[quite a few from http://www.OccupyPoughkeepsie.org told me at Sat. rally they'd come to this; join us!]
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Hi all...
Please let us know as soon as possible if you might be able to come out to join us tomorrow (Weds.) at 4:30 pm for our Rally to Divest Dutchess County from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo-- in front of our County Office Building at 22 Market Street in Poughkeepsie!...
[note: thx again much to OccupyPoughkeepsie.org for inspiration to us to go fwd on this; many times last fall Occupy Poughkeepsie rallies and marches stopped in front of JPMorgan Chase on Main Street in Poughkeepsie; many from Occupy Poughkeepsie also joined me for rallies I organized last year in front of Bank of America on Market St./Poughkeepsie-- now is our chance to change policy!]
[Feb. must-read on all this-- "Watch Us Move Our Millions" by Rebecca Leisher (in Yes! magazine):
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/watch-us-move-our-millions ]
Scroll down just a bit to see resolution from yours truly on this-- co-sponsored by Conservative Co. Leg. Jim Doxsey-- it'll actually be on the Co. Leg. Committee Day agenda next Thurs.-- April 12th(!)...
[update: Harold Miller/ http://www.NYCommunities.org WILL come down next Thurs. to testify: Co. Leg.!]
As always, your letters to all 25 of us in the Co. Leg. matter; email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us!
Check out these two brand-new ones from Alternet's Economy section on all this (scroll down below):
http://www.alternet.org/economy/154749/%22move_your_money%22_goes_nationwide_as_cities_pull_their_money
http://www.alternet.org/economy/154778/beyond_robo-signing:_3_other_ways_bank_of_america_is_screwing_americans/
[pass it on-- and thx already to LaGrange's Val Carlisle for her letter to all 25 of us on this already!]
Joel
845-444-0599/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
http://www.JoelforCongress.org
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Joel (260+ there!)
http://www.DutchessDemocracy.blogspot.com
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"Members of the Albany County Legislature are calling for the county to pull its money from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The 25 legislators signed a proclamation urging John McPhillips, commissioner of management and budget, to close the county's $90 million account from Bank of America and to discontinue procurement cards with JPMorgan Chase. The legislators are concerned about the number of foreclosures in the county, and noted that both banks have a significant number of area homes on the delinquency list. The proclamation states that Bank of America has 465 delinquencies in the region and JP Morgan has 316 area homes in danger of foreclosure. The proclamation also says the banks have "demonstrated a lack of willingness to engage in good-faith efforts" to modify loans and help people keep their homes. The effort, headed by county legislators Norma Chapman, Doug Bullock and Timothy Nichols, is part of a statewide campaign by NY Communities for Change."
[from "Albany County Legislators Want to Close Bank of America, JPMorgan Accounts" June 10th
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/print-edition/2011/06/10/albany-county-legislators-want-to.html ]
Note-- already here across the state the town of Ithaca and villages of Hempstead and Freeport have voted to divest from irresponsible banking institutions like Bank of America (in those three cases, it was JP Morgan Chase)-- see much more on this here-- http://www.nycommunities.org/taxonomy/term/2 ;
http://www.alternet.org/economy/150387/2_3rds_of_us_corporations_pay_zero_federal_taxes%3A_us_uncut_movement_builds_to_make_them_pay_up/ ; http://www.USUncut.org (Harold Miller's work!).
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[text here of Tyner/Doxsey resolution; more co-sponsors needed; scroll down below for documentation!]
