Move Your Money

It is not secret that Big Banks are one of the main causes for the fall of our economic system, which has affected so many, including attorneys.  Then they had to be bailed out, while so many smaller banks are being allowed to fail. The Big Banks are now paying their executives obscene bonuses made possible by the government's help, either directly or indirectly.  And, to make profits and pay back this money they have created speed-trap type changes in their policies to rip literally tens of billions of dollars out of our bank accounts.  It does not take a lot of math skills to find that if they are making approximately $36 billion in overdraft fees this year in the U.S. alone, and there are approximately 300 million of us, that they are taking the equivalent of $1,200.00 for every man woman and child in this country.  Forget all other fears, this is the outrage.

I bank at a Big Bank.  I change to it years ago because I do not borrow a lot of money, and do not keep a lot of money (unfortunately), but I needed convenience.  I did not want ATM charges that result when I have to pull money out of other institution's ATMs and that meant my institution needed to have multiple locations where I am and where I travel.  I did not want fees for maintaining my account, and my Big Bank was advertising that would not be the case.  I wanted to bank online.  Most importantly, when my kids started college I wanted to be able to transfer money to their accounts online and have it immediately available.  The smaller bank at which I banked would not credit any transfer until midnight if made before 4:00 p.m.  So, locations and tech were the reason I changed so many years ago.  And, all in all I have been satisfied until recently.

Today, however, community banks have learned.  They have all of these tech needs. Some even stay open seven days a week.  And, it is the Big Banks that are not now keeping up.  For example, I want to add online deposits by using a scanner or my smart phone to make deposits from where I am.  My Big Bank does not know when it might add such a feature.

Ultimately, moving our money out of Big Banks - these banks that are "too big to fail" - is the only control that we have in determining the direction of our financial system, and limit the power of Big Banks.  It is the thing we can realistically do to help bring sanity and stability to our financial system.

Now a group of people have gotten together and created MoveYourMoney.Info.  They have created this video, above, based on the movie, It's A Wonderful Life.  The bottom line is that Mr. Potter is back in the form of Big Banks, and the only salvation from them is the equivalent of George Bailey's little building and loan.

In the coming year, it is one of my goals to do my part and move my accounts to a community or online bank that meets all of my needs and will not strive to find ways to continually rip me off.

Comments

[Judy Young]

Be careful with the online banks. Last I checked you couldn't name a beneficiary on the account because the online banks weren't in any one state. Its been a few years since I've checked that out again. Things may have changed. (ING i believe.)

[Waylan Cooper]

Thank you for sharing this video Chuck. It brightened my day to know that someone, somewhere was standing up to the big banks. We bankruptcy lawyers can only do so much.

W. Waylan Cooper
Cooper Law Firm
Bryant, Arkansas

[Church Mortgage]

Big banks making bad loans seems to be at the heart of the reason for the current great recession.