Sometimes we have some fun with HuffPo. But that’s not to say that the outlet, in its broader scope, doesn’t do some valuable and innovative—which is to say, exciting—work.
To wit: Move Your Money—Arianna Huffington’s campaign to combat “the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks” by asking people to move their business to community banks—and, more specifically, the Facebook appfan page built in its name. Want to know how to open a new bank account during your lunch hour? Here you go. Interested in moving your money to credit unions? Check out the National Credit Union Administration for info on specific organizations. Et cetera.
It’s an intersection of many of the functions of media, old and new—information, community, advocacy, effecting change—all enabled by the new social connectivity of the Web.
As Felix Salmon put it:
People think long and hard about where and how they spend and give their money, and they — rightly — consider it very important that they do so in a manner that’s consistent with their broader beliefs. The big four banks, however, expanding across the country by acquisition, have simply taken over millions of consumers who never particularly wanted to bank with them and who are now giving them billions of dollars in fees and trillions of dollars in virtually zero-interest-rate deposits….
The point here isn’t to bring the big four to their knees: it’s not a negative boycott, in that sense, aimed at the destruction of something you hate. Instead, it’s a much more positive thing, telling people that if they move their money to community institutions, then they themselves will be better off financially (friendlier bank managers, lower fees, etc) and so will their community more generally. It’s a win-win proposition.
Indeed.

I'm very skeptical about the "lower fees" part of this. The *only* reason I keep my accounts with Chase after years and years of having miserable interactions with them (poor customer service, misleading and/or punitive fees, etc.) is that they seem to have more ATMs in NYC than any other bank. If I switched to a smaller bank wouldn't I end up having to pay $3 or $4 every time I needed cash, unless I was able to get to one of their own very few ATMs (which would maybe cost the same in subway fare anyhow, in terms of getting to one)? But for that one issue I will switch in a second.
#1 Posted by nice idea but . . ., CJR on Sat 9 Jan 2010 at 03:43 PM
It's more than a nice idea. It's an idea whoes time has come. The big banks were on stage all last year while our president tried to get us out of the hole. We didn't like what we saw - from buying off our congress to taking huge bonuses to being ineffective in implementing the home affordable programs.
It's about power, our power to chose the kind of people we want to support with our money. It's worth an inconvenience to us personally to do the right thing for our country. This is the transformation.
#2 Posted by Sherry Blair, CJR on Sun 10 Jan 2010 at 12:47 PM
Many community banks reimburse you for ATM fees and many credit unions have agreements that allow their customers to transact standard business at other credit unions. Do some research, you might be very pleasantly surprised.
#3 Posted by Amy V., CJR on Sun 10 Jan 2010 at 11:38 PM
I wonder if they cleared that movie. It's not in PD.
#4 Posted by Belinda Gomez, CJR on Tue 12 Jan 2010 at 12:06 AM