Taking aim today at bank fees, bailouts
GREENSBORO — At 11 a.m. today, look for Ken Knight outside the offices of Bank of America and Wells Fargo on Green Valley Road.
But rest assured, Knight won’t be there to open an account. He’ll be there to protest.
Knight and those who join him will carry signs that say “Make Wall Street Pay,” “Bail Out the 99%” and “Do You Want to Change Banks?”
“I am very excited that people are finally waking up and finding out that they are being left out of the game,” said Knight, a retired social worker and organizer for the Guilford County MoveOn Council. “(We’re) reminding lots and lots of people that this is their country and that these banks are here to service the public and not just their shareholders.”
Today’s protest will be one of more than 280 such events put on around the country by MoveOn, a national movement.
And it will be one of several loosely related events planned in Greensboro this weekend aimed at customers unhappy with bank bailouts and fee increases.
The events are aimed at getting people to move their money to smaller banks or credit unions.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread to cities nationwide, has designated this as “Bank Transfer Day.”
The city’s most unusual protest got called off late Friday afternoon because of the weather. Occupy Greensboro, which sprang up at the end of September, planned what it called a Zombie March Against Banks.
According to the movement’s website, people dressed as zombies had planned “to protest corporate 'zombies’ who are feeding on our resources.”
Occupy Greensboro will hold a more sedate event from 1 to 3 p.m. today at the central library on Church Street.
Participants will learn how credit unions work and how they differ from banks.
“Tell the big banks, enough!” said the group’s promotional material. “Move your money.”
Credit union officials say that’s already begun.
On its website, Credit Union National Association in Washington says that since Sept. 29, when Bank of America announced plans to charge a $5 debit card fee, 650,000 customers have joined credit unions. That equals the additions for all of 2010.
The website says those members transferred $4.5 billion in new accounts.
In addition, a Harris Interactive poll says more than 70 percent of credit union customers describe themselves as highly satisfied. That compares to 27 percent for Bank of America, 31 percent for JPMorgan Chase & Co. and 34 percent for Wells Fargo & Co.
All three wanted to raise debit card fees, but ultimately abandoned the idea.
“We have listened to our customers very closely over the last few weeks and recognize their concern with our proposed debit usage fee,” David Darnell, Bank of America’s co-chief operating officer, said in a prepared statement. “Our customers voices are most important to us.”
But local participants said this weekend’s events go far beyond the issue of higher fees.
“The impetus is the bailout of the banks,” said Audrey Berlowitz, a local educator and member of Occupy Greensboro.
"This thing about the fee hikes just put more fuel on the fire. It actually plays to our advantage.”
But should banks be worried about the growing consumer backlash?
Officials at Harris Interactive said yes.
“People know that banks are looking for new ways to make up the revenue gap,” Carol Gstadler, an executive vice president at Harris, told Bloomberg Businessweek. “This may be the start of a tipping point where long term, we may see numbers of people making a move.”
Others are less certain. “Much like Occupy Wall Street movement, Bank Transfer Day feels like it wants to be a full-blown revolution,” Jeffry Pilcher of Financial Brand wrote in a recent blog post.
“But in the annals of history, this event will probably be regarded as little more than a minor customer uprising.”
Others have more practical ambitions for the day.
“I think what people are hoping is that banks are going to start getting their practices in line with credit union practices,” said Will Shuford, an organizer of Occupy Greensboro and a mortgage loan officer at Self Help Credit Union. “Hopefully, that will translate to lower fees, higher interest rates on deposits and lower rates on loans.”
But Shuford added, “If banks don’t see this as serious, we could see a migration.”
Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Photo Caption: Abbe Pass of Greensboro joins other demonstrators during an Occupy Greensboro march through downtown in October.
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