Preventing Third World America Step 4: Move Your Money

There are many things we can do, right now, to take matters into our own hands and move our families to safer financial ground. Moving your money out of the mega-banks that helped wreck our economy and into a smaller, more responsive community bank or credit union is a great place to start.

These big banks took our bailout money but cut back on lending, paid themselves record bonuses, and kept on with all the greedy, ruthless practices that earn them billions a year. By moving our money, we're saying we're not going to take that anymore. And since the deposit insurance at small banks is the same as at big banks, there is zero risk involved.

The big banks may be "too big to fail" - but they are not too big to feel the impact of hundreds of thousands of people taking action to change a broken financial and political system. We don't have to wait for Washington to act.

Move Your Money: Find Out How

WATCH Eugene Jarecki's viral Move Your Money video:

WATCH a video Stephanie Frost, a dissatisfied Bank of America customer, posted on YouTube after she moved her money:

READ testimonials from HuffPost readers who have moved their money:

greystoke;

I am in the process of moving my money from Chase to a local, Washington state bank. Once my direct deposits switch over I can close my account. I had the pleasant surprise of learning that I would get a free safety deposit box and free TurboTax for my tax return.

wildwomanfund:

I moved my money from Bank of America and Chase to my local bank, University Federal Credit Union. I switched because Chase was always giving me HUGE overdraft fees, and NEVER taking any of them back. So as soon as I had more money in my account, they took it. They literally stole thousands of dollars from me, upped my rates to 30% interest and this is their business model!

They have ruined so many lives. I am taking my power back. They do not get to ruin mine, not anymore.

More at the MOVE YOUR MONEY site.

How have you been impacted by the financial crisis -- and how are you bouncing back? What are you doing to help prevent America from ever becoming a Third World nation?

SHARE YOUR STORY!

 

We want to hear how you and those you love have been affected, how you are recovering, and what you're doing to improve your own community -- and, by extension, the entire country. Let us know in writing or upload a video to YouTube and send us the link, and we will add your story to the map!

Pledge for the American Dream!

I pledge to spend at least 4 hours this month strengthening my community so America never becomes a Third World nation.

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Comments

[ALiberalKidd]

10:35 AM on 10/13/2010

Talk has always been cheap so it is good to see some action plans being proposed and taking root. These are good ideas that can really make a difference if the masses of people know about these kinds of independence movements.

I made this move years ago from SunTrust Bank to United Federal Credit Union. However, all must be aware that the bank lobby pressured congress into changing some of the rules in regard to credit unions, so now some credit union practices and policies are similar to those of the large banks.

It is important to research and see what board of group is actually is behind and running your credit union. Local, smaller, and city or government credit unios are the best.

[mmhere]

06:48 PM on 09/23/2010

People who still have money invested for their future or retirement are in the 'new' middle class. So many of us who have fallen into poverty after losing our jobs or home already have spent our retirement funds. People who manage to keep their jobs, health insurance, and/or 401ks during this financial crisis are extremely lucky. I get very discouraged when I continue to read suggestions about how I can improve my financial position, but the suggestions all presume people still are employed or actually have retirement funds. Every day more of us have less discretionary funds to use for something other than rent, food, clothing or health care. Please don't continue to give advice to people who still can pay for these things and start making suggestions to people who are out of money or work. We are the new Americans living in poverty.

[pinkogirl]

10:22 PM on 09/18/2010

I plan to do this as soon as possible. I will move the savings and checking I have with Citi now for 30 years and hope to find a home for the investments with what was smith barney and now became Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley recently told me my accounts were no longer large enough to qualify for "reserved" status. Since I am paying for my children's college from some of the accounts I don't expect to ever qualify for their "reserved" again. This means even higher fees--and they are already a full fee broker dealer. My broker of 30 years may care but I doubt anyone else will--and he will be retiring soon himself.

[gal about town]

03:04 AM on 09/12/2010

I had high hopes for my credit union- I've had car loans and saving accounts there for years. But trying to use them as our primary checking account had been less than successful, the main reason is the online banking is TERRIBLE. Our big banks' sites load quickly and are easy to use. So much easier that I'm glad I didn't close the accounts yet and I might abandon this experiment and go back to my big bank. I'm so disappointed. I don't care that they only have a few locations and I have to drive across town to use their ATMs. If I can't bank online efficiently, that's a deal breaker.

Yeah, I'll call you out, First Entertainment Credit Union...

[yemaya]

02:58 PM on 09/23/2010

my credit union online banking is great.

[hubbahubba77]

07:19 PM on 09/01/2010

One of my banks is a non-local bank but it's in a unique category. It's a federal savings bank which only serves military members, veterans and their families (many of you probably know the name). I am a loyal customer of this company because they have been incredibly good to my family in terms of the financial services they have provided us over many, many years. And I trust them because over that period of time they have *earned* my trust. Yes, technically they are a *big* bank but they are not a commercial bank in the same sense as BofA is, for example. My other bank is a moderately-sized regional bank. Too big to be classified as a local bank, but too small to be called titanic. It's owned by a larger, overseas banking conglomerate. Once again, I hesitate to close an account there after being a customer for 12 years, because I have achieved a level of trust with them. Another appealing factor is that I can walk to my local branch, which is right down the street. This is better for the environment. I guess what I'm trying to say is that moving your money, for some of us, is a surprisingly complex issue and I think it should be noted that it is not necessarily easy, or the right decision, for each individual to abandon their financial providers. Overall, though, I think MYM is a good concept.

[fortressfountain]

12:02 PM on 08/29/2010

Aren't the small local banks affiliated with the big banks? Don't kid yourself the big banks will buy up the smaller banks or make them go under.

[yemaya]

02:59 PM on 09/23/2010

Not the credit unions.

[ScreenName05]

06:47 PM on 08/27/2010

One problem I have run into in trying to move money is that the big 401k and IRA companies - Fidelity and Vanguard, have to move cash into banks when you sell mutual funds, stocks, etc. In other words they are not banks so they have to park your cash in actual banks (they call this sweeping funds) - this unfortunately tends to be the big banks. Any ideas how to stop this? Especially since for folks with large IRAs and 401ks this tends to be very large sums of money.

[JaneQCitizen]

06:46 PM on 08/28/2010

I have the exact same problem. See my question financial literacy. I'd like to move some funds out of the 401K and to an IRA mutual/money market account at my credit union.