LOS ANGELES-The combination of the Occupy Wall Street movement and backlash against new fees from the big banks has spurred "Bank Transfer Day."
The event, set for Saturday, Nov. 5, encourages consumers to ditch their banks and transfer their money to a credit union.
The first action item listed on the Bank Transfer Day Facebook page is "open an account with a credit union," and the site links to www.findacreditunion.com. Numerous visitors to the site have made recommendations for CUs in their area or posted positive feedback about their experience with credit unions. More than 2,000 people signed on as attendees within 48 hours of the site going live, and at press time more than 32,000 were set to participate.
Bank Transfer Day is being coordinated by Kristen Christian, a Los Angeles-based art gallery owner and credit union member, and she said that the idea of credit unions as member-owned organizations is "terribly, terribly amazing," adding that "This is a time [for CUs] to get a load of new customers for a lifetime."
The event uses a Guy Fawkes mask for its logo and the date was selected to coincide with the date in 1605 when Fawkes hoped to blow up Britain's Parliament and, as Christian put it, "take down a giant."
"This is as simple as people saying 'I'm voting with my dollar, I don't like what you're doing and I'm going to take my business elsewhere,'" said Christian.
