Public anger against the largest banks in the country continues to swell. Not only do many blame the largest banks for much of the mortgage meltdown that happened, but huge bonuses do nothing to quell the tempest. Thus, The Huffington Post has started a campaign, "Move Your Money."
"Move Your Money" is a project aimed at fostering movement away from the biggest banks, in particular the big four: Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup. The project wants consumers to move to community banks, smaller ones in their area.
There is even a website dedicated to the movement, MoveYourMoney.info. It has information on how to move your accounts, and "success stories" of community banks.
It even has a locator that will help consumers find a community bank in their area. Type in your zip code, and a list of branches will come up in your region.
For those who recall the Jimmy Stewart movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," you may recall his Building and Loan stood up to the large bank of Mr. Potter for years. Huffington Post used portions of the movie with George Bailey as the local banker standing up to the big, corporate interests, to create a short film.
There is, of course, a drawback to switching. As noted on an NPR radio story this morning, in this age of direct deposit, electronic payments, PayPal, and other things that draw directly on your bank account, for the consumer, that means a lot of work. Switching all your accounts to know you have changed banks is not easy, and can lead to the terrible "oops, forgot that one" syndrome.
These banks are also, unfortunately, too big to fail. They are not going to notice an outflow of customers, and if they do, their mindset is that they will be bailed out anyway. Financial regulation is the way to go, but though that makes common sense, many on the right see it as big government, and don't want it.
Is it worth it to switch? That's a personal choice. One thing to remember, with a community bank, frequently there's a George Bailey you can talk to, as opposed to someone across the country. That can grease the wheels, and help you out, perhaps even in the case of impending foreclosure.
Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com
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