Move Your Money campaign sparks more people to invest in credit unions

People who are disappointed with the failures of large banking institutions and want a more stable economy are taking action through moving their money into smaller community-based banks and credit unions.

This movement is a viral campaign called Move Your Money, which in a few months has seen thousands of people take the pledge to take their money out of large banks into community banks and credit unions.

The campaign started with a group of friends talking over dinner about what they could do to limit the power of big banks and create a more stable financial system, according to the Move Your Money website.

Among those at the table were Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson, who wrote a commentary on taking the pledge to move your money as a new year’s resolution on the U.S.-based news website and aggregated blog The Huffington Post.

They write that while Wall Street’s big banks had a record year they returned to “the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster” and decreased the money they are lending. At the same time, the Main Street community banks have been struggling.

The idea was born to take money out of big banks into community banks, and if lots of people across the country did the same thing, the money that was used to make the system worse could be used to make it better.

The Huffington Post has devoted a “Big News” page to the campaign, featuring several stories since it launched at the end of 2009.

Mark Wolff, Credit Union National Association (CUNA) spokesperson, says when the Move Your Money campaign was launched it focused on community banks and not credit unions.  Almost immediately credit union members wrote messages expressing their love of their credit unions, he notes.

“The fact that so many consumers were writing with that message was indicative of the affinity that people feel toward their credit unions,” he says.

The campaign responded by adding credit unions to its content, noting the reason the co-operatives were not initially included was because credit unions are not in the Institutional Risk Analytics (IRA) ratings database, which is has a listing of sound community banks. Credit unions can be found through the National Credit Union Administration site.

In 2009, the number of people investing their money in credit unions doubled the normal rate of membership growth, which Wolff says is likely due to the public’s disenchantment with large banks.

“Consumers aren’t voting with their feet, they are voting with their wallets and we are seeing more of them move their money into credit unions over this past year,” says Wolff.

“We think it does reflect disenchantment with other banking institutions and we welcome them with open arms because credit unions really do provide great value,” he says.

Visit www.moveyourmoney.info to learn more.

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