Bank Transfer Day has customers leaving corporate banks

Bank Transfer Day is tomorrow and has hundreds of thousands of customers closing their accounts at large corporate banks in favor of community banks.

It's moving?day?for?bank?customers.

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A grassroots movement that sprang to life last month is urging?bank?customers to close their accounts in favor of credit unions by Saturday.

The spirit behind "Bank?Transfer?Day" caught fire with the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country and had more than 79,000 supporters on its Facebook page as of Friday. The movement has already helped beat back?Bank?of America's plan to start charging a $5 debit card fee.

It's not clear to what extent the?banking?industry's about-face on debit card fees will extinguish the anger driving the movement. But many supporters say their actions are about far more than any single complaint.

"It's too little, too late," said Kristen Christian, the 27-year-old Los Angeles small business owner who started "Bank?Transfer?Day." She already opened accounts at two credit unions in preparation for cutting ties with?Bank?of America this weekend.

"Consumers are waking up and seeing that they have options," she said.

Even with its public support, however, it's not likely that any account closings that take place on Saturday will make a big dent with industry titans such as Chase, which is the largest?bank?in the country with some 26.5 million checking accounts.

But the call to action shows just how incensed consumers were at the prospect of a debit card fee at a time of so much economic uncertainty. Even those who were appeased by the industry's reversal may have tapped into a new sense of empowerment.

That's the case for Dan Blakemore, a?Bank?of America customer for the past 10 years. He said he no longer plans to close his checking account now that the debit fee has been scrapped. But he'll be on the lookout for any other changes that might hit his wallet.

"I'm pretty confident they're going to find some way to get that extra money," said Blakemore, a 28-year-old who works for a nonprofit fundraiser in New York City. "I'll just have to see if it offends my sensibility enough to close the account."

Bank?of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are keeping mum on whether they've seen an uptick in account closures in recent weeks. But credit unions and small community?banks?have been basking in the spotlight and issuing press releases highlighting what they say are superior interest rates and more intimate service, along with tips on how consumers can?transfer?accounts. They haven't been shy about the surge in new business they're enjoying either.

Navy Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in the country, says new account openings in September and October were up 38 percent from a year ago. National Capital?Bank, a two-branch community?bank?in Washington, D.C., says the vast majority of its new account openings in recent weeks have been by fed up?Bank?of America customers.

"The debit fee was definitely a driver," said Noah Wilcox, president of Grand Rapids State?Bank?in Minnesota, which is also enjoying a lift in account openings.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/V25QmZoDYC8/Bank-Transfer-Day-has-customers-leaving-corporate-banks

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