WHEREAS, Dutchess County now has $50 million accounts each with Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo- banks widely reported as responsible for mortgage fraud and our economic collapse, and
WHEREAS, former Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus sent our County Legislature a letter December 15th stating that, "Foreclosure rates in Dutchess County are at record numbers; there are a total of over 4,000 foreclosures in Dutchess over just the last three-year period," and currently in Dutchess County there are 414 home bankruptcy listings, 98 short sales, 61 foreclosures, 43 preforeclosures, and 11 sheriff sales at Foreclosures.com, and
WHEREAS, last June 25 members of the Albany County Legislature signed a proclamation calling for the county to pull its $90 million account from Bank of America and to discontinue procurement cards with JPMorgan Chase because at that time Bank of America had 465 delinquencies in the region and JP Morgan had 316 area homes in danger of foreclosure, and those banks had "demonstrated a lack of willingness to engage in good-faith efforts" to modify loans and help people keep their homes, as here in Dutchess County; several months later Albany County's $90 million account with Bank of America was closed, and
WHEREAS, the municipal boards of Hempstead, Freeport, and Ithaca have all voted for the same reason over the last year to divest from irresponsible financial institutions such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo; even the Northern Dutchess Alliance's "Blueprint for Economic Development" strongly recommended holding local financial institutions more publicly accountable for their commitment/investment (or lack thereof) in our local communities, and
WHEREAS, last year the City of San Jose moved nearly $1 billion from Bank of America because of the bank's high record of home foreclosures; City Council members linked foreclosures to lost tax revenues and cuts to jobs and services, and urged other U.S. cities to follow San Jose's example, and last November the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution to review its banking and investment practices "to ensure that public funds are invested in responsible financial institutions that support our community," and
WHEREAS, officials in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, and New York City are looking to follow as well, and congregations in the California interfaith coalition LA Voice vowed to divest $2 million from Wells Fargo and Bank of America, ending a 200-year relationship with the big banks; the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East San Jose, Calif., pulled $3 million out of Bank of America and reinvested the funds into Micro Branch, a division of Self-Help Federal Credit Union designed to assist underserved communities, and therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Dutchess County Legislature requests that the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance divest Dutchess County funds from Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, thereby ending the current $150,000,000 worth of county funds kept in those financial institutions, and find more responsible banks to deposit those monies, and be it further
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Dutchess County Executive and the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance.
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Supporting documentation:
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Executive Order No. 2, 2011
Dated: October 17, 2011
[signed by Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus]
Pursuant to Section 3.02 (g) of the Dutchess County Charter, I hereby designate the following banks and trust companies for the deposit of moneys received by the Commissioner of Finance at the maximum amount set forth after the name of each bank or trust company:
HSBC Bank USA, N.A. Poughkeepsie, NY................$50,000,000
JP Morgan Chase Poughkeepsie, NY........................$50,000,000
Bank of America, Poughkeepsie, NY..........................$50,000,000
Wells Fargo (formerly Wachovia Bank, N.A.)
Poughkeepsie, NY.........................................................$50,000,000
Key Bank of New York, N.A., Poughkeepsie, NY.....$20,000,000
Bank of Millbrook, Millbrook, NY...................................$5,000,000
(merged with Stissing National Bank)
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. (M & T)..........$20,000,000
Poughkeepsie, NY
Orange County Trust Company, Fishkill, NY.............$5,000,000
Citizens Bank, Albany, NY..........................................$20,000,000
TD Bank, Poughkeepsie, NY.....................................$50,000,000
Citibank NA, Harrison, NY.........................................$50,000,000
Pursuant to Section 11 of the General Municipal Law, the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance is authorized to invest in time deposit accounts, certificates of deposit or repurchase agreements of the above designated depositories or repurchase agreements of the Merrill Lynch Flexicash Program.
Pursuant to Section 212 of the County Law, the interest received on moneys deposited in time deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, or repurchase agreements of the above designated depositories shall be the prevailing rate paid by such designated depository, payable on such dates as agreed upon between the depository and the Dutchess County Commissioner of Finance.
This Executive Order No. 2 of 2011 supersedes Executive Order No. 1 of 2011 issued January 2, 2011.
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Two Reasons Why Dutchess County Should Divest from Bank of America:
"Bank Excuses on Foreclosure Growing Stale" by Michael Powell (Nov. 14th)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/nyregion/patience-grows-thin-for-banks-foreclosure-excuses.html
"Eric Schneiderman Is A Big Thorn In Bank of America's Side" [Forbes Aug. 16th]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2011/08/16/eric-schneiderman-is-a-big-thorn-in-bank-of-americas-side/
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Two Reasons Why Dutchess County Should Divest from JP Morgan Chase:
"Allegations of Fraud Continue to Surround JP Morgan Chase's Foreclosure Processes" Dec. 5th
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/12/prweb9016844.htm
"Her Bank Got Enough Help When It Was in Trouble. She Didn't." by Michael Powell Sept. 12th
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/nyregion/jpmorgan-chase-got-us-help-but-mortgage-holders-did-not.html
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Two Reasons Why Dutchess County Should Divest from Wells Fargo:
"DoJ Civil Rights Division Investigating Wells Fargo for Mortgage Fraud" by David Dayen July 27, 2011
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/07/27/doj-civil-rights-division-investigating-wells-fargo-for-mortgage-fraud/
"Wells Fargo Settles Mortgage Abuse Lawsuit For $85 Million" by Chris Rugaber/Derek Kravitz July 20
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/wells-fargo-settlement-mortgage-abuse_n_905054.html
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From http://www.TruthOut.org / By Yana Kuchinoff
"Move Your Money" Goes Nationwide As Cities Pull Their Money
Cities, churches, and many other groups are re-thinking their banking priorities
March 29, 2012 |
It's getting expensive these days to be a bad citizen in America, if you're a major bank. A growing number of cities around the country have passed, introduced or drafted responsible banking ordinances that hit big financial institutions where it hurts most - the pocketbook.
