Fee Increase Attempt Inspires 'Dump Your Bank Day' 667
suraj.sun writes with this excerpt from CNN Money: "Customers are dumping their banks in droves ahead of the nationwide 'Move Your Money' and 'Bank Transfer Day' movements this Saturday. Given the recent spotlight on attempts — and ultimate failures — by some of the nation's biggest banks to tack on new debit card fees, thousands of disgruntled consumers have already either left or pledged to leave their current bank for a community bank or credit union, which are known for having fewer and/or lower bank account fees. ... At least 650,000 consumers have already joined credit unions since Sept. 29, the day Bank of America announced plans to impose its controversial $5 debit card fee, according to a nationwide survey of credit unions by the Credit Union National Association."
Re:I did (Score:3, Informative)
Not true... (Score:5, Informative)
Many credit unions are part of the CU Service Center and share ATMs and even teller services. My CU is in Seattle and I have deposited checks at CUs in Minnesota. Not true for all CUs, but many are part of this system.
Re:I did (Score:4, Informative)
I have a small bank, only two branches, because the closest credit union is 35mi from here. During college and for several years after, I lived hundreds of miles from my bank and it wasn't a problem. If I needed an ATM, I could usually find one in-network (star) and if I needed to deposit a check, I would drop in in the mail and it was available a few days later.
It wasn't that big of a deal.
Re:I did (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, same deal if you want to deposit your check. If you can't find your own bank branch, you're going to be learning their bank-by-mail process.
You need to do some research. First, how many people have checks to cash while on travel? I would take care of that while home. But even if I did, I can go to any 7-Eleven in the U.S. and most credit unions in the co-op network [co-opfs.org] and deposit a check. Getting access to money is easy.
My local credit union in Fresno has served me well even when I lived in the Bay Area for 12 years. It's amazing what can be accomplished with great customer service, even before ubiquitous online banking.
They may have dropped the $5 fee (Score:5, Informative)
Didn't B of A drop their fee? (Score:3, Informative)
I certainly do not like all the fees that banks have, but didn't B of A drop their plans for the fee? http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-america-to-drop-debit-card-fee-report-2011-11-01 [marketwatch.com]
Re:welcome the new bank (Score:5, Informative)
The difference is that credit unions are explicitly not-for-profit. Their main goal is not to maximize shareholder value, but to maximize member usefulness. That makes a really big difference.
BoA backed out (Score:3, Informative)
http://message.bankofamerica.com/debitcard/
Re:I did (Score:5, Informative)
Credit unions have networks of ATMs these days. You can just deposit your checks/cheques in a nearby ATM that is in your credit union's network. I expect that they will have apps that allow you to deposit via your smartphone soon.
Re:welcome the new bank (Score:5, Informative)
For the moment. (Score:5, Informative)
Yep, they've put that $5 on hold for now.
But they'll look for different ways to stick you with additional fees.
They want to keep increasing revenue. And you're the source of that revenue.
On a related note, when you switch banks, make sure you know EVERYTHING about your transactions. Too many stories out there about how someone missed an automatic payment (annual or some other kind) and the bank re-opened their account, charged them and then charged them an overdraft fee. Even when the account was SUPPOSED to be closed.
Re:I did (Score:3, Informative)
Find a Credit Union that is in the "Shared Branching" network, and you can go to any other CU in the network in the US and deposit/withdrawl your money, just as if you were at your own credit union. P.S. I work for a credit union and have set up the SB connections. Follw this link to find the CUs that participate.
http://www.cuswirl.com/
Re:I did (Score:5, Informative)
Curious if there's any informed people here... (Score:2, Informative)
How many people here know the $5 debit card fee is a direct response to Congress stupidly passing a law that targeted only very large banks like BofA forcing them to cap how much they could charge as a processing fee to retailers. All smaller banks don't have that limit. This limit means only very large banks lose money on debit cards while smaller banks still make a good profit on them.
This is yet another example of the politicians passing self-serving laws then demonizing how people or businesses have to respond to those laws.
Now that BofA is dropping the $5 fee they will have to raise other fees like overdraft charges to make up for the money they are losing with debit cards.
I hated my credit union (Score:5, Informative)
They had a credit union at my last job, and I decided to use it, in part because I was going to be buying a house soon, and I assumed that a credit union would offer a better deal than a "regular" mortgage company.
I didn't find anything about the credit union that was better than what I was used to at regular banks, and when I applied for a mortgage, I discovered they had a "demand feature", which I had never seen before (this was my third time buying a house). For those who don't know, a demand feature means that the credit union could, at any time and for any or no reason, demand that I pay the mortgage in full.
When I asked them about it, they assured me that "everyone did it" and that they wouldn't actually do that even if they could and that I should just trust them and not worry about it.
I immediately dropped them and went to a regular mortgage company, which did not have a "demand feature" and offered a better rate. I later learned from other employees that the credit union had "called" mortgages of other employees when they missed a payment on their linked credit card.
So, don't assume that a credit union is better than a bank or other financial organization. Some may be, but others aren't. Caveat emptor!
Re:BoA backed out (Score:5, Informative)
They are still evil. Putting their billing cycle on a 28-day schedule and their automatic payment option on a calendar schedule (i.e., money gets withdrawn on the same day every month, even if that's after the due date of their billing cycle) is just one of many examples I could give you of the way BoA tries to rip off their customers.
Re:Are the sheep finally waking? (Score:4, Informative)
You pay 3-5% on your purchases, and depending on where and how, you might be paying considerably more. You just see it as wrapped up in the price.
