Move Your Money
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
[Keeping your savings in a credit union instead of a corporate bank is a
great idea, even apart from the recent scandals.--DC]
http:moveyourmoney.info
*****
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100125/cm_huffpost/436182
Move Your Money: Where Populist Fervor Meets Friendly Faces
by Julian Hattem
Mon Jan 25, 6:53 pm ET
Huge bonuses to bank executives, casino-style financial practices and
millions of unreturned stimulus dollars have made many consumers angry
at the nation's biggest banks and looking for a way out.
Daniel Mica knows just where they should go. The president and CEO of
the Credit Union National Association said in an interview with the
Huffington Post that he hopes "the cold shock-wave" of populist fervor
sweeps the financial system and leads customers to credit unions.
And consumers will find that switching won't just be an effective
protest, it will also be a change for the better, he says. "At a credit
union they treat [you] like a person, not a number," Mica said, because
smaller financial institutions don't have the "dismissive arrogance" of
the largest banks.
Indeed, more and more people are joining credit unions every day. Mica
said that over the last year credit unions have had a two percent growth
rate -- higher than the population rate, and the quickest pace that
credit unions have seen in a decade -- and searches to find local credit
unions have tripled in recent weeks.
The move reflects a growing disillusionment with the nation's largest
banks, a sentiment that has been captured by the Move Your Money
campaign, which urges people to close their accounts with the six big
banks that engaged in sophisticated financial maneuvers and move to a
safe and solvent community bank or credit union. It urges people fed up
with the big banking system to take politics into their own hands.
It's "the beginnings of people voting with their feet and their wallets
and taking money out of banks," Mica said. "And we hear stories [like
that] every single day."
He can appreciate the movement's grassroots growth. "It's not just
Democrat-Republican, I think that's clear," he added. "I travel the
country on behalf of credit unions. We have 93 million members. I've
been to every state in the United States multiple times and I listen to
Main Street every single day. People are very upset. We talk finance, we
talk pocketbook issues, and they're very concerned." He's praised credit
unions on YouTube as well.
As to those stuck with the big banks because of their mortgages? "What
they need to do is pick up the phone or get on a website and go to their
local credit union," he said, "and ask if someone will come down and
talk to them about moving their mortgage and what they can and can't do."
The movement is not about destroying the big banks in general, he said;
more like putting them in their place: "This country needs a strong
financial system including banks and credit unions, but when banks
become impervious to public concerns, to the crying needs of America's
economy and go off on their own, they need to have their hands slapped
and they need to be redirected. We didn't have this situation for a long
time in this country, but they became so powerful with so much money
that they were able to get their way in Congress and with the regulators
for the past dozen years, that they've gotten out of control. And this
is all about getting them back in the box and serving America and
consumers, not just themselves."
Unlike banks, credit unions are not-for-profit enterprises owned by
their members. They pride themselves on lower loan rates and better
savings rates, but membership is not open to everyone (though the vast
majority of people probably can find a credit union for them,
qualifications vary and can be based on employment, residence, religion
or some other category -- people should check with their local credit to
see if they are eligible). Like banks, they are insured by the federal
government (the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund). People can
use the CUNA's website to find nearby institutions.
"We'll always find a complaint here and there about a credit union, but
99.9 out of 100 people are happy to put a bumper sticker on their car
that says 'I love my credit union,'" he laughed. "That is not the case
about banks."
*****
--
Dan Clore
New book: _Weird Words: A Lovecraftian Lexicon_:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3bxkw
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035LTS0O
Lord We�rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"