Los Angeles drafted a responsible banking ordinance in March that assesses banks that do business with the city based on foreclosure data; in February, Kansas City, Missouri,passed a resolution ordering the city manager to only do business with banks that don't engage in predatory lending; and in November, New York City introduced legislation that would force banks that want to hold city deposits to submit community reinvestment plans.
And just days ago, in Massachusetts, the city of Brockton was persuaded to move its money out of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase altogether after they refused to negotiations on loan modifications for homeowners facing foreclosure.
The movement to divest from banking institutions continues to gain ground, as cities with large amount of capital join individuals, unions and congregations in pulling their money out of banks, or looking more carefully at the conditions a financial institution must meet to hold their money.
"I think it's because there are millions of people who for various reasons are angry at the way banks have taken control of the economy and our democracy," said Ilana Berger, co-director of The New Bottom Line, a coalition group "working together to build a movement that challenges established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities."
"People living under mountains of debt because of unfair fee and predatory practices for a long time felt like we need another solution," continued Berger, while "banks are not acting in the way that is in the best interests of our community and our economy."
"Over the past few months people have started to see a movement that addresses this," she said.
Legislation is also being considered in "Austin, Boston, the Bay Area (San Francisco/Oakland, CA), Chicago, Minneapolis, San Jose, CA, and Portland, OR.," according to The New Bottom Line.
Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase have all come under fire since they were bailed out by the federal government in 2008 for actions that community groups say may have helped their stockholders, but often left people facing unfair foreclosure. These included predatory lending, robo-signing of foreclosure documents and risky investments.
While divestment from big banks began as a progressive issue, with the Occupy movement taking on the rallying cry as well as groups like Move Our Money, Berger says that "if you are in a city with a very high foreclosure rate, you don't have to be progressive to see that it's costing the city money."
It's become a "common sense issue," said Berger.
While the sheer financial power of cities makes them a huge player in the divestment movement, other groups that could have an impact have also jumped on board.
These include churches and union groups, both of which have economic muscle and a connection to the community, said Tim Lilienthal, lead organizer for bank accountability with the Pico National Network.
"If you go into any corner of the country and go into any congregation, there are lots of things that they are dealing with, hearing the same stories that people have been experiencing this for years and years," said Lilienthal.
The Pico group estimates that 25 different congregations in their network have together moved $30 million from big banks. Most recently, a San Jose priest made headlines when he diverted $3 million from Bank of America to a local credit union.
The primary demand coming from the groups that Berger and Lilienthal work with is for banks to agree to large-scale principal reduction, a move that they say could help thousands of homeowners.
Principal reduction would reduce the amount of money that underwater homeowners, who owe more money than their houses are worth, are paying on their mortgages and, thereby, stem the tide of foreclosures.
ProPublica has called the issue "one of the most politically charged debates about the housing crisis," and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has been vehemently against the proposal.
According to a report by The New Bottom Line, principal reductions by big banks would create one millions jobs annually, save taxpayers money and would let the average family pay $500 per month less on their mortgage.
Until this aim is achieved, Lilienthal said he sees the divestment movement continuing to grow.
"What we are aspiring to is not just think about where we are moving our money out of," he said, "but also think of our money as being kind of an organized force."
This article is a Truthout original.
Yana Kuchinoff is an assistant editor at Truthout.
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From http://www.AlterNet.org / By Lauren Kelley
Beyond Robo-Signing: 3 Other Ways Bank of America Is Screwing Americans
As outraged as Americans are about robo-signing (and they should be), the use of foreclosure mills doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of Bank of America's dastardly deeds.
March 30, 2012 |
Few institutions incite the kind of populist anger that Bank of America does, even as the Occupy movement stokes rage at Wall Street in general. And with good reason - in an industry that is known for being corrupt, immoral, and ungrateful leeches of taxpayer dollars, Bank of America stands out. The bank, it seems, is constantly making headlines for some new form of corruption or act of greed that screws consumers while padding its executives' pockets. And it gets away with it every time.
