Move Your Money

The Move Your Money campaign is a really big deal.

The idea is simple: regular Americans can do their part to shift power from Wall Street to Main Street by moving their money from the Big Six banks and into a smaller, local, community bank or credit union that is more likely to treat them like people.

The big banks do over 97 percent of the risky derivatives business, and took trillions in taxpayer money, only to return to bad behavior.

The added upside: the money is more likely to be reinvested in local communities rather than taken as profit.

Pledge to Move Your Money!

Take the pledge, join the movement, and invite your Facebook or Twitter friends to get involved.

Pledge on Facebook or Twitter:

 

Follow Craig Newmark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/craignewmark

Comments

[DragonflySF]

11:10 PM on 01/19/2010

In 2008, when all the banks started to tank, I left CitBank and went to a smaller bank, US Bank. After a year, I left them and went back to a bigger bank, Wells Fargo. Why? Because the smaller bank's technical infrastructure was awful--from their remedial online banking to their ATMs. Unless they invest in their infrastructure, they can't compare and as a small biz person, I needed better systems. Now, if Craig Newmark opened his own bank and gave us kick-ass technology, I would be more than happy to move again.

[Halsey]

08:02 PM on 01/16/2010

I am very pleased this grassroots movement is gaining momentum...(for me...I've had my credit union for well over a decade..in SPITE of working for..."the enemy"...)...I'm sorry it took so long. for people to see this..(better late than never!).and maybe it won't really "hurt" the BIG 6...but...brick by brick...right? I'd like to have another cool name for the movement...(like Ukraine had their Orange...)... does "greenback" sound too tacky...or how about "take back greenback"...I'm grasping here for fun..any other suggestions?..let's have some fun..

[jeb50]

10:20 AM on 01/16/2010

Moved to a credit union last year. Don't know if it will effect the big banks but the people are a lot nicer to deal with.

[Firecracker80]

01:37 PM on 01/18/2010

And you don't have to go on a wild automated goose chase in order to talk to a real person.

[TheMadHedgeFundTrader]

04:13 AM on 01/16/2010

I am not of the “V” or “W” persuasion, but see a “square root” shaped economic recovery, a “V” followed by a long, modest rise. We are now seeing a bungee cord bounce back. GDP growth could see rollicking great 3%-4% annualized growth rate through Q1 2010. After that, you’re going to need a triple shot espresso to stay awake, because growth will settle down to a more somnolencent 2% annualized rate. You can’t have robust growth without credit or consumers, both of which are still missing in action in our last conflagration. Anything real estate related, commercial or residential, once a big part of GDP, will be dead weight. Another albatross around the economy’s neck are thousands of states and municipalities that are sucking money out of the economy faster than the federal government can pump it in. Since we are not creating the new industries essential for real job growth, I believe the unemployment rate will stay stubbornly high at around 10%. The economy is also going to have to kick its addiction to government stimulus spending, which has accounted for the bulk of the actual growth we have seen this year. If all of that were not bad enough, headwinds in the form of rising interest rates are certain to hit sometime in 2010, either to rescue a collapsing dollar, or because of a sheer volume of government borrowing, or both. Madhedgefundtrader

[Artos]

11:15 AM on 01/16/2010

I think about the only part of your rap that I do agree with to any extent is the part from "You can't have growth without Credit or Consumers......". Unfortunately the first part before that is impossible to really predict with any surety. Even this supposed rollicking 3-4 % annualized growth rate. If this X-mas season was any indication then your prognostication will be off, probably way off. As for Credit, Americans should learn to swear off taking on loans for credit because this is essentially what has gotten us into such trouble. It's all well and good for Business to have people in debt because they use credit, it gets them out there buying stuff constantly. All lot of that stuff is totally unnecessary junk. Better that present day Americans should learn some of the patient habits of their ancestors and buy with cash when you have the money to do so.

[Halsey]

07:56 PM on 01/16/2010

TMHF...OMG...you LOVE the sight of your own words...um,...er...what does the doublespeak you wrote have to do with the Craig's POST?...oh..and how does one calculate the circumferance (okay..spelling off)...of a circle.. you know the answer...but it's as relevant as your post... you sir...have a way big ego...
compensating for anything?...just asking..

[billstewart]

10:18 PM on 01/15/2010

I've been using my credit union for more than 15 years. I used to use a small local bank (they had four branches, and greeted me by name the second time I went there), but unfortunately they were bought up by a giant bank that charged fees for ATM and had no branches near the town I was moving to.
On the other hand, my Visa card's at a big annoying bank that gives me airline miles...

