‘Bank Transfer Day’ Gains Momentum on Facebook

I belong to a credit union, doesn’t cost anything. Had some money in Wells Fargo, closed the account several months ago.

At my credit union, they pay me to have an account there. I get interest on all my accounts, including checking, regardless of my balance.

Have 4 accounts with Regions Bank. When I asked about the fee & told customer service that I was going to close the accounts, the lady said, “Over $4 a month? All of the banks will be charging the fee.”

All I can say is enough is enough. Loyalty needs to be earned. I have been with Regions, or their predecessors for 18 years. Have my new bank all set up and ready for transfer. Regions is no longer going to profit with my money.

I moved my funds to a local credit union years ago and it has been the best move I ever made. The only requirement was you had to keep $25 in the account which should not be a huge problem. You will more than recover that with the first car loan you get with the lower interest. I got tired of the bank nickle and dime me at eavery turn and that was YEARS ago, it is much worse now.

No I don’t want to change banks; I do want to dump Senator Durbin who screwed us all with his new regulations that caused the banks to raise other fees. The government needs to just stop trying to control everything that it best left to the free market to control its self thru competition.

Sadly, I have the sense that a lot of people “liking” and “attending” Bank Transfer Day are probably folks who already bank with small banks or credit unions. Fingers crossed, that is not he case.

When I was a child, my grandma set up an account for me, to save for college. She put eight hundred and something dollars in it, which at the time was a lot more than it is today. Because my address changed, due to my father being in the navy and us moving around a lot, the banks charged a service fee for this money every month instead of adding interest to it, like the account was set up to do. By the time I was a 17 year old graduating from high school and looking into going to college with it, the account was somewhere in the six hundred dollar range. I don’t remember the actual dollar amount, I just remembered marveling that the fact that the bank didn’t have -an address for me- (had one for my grandma that started the account, but apparently they needed to know where the six year old was -physically located- to keep paying money to the account) meant that they could take so much of the money. I took the money out immediately, and have not wilingly banked with BOA since. I went to Intrust bank. Things were fine for many years with them, until I started noticing a pattern. Most of the charges went through fairly regularly, but they seemed to save certain charges for a time that they could send my account negative and get $30 dollars a pop for these floating tiny charges. At first I thought I was imagining it. I’m not that good with money, and my memory is terrible, and don’t even get me started on how bad I am at math. My husband noticed the same pattern, and we talked about it, and decided that the bank was indeed doing this consistantly, and therefore on purpose. At the time, we didn’t know you could remove overdraft protection, but the idea that my bank was doing this to me on purpose would have still driven me from them. So we removed our money from that bank, and opened another account with another bank. We’ve had a relatively easier time with this bank, only having to opt out of overdraft protection to be on the safe side. However, finding out what was behind the housing collapse disgusted me with all the banks- and every time I hear another bank whining about regulations, I roll my eyes and am tempted to just flat remove my money from their hands. The only thing stopping me from taking the money out, I didn’t know you could join a credit union that didn’t have to do with you working somewhere specific. I have no job. My husband does, but with this economy, we don’t feel safe about that. My current bank has not been cruel overlords or anything, but the other idea that angers me is present in a comment further up. All the banks do it. When BOA does something, all the banks do it. So, how can you tell me that’s a free market? It’s a closed system. The banks aren’t competing if they are all charging the same. If they aren’t competing, then obviously they are taking their own customers for granted, and their own towers as ivory ones that can’t fall. They need this lesson. They need to remember that the financial sector is a middleman, not a god. They need kicked off their pedestal. They need to stop killing our country so they can sell the broken corpse. And I know I don’t have much money, but they measure numbers, these people. They live by charts. Let them see the numbers running away from them and realize that treating their customers like serfs that they can tax at will is the wrong move. Perhaps they should have taken a few more history classes.

The banks have proved they need that regulation, but whine about it like a spoiled child and are trying to punish their customers for doing business with them. ‘All the banks are doing it’ is not an acceptable justification. That’s not a free market. I see nothing free about it. There is a charge for everything. They need kicked off their pedestal, they need to remember that they are not lords that can dictate taxes to their serfs any time they want. They are intermediaries. They are middlemen. There comes a point when a lot of pissed off serfs get together and decide that this is too much, and the banks should be very happy they live in a day and age when the reaction to such greedy practices is so non violent. No drawing and quartering or anything. Just numbers moving from you. It’s the same thing you’re doing to us, moving small numbers away from us until we’re at our wits end. It’s that poetic justice that makes it worth the work. And, if we do it one at a time, you can’t even lock us in your bank and have us arrested.

