Backlash against fee gouging from banks resulted in an inter-net campaign for “Bank Transfer Day,” when participants pledged to close accounts at big financial institutions and open up accounts at credit unions and neighborhood banks. It obviously worked, as thousands of individuals apparently switched. Here is the proof: Early Bank Transfer Day numbers show success

People left already

Customer anger over fee gouging at the nation’s various large retail banks has hit a fever pitch. ”Bank Transfer Day” is an internet campaign. It began as soon as Bank of America declared the monthly $5 debit card fee. The campaign, began at the end of September, urged anybody and every person to switch to a credit union or neighborhood bank on Nov. 5.

According to the Credit Union National Association, 650,000 individuals joined credit unions between September 29 and Nov. 5 adding $4.5 billion in assets to the unions, the New York Times explains. Credit unions all across the nation were reporting massive increases in mem-bership. The number of people that joined credit unions last year was less than that. There were 600,000 total for the whole year, as reported by CNN.

Weekend surge

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions reported a 54 percent increase in brand new member applications over the weekend of November 4 to 6. Data is still be collated by several credit union associations. Unions are reporting huge increases over the weekend individually though.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Boeing Employees Credit Union in Seattle, Wash., broke its single-day record of brand new memberships by signing up 659 new members on Saturday.

Digital Federal Credit Union, as reported by CNN, signed up 133 brand new members on Saturday. In New England, Digital Federal is the largest CU. Generally, it signs up 85 new members on Saturdays.

The Maryland Heights Patch explains that the Missouri Credit Union Associa-tion had 7,100 new accounts opened in 131 credit unions during the last six weeks. This involved accounts opened on bank transfer day. The brand new customers added more than $49 million in deposits.

NorthJersey.com reported that there were several brand new accounts opened on Saturday at the North Jersey Federal Credit Union too. There were 48 brand new accounts opened that day. Typically only five are opened.

Good and bad things about CUs

ABC reports that credit union members will probably be charged less in maintenance fees. This is common for all credit unions. Almost 80 percent of credit unions don’t require a minimum balance and have free checking, which is much better than the 64 percent of banks that do that, according to Moebs Services. Credit unions also will typically have lower accessible rates of interest on loans and credit cards.

There are few credit unions with more than one branch totaling 500. Credit union ATMs are also diffi-cult to discover. They are typically not found very several places.

Information from

CNN

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

Maryland Heights Patch

North Jersey

ABC