The bank was at the forefront of the dubious practice known as "robo-signing" - hiring third-party companies staffed by underqualified foreclosure "experts" to cut corners during the foreclosure process, processing thousands upon thousands of foreclosures a month and wreaking havoc on homeowners' lives.
But as outraged as Americans are about robo-signing (and they should be, especially since the big banks continued to use the practice long after they agreed to stop), the use of foreclosure mills doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of Bank of America's dastardly deeds. As Matt Taibbi writes in his devastating piece about Bank of America in this month's Rolling Stone:
[H]ere's how seriously fucked the financial markets are: Even the most vocal critics of Bank of America consider the mass, factory-style production of tens of thousands of fake legal documents per month not that big a deal. "Robo-signing is like focusing on Bernie Madoff's accountant," quips April Charney, a well-known foreclosure lawyer who has spent large chunks of the past two decades in battle with Bank of America.
Robo-signing is not the disease - it's a symptom of Bank of America's entire attitude toward the law.
Indeed, the bank is screwing Americans is so many ways that robo-signing, awful as it is, is but a drop in the bucket. Below are several examples (among many) of how Bank of America is hurting consumers while continuing to dole out plenty of dough in executive bonuses and compensation.
1. Siccing collections agencies on people who are not in debt
Thanks to Bank of America, we now know that there's something more maddening and nightmarish than being hounded by debt collectors: being hounded by debt collectors when you don't owe anything.
A la their infamous illegal foreclosure problem, big banks are in the practice hiring third-party companies to handle debt collection for them. That would be all fine and well if the banks took care to pass on accurate documentation about their customers. But they don't. American Banker reports this week on a woman named Karen Stevens, who's spent the past three years fighting off a collection agency that Bank of America hired to collect $1,900 in debt - debt that Stevens has long since paid off. Stevens was only able to put an end to the fiasco by hiring a lawyer and suing the collection agency.
Stevens' case appears to be an example of what happens when banks sell batches of accounts without sufficiently scrubbing them of errors and discrepancies ( see related story). Such oversights are drawing into collections quagmires an unknown number of consumers who owe nothing, or for whom debt records are incomplete or nonexistent. For banks, it's a problem that threatens to spark a legal or regulatory backlash or to do further damage to already tarnished reputations.
Aside from getting this work (messily) off their plates, the advantage for Bank of America in doing business this way is that they don't have to deal with their clients' lawsuits when they get screwed over. Blame it on the third-party guy!
2. Sneakily ratcheting up fees on the 99%
As I wrote earlier this month , Bank of America is one of the mega banks that's quietly ratcheting up fees, especially for its lower-income customers, to compensate for new regulations that were designed to protect those very individuals.
This is an especially ballsy move for Bank of America, since it was BofA's proposed $5 monthly debit card fee that incited so much consumer outrage last fall. And yet, mere months later, the bank has announced a fee "overhaul" that will result in customers paying up to $25 per month for a basic checking account.
Maddeningly, the bank is most focused on increasing fees for low-income consumers - Americans who may have trouble maintaining a minimum account balance or who do not have multiple bank services, such as a mortgage. In addition, these customers may soon have less banking opportunities in general, as Bank of America, among other big banks, plans to shift its resources to cater more to "up markets" that make the bank more money than less-wealthy communities.
3. Exploiting the unemployed to rake in fees
When South Carolina signed a deal with Bank of America to distribute unemployment benefits via prepaid debit cards, chances are the state was not actively trying to screw its unemployed citizens. But that is exactly what happened, because Bank of America took advantage of its contract with the state to exploit unemployed South Carolinians by charging many of them hefty fees to access their benefits.
Huffington Post's Janell Ross reported late last year that citizens who live in towns without Bank of America branches - and there are many such individuals in South Carolina - are forced to either drive to another town to access their benefits (something many cannot afford to do) or pay a fee for withdrawing money from a non-BofA ATM. One woman profiled in Ross' article, Shawna Busby, had to choose between making a 100-mile round trip drive to Columbia to access her benefits or pay up. Busby estimated that she had paid $350 in fees to withdraw the benefits that she was legally owed - money she desperately needs for her family since she is, of course, unemployed.
