Break Up With Your Big Bank (Bankster)

Here, from Bankster, is another example of anti-big-bank activism, albeit of the PC consumerist sort, that *might* be able to send the biggest banks the message that We Don't Like Them. Here are the details:

FOR VALENTINE'S DAY - BREAK UP WITH YOUR BIG BANK!

This Valentine's Day is the perfect time to end your abusive relationship with the big banks that have a stranglehold on our country. They've been lying, gambling, cheating and they seem to think they can just keep getting away with it forever. Now's the time to tell them you want to bank with someone who actually cares about you and whose interest rates don't exceed their actual interest.

That's the message that our partners and friends A New Way Forward are sending to the big banks this Valentine's Day. They are asking people to start moving their money away from the largest banks to smaller local banks and credit unions and boycott big-bank credit cards as well. Then, they are asking people to help spread the word in a coordinated fashion at 400 events around the country. They have a flyer that can be printed out and photo-copied, and they're asking people to distribute it at job fairs and other events.

Americans are drowning in $700 billion in credit card debt because of the big banks' dangerous interest rates. Ninety percent of all credit cards are from the four big banks, Bank of America, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo. They are using their market dominance to charge interest rates that are, on average, 20 percent higher than the rates of local bank and credit union cards.

Now I know that most BanksterUSA subscribers may already have their savings at local credit unions (or under their mattress), but if you have a friend in an abusive banking relationship, please forward this email and tell them there is help at Bankbreakup.org.

There is also a handy page of tips to make breaking up with your bank simple. Click here to learn more!

Thanks for all your support and Happy Valentine's Day from BanksterUSA!

I got into a bit of trouble the last time I posted this kind of thing—about the Move Your Money campaign, which was co-sponsored by Arianna Huffington. First of all, blog visitor Michael E. responded thusly: "Doug Henwood, the intrepid, articulate, and clear-headed editor of the Left Business Observer, asserts that "Move Your Money" is a delusional waste of time and effort based on false assumptions about the banking system. His argument is very convincing. Check out his article in the current issue."

Once I'd read the LBO article, which I liked quite a bit, I posted the bulk of the argument from it, with a link urging people to subscribe to LBO. I guess no good deed goes unpunished—within an hour or so we got an email from Doug saying he was annoyed that we had posted "the entirety" of the piece (which we had not), even though he intended to post the full text of the article on his own site that very day. Sigh. Of course I trimmed down the re-post immediately.

We again urge you to subscribe to LBO (it's Doug's livelihood!), and listen to Doug's excellent radio program. (Subscribe to D&S while you're at it—it's our livelihood! E-subscriptions are now available—a full-color pdf delivered to your Inbox six times a year.)

And if you still have money in one of the big banks, put it in a credit union! But needless to say, don't expect that to bring down capitalism or even to make it appreciably less nasty, except maybe with respect to your own overdraft fees.

—Chris Sturr, D&S co-editor.