Bank Systems & Technology is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Data & Analytics

11:46 AM
Bryan Yurcan
Bryan Yurcan
Commentary
Connect Directly
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
RSS
E-Mail
50%
50%

Bank Transfer Day is Here

While the much-publicized event has garnered a lot of press, will it lead to a mass exodus from big banks to credit unions?

Today is Bank Transfer Day. While the event has been much hyped, with a Facebook page dedicated to it garnering more than 50,000 friends and it's very own Wikipedia page, it's hard to predict how successful it will end up being.

Though it shares similar values, Bank Transfer Day is not orchestrated by the Occupy Wall Street crowd, but started as a social media campaign by a California woman urging consumers to take their money out of big banks and put it into credit unions by Nov. 5, Guy Fawkes Day.

The movement gained steam when several big banks announced they would institute fees for using debit cards as a way to make up for lost revenue due to the Durbin Amendment capping interchange fees. Bank of America's infamous $5 debit fee, which they've since scrapped, was the target of much of the consumer backlash. But other banks, including Chase and Wells Fargo, also announced plans for debit fees, which have since been scrapped as well.

It remains to be seen how successful the Bank Transfer Day movement, given that big banks have decided not to go forward with these fees. Maybe disaffected BofA customers who were doing research on credit unions in their area will now just decide to stick with the bank out of convenience. Either way, credit unions definitely gained at least some customers they wouldn't have had before due to this initiative.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio

Register for Bank Systems & Technology Newsletters
Slideshows
Video
Bank Systems & Technology Radio
Archived Audio Interviews
Join Bank Systems & Technology Associate Editor Bryan Yurcan, and guests Karen Massey and Jerry Silva from IDC Financial Insights, for a conversation about the firm's 11th annual FinTech rankings.