It's true that you are already ahead, but you would be surprised what happens when you deal with businesses and ask for a "cash discount".
I get them all the time. On medical co-pays, parts purchases, etc. Of course with big name faceless places like major grocery stores you can forget it.
USAA (Score:5, Informative)
Even those with no relation or connection to the US Armed Forces are eligible for certain banking products, so if you're looking to drop your mega-bank I absolutely urge you to check out USAA's offerings. The lack of branches outside of San Antonio, TX can be a bit disappointing when you need to deposit cash, but the customer service is wonderful and I've never really even had a need to do anything in-person, anyway.
Re:I hated my credit union (Score:0, Informative)
All loans can be claimed in full at any time by the bank, some may call it a feature... definitely a bug!
Some clarifications about credit unions (Score:5, Informative)
I am on the board of a credit union. Credit unions must make a profit or they will die. They must have some fee structure to offset costs of members who are expensive to service. The idea is that fees should be minimized to the extent that the CU can run a healthy business in accordance with its mission.
Since it is a non-profit, the board is unpaid. We are members who volunteer our time. We must make decisions in the interest of the membership as a whole and that means working with the executive staff on decisions related to which services we can provide to the members and how those services will be paid for.
The distinguishing difference between a credit union and a bank is that banks can raise capital in the open markets by issuing shares, issuing debt, or taking on risky bets in the form of loans and investments.
Credit unions, on the other hand, can maintain capital only through profits from loans, investments, and certain income like fees and interchange fees. The investment side is tightly controlled. Investments are boring - bonds, CDs, money markets. The best income is from loans.
There are good credit unions and bad ones. When the bad ones go under, the credit unions are collectively assessed via the NCUSIF (in most cases) to make the the depositors whole. Or the NCUA works with the failing credit union to merge them into a healthier one. But we are all collectively responsible for each other in a small way -- yet we compete against each other and banks too.
Even though I've been with the same credit union for 22 years (and now on the BOD for 3 so far), I don't label "credit unions = good, banks = bad." I also have an account with ING Direct and had excellent customer service - all by phone, mail and email - for a mortgage a few years ago.
Do your homework and figure out what you need and talk to people you trust. Don't think that you are necessarily constrained by a credit union. You might not be. It depends.
Re:I did (Score:3, Informative)
"And zero national presence."
Bullshit, that's why there's a Credit Union Network that covers the entire goddamned nation, with over 22,000 locations, right?
Be careful! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They take one (Score:4, Informative)
No. Amex has one of the WORSE credit card rates - their rates are consistently higher than Visa or Mastercard. Amex sees themselves as a "premier" card and want to ensure their card is only accepted at places that are more lifestyle-related. So Visa/MC is accepted everywhere, and Amex in fewer places but often in places like restaurants and hotels and the like.
A small retailer wanting Amex can easily be dinged 5% for Amex, versus 2-3% for Visa/MC. Plus the per-transaction fees are higher for them.
As for cash discount - it only really works for mom and pop shops - where handling cash is cheaper than credit cards. But larger businesses can start having significant cash handling charges - from extra training of cashiers (all the cash handling needs to be taught to ensure the balance comes out right) to simply having to deposit those huge wads of cash at a bank (depending on the store, it may mean an armored car has to be hired which can cost $1000 easily. If you're depositing $30k, that's the 3% credit card fee right there).
consumers? (Score:5, Informative)
Why has that word replaced customers?
Re:Missing Information (Score:4, Informative)
I'll just reply to you, since you're the only non-coward to reply. I agree that having a bunch of "too big to fail" banks is a bad idea, but I disagree the terminology: nothing is too big to fail. If the banks had failed, other banks would have bought up their assets, the FDIC would have made up the difference to account holders, and the people who made the bad decisions at those banks would be looking for new jobs.
Instead, the Feds bailed them out, incentivizing their behavior. Worse, they made it profitable. In the future, those banks and probably others will do the same thing, because they expect the Feds to bail them out again.
On the other hand, the bank "bailout" was forced on the banks [businessinsider.com] as a way for the Executive Branch to make the banks look bad, because people will continue to talk about those greedy banks even though they had already paid back the loans.
However, this debit card transaction fee fiasco is not going to affect large banks at all. They will continue to make the same amount, because they are forced by their shareholders to do so. So every time the government artificially intervenes like this, the bank's customers will feel the pinch in the form of higher fees. And they won't move to "smaller" banks because they need national coverage, or the various other reasons that large banks are advantageous for their customers.
Don't think that I'm on the side of larger banks. I'm not. The entire consolidation of US banks was started by various assholes including J. P. Morgan, the Rockefellers, and the Rothschilds, who started rumors that Knickerbocker Trust would fail [voluntarysociety.org], and then sold it short. When it finally occurred, they stepped in and bought the failed trusts and other banks for pennies, even getting government loans to do it. They controlled the press (by owning most newspapers), so to this day are talked about as the savior of the financial system rather than the cause of the crisis they profited from.
The long and short is that the government needs to stop fucking with the financial system. If they hadn't assisted in the creation of a central bank, and assisted in the bailout of the "too big to fail" banks and every other smaller thing that they've done in between, we might not be in the mess we're in. While Dick Durban's intentions might be to help smaller banks (and it's more likely that his intentions are to *look* like he wants to help smaller banks), it will end up backfiring in some way. Because that's how these things happen. Every government intervention ends up backfiring in some way, and it always leads to increased costs in the long run. Recent examples off the top of my head are Sarbanes-Oxley and the "Affordable Care Act".