As credit unions gear up to make hay out of the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal, an odd piece of moral high ground has emerged from an even odder place: another big bank.
U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis said not only does his bank have no plans to try to take advantage of beleaguered Wells Fargo's situation, but, in fact, any U.S. Bancorp employees found to be actively trying to poach embittered Wells customers will be fired.
Rather, Davis said recently, business "will come to us if we've earned it."
What I find so ironic about this is not merely the fact that one just doesn't expect a for-profit megabank to take the high road but because it's a similar tactic to what many CUs have done for years. Believing that consumers will flock to them because of their sterling reputations, some credit unions have refused to aggressively market the credit union difference, thinking it should be obvious to anyone with eyes and/or ears.
The problem is, it's only obvious to anyone whose eyes and/or ears have seen or heard the message about the credit union difference.
The founder of the original Bank Transfer Day was inspired by the Wells Fargo scandal to do what she previously had said couldn't be done: launch another Bank Transfer Day. Kristen Christian has warned CUs not to expect as strong of a response this time around, and she's probably right. And she will definitely be right if credit unions don't step up to the plate.
It's also their best shot in their continued quest to convince the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—which, as one analyst noted in our news coverage (see In the Wake of Wells Fargo Scandal, is CFPB Reform Dead? on page 1), will be only too happy to be trumpeting this breathtaking example of greed as reason to widen its scope, not diminish it—to consider an industry-wide exemption for credit unions.
Though a number of key Democratic lawmakers remain committed to preventing any major overhaul of the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB, Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, recently said that come January she will consier drafting legislation to address the CFPB's refusal to use its exemption powers more liberally on behalf on credit unions.
So, BTD Redux is coming Nov. 5—will you be on board?
Editor in Chief Lisa Freeman can be reached at