Think about how many of bank executives are getting outrageous saleries and bonus’s. Now think about all the employees who work at those banks. The largest segment of employees in a bank are the tellers who on average make 9.00 to 10.00 per hour. There are thousands and thousands of those in our country who are just like you and I. So go ahead and pull your accounts out of the banks and there will be more and more folks on the unemployment line!!! Stop being fools and educate yourself.

I have already transfered my money to a local bank here in Oregon. I do online banking (which I love) and am not charged anything for banking there except of course if I purchase checks, which I rarely write a check anymore.

Russel Yeaman, are you freaking kidding me? I can’t imagine what the banks would be charging if not for regulations. Screw up and forget about that Starbucks you put on your debit card? Wham, hundred bucks hahaha

The bottom line is what it is, and yes the entire banking industry is feeling the pinch brought on by new regulation including the credit unions and there will likely be more fee hikes. Banking is a business, credit unions are cooperatives whose function is to provide banking services. Yes this might explain some of the difference in cost. But is it really just about an extra $2 fee every month? Let’s not get lost in the details. Credit unions are democratically run institutions whose policies, practices and decisions are made by member-owners. They provide small loans to people who often get turned away by large banks because it isn’t just about the margin. Let big banks continue serving big business, that’s what they are good at and they both play the same game of hard ball. Every dollar we place and spend is our vote for who we support and what we want our future to look like moving forward. I think we should also let banks shoulder thier own insurance costs like credit unions do. Why should our tax dollars fund the FDIC while credit unions have run their own insurance funds successfully for some time now. Also, enough talk about bank accounts, transfer your credit card balances over to the credit unions. That’s where some of the big banks’ practices are most egregious with a cap at some 34%. Credit Unions have a mandatory 18% cap on interest rates. Transfer your balances, that’s what will really help credit unions survive this down economy and likely reduce your interest rate too.

Wow, Ron. It’s you that should do your homework. The biggest problem with the “big” banks is that they AREN’T paying their taxes! BOA didn’t pay a dime in federal taxes last year. Nor did GE, the hedge fund companies, etc. Don’t you read the news, or are you just sucking up the lies from Faux Snews? We, the American taxpayer, bailed them out when they gambled away our money the first time, and now they’ve lost another bundle in speculation markets in the UK! You watch, they’ll be back at the public trough to get bailed out again.

You guys are missing the point. The moral of the story of the governments regulations are that they want “banks to go bank to traditional banking” and not to keep looking at these extra revenue streams as their main source. These fees are why banks are not lending and trying to gouge customers to please shareholders. Look at some of the big credit unions they are going through the same regulations. However, they are lending money and steadily making money. You people need to wake up and try to support institutions who are actully helping you instead of gouging you. Banks take your money and go out and make these risky investments with it and then you suffer. The banks are not implementing fees due to regulation. They are doing so to make up for their financial losses due to risky investments. Wake up and smelllllll what the banks are cooking people – lol.

The difference with the “don’t buy gas” was that there was little alternative for commuters. Unless you walk to work or spent the money to purchase an electric vehicle, that day was virtually impossible. However that can’t be said to bank customers who have various options that would be more beneficial to their needs. Just like how Netflix has taken a huge hit after raising their prices. There’s still a good amount of people insisted with the company but the effects of those who left was clear and troubling to them.

As for unemployment, I’m sure people who have money invested into these banks are more concerned with their own unemployment rather than the tellers. There’s no protection for the little money they have so arguing the welfare of the $9-$10/hour bank teller means nothing to them and rightfully so.

Brenda,

I work for a small community bank and I wasn’t defending the Big Banks and their tax loopholes, but rather exposing the blatant NON PAYMENT of taxes by Credit Unions. I know exactly what Big Banks do and that is why I choose to work for a responsible local community bank. Check out what I’m saying about Credit Unions and decide if you want to bank with a Big Bank tax avoider, a Credit Union that you subsidize with your taxes, or a responsible local bank that pays its taxes and is involved with its local community. Sorry if you got the wrong idea, but we are on the same side when it comes to the Big Banks!

