty story in and of itself.

Much to their credit, WF charted a sensible growth path. They were stable and bought smaller banks along the way until they merged with Wachovia and became a megabank.

Now that I'm in NY, there isn't any WF branches around. I've been making deposits by registered mail. This movement has given me the impetus to do what I've needed to do for a long time. I've been with WF for 25 years but it was time to move my money and I opted for a local operation!

Jenn said...

Gav I agree with you! Supporting "big banks" with my hard earned savings deposits and checking transactions while they misappropriate to exec bonus and salary is simply not in my budget this year and going forward so I too will be cancelling some of my accounts and switching to local establishments.