[islandsox]

10:00 PM on 01/15/2010

Removing our monies from a big bank to a small bank won't have much impact except symbolically. Big banks don't make their money off of our accounts; we are but a small, small percentage of their profits. As a matter of fact, they may actually prefer us to do so because then they can lay off more people. You know, those customer service people we have to call when we have problems. And since they aren't loaning to us anyway, they'd probably say "Good Riddance."

[Japanese Turbo]

12:58 AM on 01/16/2010

Wouldn't the small banks have to hire the displaced customer service people if their customer base grows??

[DaddyDavid]

12:56 PM on 01/16/2010

Whom to believe? A recent blogger on HP stated that in fact it IS the small depositor that creates a stable, core asset flow for the big banks. WITHIGO?

[wietogisback]

09:26 PM on 01/15/2010

I love you Craig Newmark.

[LLippert]

07:23 PM on 01/15/2010

While I think this movement is long over due and I sincerely hope it reaches the magnitude required to have the desired effect. I have a concern about the long term responsibilty that we will see in the smaller banks. We're talking about a huge redistribution of wealth from the centralized banks to the smaller community banks spread around the US. So the next question we should all be asking ourselves is what will the community banks do with this enormous influx of money pouring into their vaults. I'd really like to believe they'll do the right thing but my inherent cynicism makes me think that greed doesn't care if you're a large or small bank. Not to mention, if the larger banks do get knocked down to size, where do you think the displaced workers are going to end up?
So it seems to me that while our goverment is unable to enact any reasonable regulations for the banking industry, there's nothing stopping the smaller banks from enacting their own set of rules that they'll agree to abide by. By putting into writing an agreement with their customers, the people would know that their banking institution is offering a long term solution for any potential shenanigans. THE BANKS DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE GOVERMENT TO PUT RULES IN PLACE. They are free to act independently.

[bccmeteorites]

04:42 AM on 01/26/2010

They are free to act independently but that means patriotism, pride, ethics, good will etc. These are things not in a curriculum in a free market, democracy type enterprise. Which is a system revolving around, "get everything you can from as many as possible as quickly as you can". If you learn the foregoing you can get an MBA at Yale or Harvard. This is all you need to know.

[JayP-OKC]

06:05 PM on 01/15/2010

Hey Craig - I liked this article when Bill Mahr wrote 3 days ago.

[jennyjen]

05:45 PM on 01/15/2010

Hey Craig - ever thought of starting a craigs bank????

It would be fabulous.

[avocats]

05:37 PM on 01/15/2010

Why is it that my DO NOT CALL listed telephone still gets calls from "my credit card company" when it turns out that it's not even my credit card company calling? It's a solicitation? Just asking because I'm furious.

[maab76]

12:53 PM on 01/16/2010

Yup, I get 'em too - on my cell phone. What an annoyance!

[grateful4thedead]

05:07 PM on 01/15/2010

Thank you for jumping on this Craig.

It's nice to see the citizenry of the USA take matters into their own hands.

[jemeagirl]

03:39 PM on 01/15/2010

I did that in May of 2009 when Chase who had bought out Washington Mutual charged me $10 fee for "over activity" for using online banking.
That was my last straw with them. I am not even talking about all other fees they were charging me when I had money in my savings account, direct deposits from two jobs and a couple of CD's with them.

I am happy with my Credit Union and I am not looking back.

[higherstrategy]

01:29 PM on 01/15/2010

put your money under your mattress!

the Commercial real Estate bubble is about to burst and wipe out the community banking system and anyone who has money in them!

this is another PLANNED part of the Economic War on Americans!

Wall Street has been keeping the Commercial Real Estate market hush hush so when they community banks fail, because they are so stretched thin because of all the Defaulting Commercial Real Estate, the FDIC will not be able to help because of the Staggered Financial Attacks that have already depleted the FDIC, and then only the Largest Banks and Foreign Banks will have any money to buy up the Rest of American for pennies on the dollar!!

and by tricking the people into putting their money into the community banks just before the commercial real estate bubble pops, it should destroy what little savings whats left of the middle class have left, finishing turning America back into a Colony with the price for work able to be set to those found in China while the "Too Big To Fails" laugh all their way to the Global Fascist Corporate Corporate Communist State.

[Dnlmsstch]

04:44 PM on 01/15/2010

Just do a little research before you put your money in a bank and see what they are invested in - credit union are not invested in comercial real state - for the most part

[lauram]

10:35 PM on 01/15/2010

If that happened, there would be an uproar from middle class middle Americans to force the big banks to be taxed to make their deposits whole.

[DrPaulProteus]

01:21 PM on 01/15/2010

I've decided to move my paltry sum as soon as I get a chance to go down to my local credit union and get signed up. Won't you all reading this join me and do the same?