Today is bank transfer day — a grassroots effort that encourages consumers to move their accounts from big national banks to smaller community ones, or credit unions — and some local banks are embracing the opportunity to get new customers.
John Everets, chairman and CEO of The Bank of Maine, said the bank’s 33 branches will be open today and people can open a new account online.
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“They’re going to be taken care of,” Everets said Thursday. “We’re going to have people managing the phones for those who just might do that.”
Bangor Savings Bank, which has 56 offices throughout the state, has extra staff on standby today.
The bank has seen an upsurge in new depositors over the past five weeks, and a substantial increase year-to year, said Yellow Light Breen, executive vice president.
“In October, our new deposit accounts were up 11 percent compared to the number of accounts we opened a year ago,” he said. “In greater Bangor and greater Portland where big banks have a bigger market share, our numbers of new depositors were up 19 percent in greater Bangor and 38 percent in greater Portland.”
He said bank officials discussed the Move Your Money grassroots movement over the past week, but are unsure whether the bank’s offices will see a surge today.
“From our point of view, the frustration with big bank and the migration to local community banks is really accelerating, ” he said on Friday. “Given that a lot of people have already gotten frustrated and begun to move their accounts, we don’t know whether tomorrow will be a watershed day or a continuation.”
Everets said people recognize The Bank of Maine has an advantage over the big banks, which he said are impersonal and don’t know their customers. And he said, rather than charge for debit card and ATM use, Bank of Maine has specials that offer benefits to doing those things.
Jon Murphy, president of the Maine Credit Union League said some members of his league may offer specials today, but by their nature, credit unions have fewer fees and offer lower rates on loans and savings and checking accounts.
“We look at it that every day is a good day to join a credit union not just the fifth of November,” Murphy said. “Every day of the year we offer quality, low-cost rates and fees.”
He said credit unions across the country have seen an increase in inquiries, especially in Maine, since Bank of America announced first announced it would begin to charge a monthly debit card fee and later retracted it.
“Bank of America created a lot of additional awareness and people are looking at credit unions as alternative financial services,” Murphy said.
The Maine State Credit Union isn’t open today and didn’t have anything special planned in advance. Staff were notified about the unofficial bank transfer day so they could be prepared to answer questions.
“We gave them some talking points,” said Mark Young, senior vice president of the credit union. “We let staff know that it’s a social networking movement that’s gone viral, so to speak, and that it’s consumer driven. It’s big bank consumers frustrated and tired of high fees being encouraged to transfer their accounts to credit unions.”
The bank transfer movement, started as a Facebook page by a California woman, Kristen Christian, picked up steam with recent moves by national bank chains, particularly Bank of America, to start charging fees for debit card use and other previously free or lower cost services. Bank of America this week dropped its plan to charge $5 a month for debit card use after the negative reaction the move got.
J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Retail Bank New Account Study said the number of people switching banks over the past year has increased. The study found 8.7 percent of banking customers switched their primary banking institutions during the past year to a new provider, compared to 7.7 percent in 2010.
And the Credit Union National Association reports on its website that 650,000 bank customers have transferred to credit unions in the last four weeks.
Mechele Cooper — 621-5663
mcooper@centralmaine.com
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