Tomorrow, Nov. 5th, is Bank Transfer Day. I honestly didn't realize how large a movement this was until I checked out their Facebook page today. Not only do they have over 40,000 likes, but over 77,000 people have indicated they plan on participating in the event by moving all their money from for-profit banking institutions to not-for-profit local credit unions by tomorrow. That's a big number! Credit Union executives must be drooling all over themselves.
So will this movement really affect the big national banks? Sure, they'll notice the hype, but it's not like this will bring Bank of America or Wells Fargo to their feet.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have already been moving their money over the last few months as anger over new debit card and checking account fees stirred the pot. Meanwhile, the banks are still standing strong. I don't think the intention of the movement's organizers was to bring the national banks to their feet anyway. The movement's goal is to simply send a message that "conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices" anymore, so we'd rather invest in local banks that support and grow our individual communities. I think they've already achieved that, so kudos to them.
Have you already ditched your large national bank, or are you planning to move your money to a local credit union as part of this movement? If so, we'd love to know the details.
