It’s going to be hard to gauge the actual success of Bank Transfer Day for a while. Not only do we have to wait for record-keeping – and Bank of America, at least, is not giving up the data – but many customers may have just initiated the bank transfer process, opening their account at a credit union or community bank, and are waiting for everything to clear with their other bank account before closing it.
For example, to add an editorial comment, this is what I did yesterday. I participated in Bank Transfer Day by opening an account at a local credit union. But I only put a trivial amount into the account, and will then wire my money over electronically from Bank of America after being assured that all charges have cleared on that account. I’ve been a BofA customer, through sheer inertia, since 1998. Business was pretty brisk at the credit union, and the bank manager said it’s been that way for the last month (we do know from statistics provided by the Credit Union National Association that credit unions have added 650,000 new members with $4.5 billion in deposits since September 29, when Bank of America announced their since-abandoned debit card fee). When I said I was transferring from BofA, the bank manager smiled knowingly.
I suspect there are a lot of people like me, and there’s no question that Bank Transfer Day generated a lot of media attention and localized events. The picture you see up top – and I’ll put a few more at the bottom of the post – came from a Move Your Money event in San Rafael, California. Organizers announced that 250 people attended the event, and almost all of them pulled their money out of big banks and into community banks or credit unions. They also leafleted in front of Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America, encouraging other customers to move their money. [cont'd.]