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Of course, these are only a few of the ways Bank of America is screwing over the citizens whose taxpayers kept the bank afloat during the financial crisis the bank helped create. And it is only small consolation that BofA claims to be suffering financially these days, because, as Taibbi notes, the bank seems to have plenty of money to go around for bonuses and compensation:
Bank of America didn't pay a dime in federal taxes last year. Or the year before. In fact, they got a $1 billion refund last year. They claimed it was because they had pretax losses of $5.4 billion in 2010. They paid out $35 billion in bonuses and compensation that year. You do the math.
As for the $26 billion settlement that Bank of America and other big banks got slapped with? It let the banks off the hook for its robo-signing misadventures, and may not even be properly enforced by the government. Even if it is, it will be "woefully inadequate to address the wider fraud that went on in creating and pooling mortgages."
On that note, I leave you with three simple words: Move. Your. Money.
Lauren Kelley is an associate editor at AlterNet and a freelance writer and editor who has contributed to Change.org, The L Magazine and Time Out New York. She lives in Brooklyn. Follow her on Twitter here.
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http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/9-strategies-to-end-corporate-rule/watch-us-move-our-millions
Watch Us Move Our Millions
Cities, churches, and colleges take steps to move their money home.
by Rebecca Leisher
posted Feb 01, 2012
Since the big corporate banks crashed the economy in 2008, they've been rewarded with bailouts, tax breaks, and bonuses, while American workers lose jobs and homes. Little wonder that many Americans-and now, institutions and local governments-have been closing their accounts at big corporate banks and transferring their money to community banks and credit unions. The idea is to send a strong message about responsibility to government and Wall Street, while supporting institutions that genuinely stimulate local economies.
Bank Transfer Day was publicized over five weeks, largely through social networks. In that period, credit unions received an estimated $4.5 billion in new deposits transferred from banks, according to the Credit Union National Association.
Encouraged by the popularity of the "Move Your Money" campaign, citizens are calling for institutions to be accountable and "Move Our Money." A number of schools, churches, and local governments across the country are transferring large sums, or at least considering it, in what looks like the beginning of a broad movement to invest in local economies instead of Wall Street.
Last year the city of San Jose moved nearly $1 billion from Bank of America because of the bank's high record of home foreclosures. City Council members linked foreclosures to lost tax revenues and cuts to jobs and services, and urged other U.S. cities to follow San Jose's example. More recently, in November 2011, the Seattle City Council responded to the Occupy movement by unanimously passing a resolution to review its banking and investment practices "to ensure that public funds are invested in responsible financial institutions that support our community." Officials in Portland, Ore., Los Angeles, and New York City are discussing proposals that address how and where city funds are invested.
Massachusetts launched the Small Business Banking Partnership initiative last year to leverage small business loans and has already deposited $106 million in state reserve funds into community banks.
Student activists and the Responsible Endowments Coalition are urging colleges and universities-some of which have assets comparable to those of a town or city-to move at least a portion of their endowments from Wall Street. The Peralta Community Colleges District in California, with an annual budget of $140 million, has done just that. The district's board of trustees voted unanimously in November to move its assets into community banks and credit unions.
A Separation of Church and Bank
Video: After Bank of America foreclosed on thousands of homes
in their San Jose parish, the members of this Catholic
church bid it goodbye-
and took $3 million with them.
Churches and faith organizations are moving their money too. Congregations in the California interfaith coalition LA Voice vowed to divest $2 million from Wells Fargo and Bank of America, ending a 200-year relationship with the big banks. The Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East San Jose, Calif., pulled $3 million out of Bank of America and reinvested the funds into Micro Branch, a division of Self-Help Federal Credit Union designed to assist underserved communities.
Moving money is most effective where banking practices and investments are transparent. Oregon Banks Local represents small business, family farms, and community banks. It offers a website tool that ranks local banks and credit unions on criteria like headquarters location, jobs created, and extent of local investment to show which financial institutions truly serve local communities.
"People from all walks of life are angry at the banks," says Ilana Berger, co-director of The New Bottom Line, a national campaign that promotes moving money from Wall Street. But the broad appeal of this grassroots movement toward financial reform is based on more than anger or strategy. "It's a way to move our money to follow our values," says Berger. "It's an opportunity to really protest against the banks, but also a way to show what we want them to be."
Rebecca Leisher wrote this article for 9 Strategies to End Corporate Rule, the Spring 2012 issue of YES! Magazine. Rebecca is a freelance writer and former YES! intern.