Nicole – it’s not just the fees. It’s the overall BEHAVIOR which is driving people to turn away from the major banks! Regulations prohibited red-lining, which the banks then pushed to the limit by granting loans to anyone who could fog a mirror because it made THEM money. The banks then bundled those questionable loans and marketed them as top quality securities, when in fact they were NOT. Now, they have taken the TARP money to soften their losses, but are now sitting on their profits rather than grant loans to QUALIFIED borrowers to help stimulate economic growth. Sorry… not a lot of sympathy here.

I am very happy with my large banks. I do NOT pay a fee. I detest credit unions & their poor customer service. I have access to thousands of ATM’s for FREE. LOVE LARGE BANKS, in fact I use two of them: Bank of America & US Bank. NO FEES on my accounts!

I agree that the fees is an issue, but even if a local credit union isn’t a *cheaper* option than your current big box bank, it still pays in karma and national well-being to support local banks and credit unions that keep money local and often endow philanthropic organizations.

Wells Fargo/Wachovia and Bank of America willingly and knowingly laundered HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars for Mexican drug cartels responsible for the murders of more than 40,000 people over the past decade. These big banks are mired in an amoral morass that will ensnare all of America if we don’t cull them from our collective capitalistic herd.

I bank at “local” bank.. state-wide bank anyway… never had any fees or anything. I’ve been with them for as long as I can remember. I even have my mortgage with them. I once looked to changing banks and decided not to b/c of fees. I’ve always enjoyed banking with my bank and will not stop! The only thing I stopped with them was a money market account b/c if I went under the minimum amount I was charged a fee. I couldn’t stay over that amount required so I changed the money market to a no minimum mm account.

@Ron Velez, while you’re educating us, would you also enlighten us about the TAXPAYER-FUNDED TARP funds that Credit Unions have to pay back? What’s that? Credit Unions DIDN’T cost taxpayers anything in TARP funds?

Do I hear the sound of crickets….?

Morgan-Chase has contributed to the problems we are facing today. I asked about this new 5% pay back that was advertised on T.V and at the end of their schpeel they told me if the min. balance of 1,500.00 was not met then it cost me 5%. I’m sick of the banks thinking up creative ways to charge fees and make money off their customers. I watched the documentary “Inside job” how insightful and educational it was. I moved my accounts the next day from Chase to my local credit union.. The government bailed out the banks at our expense I might add and yet the save jerks that contributed to the problem are still in the same positions receiving huge bonuses and it is just business as usual. The banks still won’t loan money to good standing people and I am just fed up. We the people need to show the politicians that we are not just lip service like they are. It’s time to show them we mean business and who really has the power to make changes. Stand up Americans, get off your duffs and lets be heard.

Bottom line is that if a company is providing you a service, you should pay for it. Do you pay your gym membership fee, doctor co-pays? A bank is no different, it’s a product and service you CHOOSE to obtain, so you should pay for what they are providing you.

to Nicole:
So what you are saying is that despite the banks are charging excessive fees to make their wall street projections and boost up their stock and in turn, senior management will profit from these actions. We should continue to support them. Reason being is that the greater evil is collapsed financial system will be worse for everyone. They already argued that in 2008 then TARP was implemented. We have already spent trillions to support these financial institutions and what did we get from it? No reform for consumer protection, no increase in lending to support job creation (the banks horded the bailout money) and no mechanism to help consumers that were “financially on the fence” to help restructure their finances to avoid bankrupcies or foreclosures.

My opinion is that the big banks should have failed, bankruptcy law would liquidate their assets to smaller, more responsible banks and in turn would have made the financial sector more secure in the long run.

I think the initiative that Kristen is doing is the right thing… Remember, we are capitalists and is based on COMPETITION. If the large banks cant compete with the credit unions, then they should go the way of PAM-AM and Montgomery Wards. banks should make money from the loans and investments they produce, not from charging fees from its clients.

After waiting 3 years for a loan mod that never happened from Chase, i pulled all my accounts at chase and moved to local credit union and brokerages. Its been over a year since i switched and i couldnt be happier.

What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious experience regarding unexpected feelings.