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| Safer than a sock under the mattress! |
An ancillary benefit of the Wall Street occupation has been to bring attention to the benefits of keeping your money local.
Though attention was given to the "move your money" concept during the 2008- 2009 meltdown process by the HuffPo and others, we're hearing it again as protests and general grumpiness about our fat and shattered system continue.Now may be the time for a personal exodus from Wall Street finance to community banking.
My family switched to a local credit union several years ago.
We've experienced several benefits after moving our money from one of the Big Six banks to a local credit union:
1) The services are better.
Seriously. Get information, compare rates. You will most likely be surprised by the competitive benefits of local accounts.
2) We've built relationships with real people who care about us and our financial needs.
Sure, not all CU tellers are Jimmy Stewart. But my subjective experience has been that folks in local banking are happier, and look at your name before they look at your account number. This has come in handy for us, as my wife and I have built relationships with people who can structure services, occasionally bend policies, and care for us as human beings.
3) We're supporting a system that benefits from a stable, flourishing local economy.
Though far from perfect, the local bank/credit union system is safer, less bloated, and much more transparent than the Big Six's addiction to risky, exploitative global banking.
Call me selfish, but I would like my money to promote the health and benefit of my family and community.
You should too.
Move your money local.
Do you bank local? Do you want to? Comment and share your story.
Find a local banking database, resources, and more motivation to move at the Move Your Money Project.
Kristina and I have been planning to make the switch to a credit union for awhile. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I hope your experience is as positive as ours has been!
ReplyDelete