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http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/a-separation-of-church-and-bank
Big News on Bank Transfers
The Occupy effect? In the last 3 months, Americans switched banks at three times the normal rate.
by Brooke Jarvis
posted Feb 03, 2012
Two summers ago, at the U.S. Social Forum, I attended a panel discussion about ways to expand the use of credit unions as alternatives to the "too big to fail" banks whose risky investments had helped tank the economy. Each of the speakers-people involved in credit union leadership or advocacy-expressed confusion and frustration that they hadn't already seen a post-crisis shift away from corporate banks and toward credit unions (which have the advantages of being not-for-profit, owned and governed by their depositors, far more likely than big banks to lend to small businesses, and not responsible for any global economic meltdowns).
It seemed that even as Americans were angry with Big Finance, they didn't make the connection to their personal accounts.
In the last 90 days, Americans changed banking providers at three times the normal rate, with 5.6 million people moving their money to a different bank.
Fast forward to last fall-when Occupy Wall Street was in full swing and activists were mobilizing around Bank Transfer Day, an effort to get customers to leave their Wall Street banks-and it seemed everybody was making the connection. Suddenly I was overhearing conversations on the ferry, on the bus, on the soccer field. People kept saying, "I really should have done this a long time ago, but I'm switching from Bank of America [or Chase, or Wells Fargo]. What bank do you use?" Local credit unions and community banks started staying open for extra hours to accommodate the rush of new customers. One morning in November, at my own credit union, I overheard a man explaining to the teller that he was considering becoming a member-but first he wanted to know if his money would be invested in mortgage-backed securities or credit default swaps.
This change, it turns out, was much more than anecdotal. A new analysis from the firm Javelin Strategy and Research found that, in the last 90 days, Americans changed banking providers at three times the normal rate, with 5.6 million people moving their money to a different bank.
Bank Transfer Day wasn't the first major effort to get people to ditch Wall Street banks, but it was the first to have this level of impact. Arianna Huffington spearheaded a 2010 mobilization, the Move Your Money Project, to move customers to community banks ("Our money has been used to make the system worse-what if we used it to make the system better?" she wrote). While the project gained a fair amount of interest, Javelin reports that the actual bank defections it prompted failed to register on its surveys.
So why was 2011's exodus so much bigger? Eleven percent of those who moved their money-some 610,000 people-reported that they did so directly because of Occupy Wall Street and Bank Transfer Day. The Occupy movement helped bring corporate power to the forefront of national discourse; Bank Transfer Day offered a clear, practical way for people to send a message-a chance to turn the mundane question of bank choice into a stance about their personal economic values.
Move Your Money and Save
Big banks don't just undermine local economies-they're bad for your wallet, too.
Then, just as the Occupy movement-and the media scrutiny it prompted-got more Americans thinking critically about the role of big banks in their lives, Bank of America announced a new monthly fee on debit card use. BofA became an instant poster child for out-of-control corporate greed, with hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions against the fee or pledging to close their accounts. President Obama condemned it; a Fox Business anchor cut up her card on the air. Eventually, Bank of America pulled the idea, but not before helping to confirm, for millions of Americans, the Occupy movement's charges that Wall Street banks operate by putting profits before public good-as they did with the practices that caused the financial crisis.
"It's just a $5 fee, but it really is symbolic of so much more," Norma Garcia, of the advocacy group Consumers Union, told the Washington Post. In the end, it helped launch Bank Transfer Day to new heights: 26 percent of those who changed banks cited excessive fees at their current institution.
They were surprised they hadn't already seen a post-crisis shift away from corporate banks and toward credit unions (which have the advantages of being not-for-profit, owned and governed by their depositors, far more likely than big banks to lend to small businesses, and not responsible for any global economic meltdowns).
Fees, of course, are just one of many reasons to switch to a credit union (though there's an interesting history-very much related to the deeper problems of corporate banks-that explains why credit unions and community banks tend to have lower fees). Still, the Bank of America backlash was a significant reminder, to the finance industry as well as to consumers, that giant banks aren't the only option-and that there are a variety of advantages to being mindful about what we support with our investments.
Indeed, the bank transfer push doesn't seem to be losing momentum, as large institutional accounts-including cities, universities, and churches-continue to join the bandwagon. San Jose, Calif. moved $1 billion from Bank of America; just this week, Berkeley announced a desire to move its reserves from Wells Fargo to local credit unions; and proposals are under consideration in Portland, Los Angeles, and New York City.
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