On November 5th, 2011, thousands of Americans plan to send banks a very strong message by taking part in the viral Bank Transfer Day movement. The event's participants take issue with big banks' recent hikes in fees in response to the Durbin Amendment that caps the debit interchange fees banks can charge merchants.
The group's mission is explicitly stated on the event's Facebook page, which acts as the event's Web site and headquarters: "If the 99% remove our funds from the major banking institutions to non-profit credit unions on or by this date, we will send a clear message to the 1% that conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices."
The page also goes on to point consumers in the direction of credit unions, citing findacreditunion.com as a place for U.S. consumers to find a local credit union.
This movement poses a very substantial and unique opportunity for credit unions. As fed-up consumers look to switch, credit unions can use Bank Transfer Day, or the message of the movement itself, to drive consumers to their door.
CUNA's Bank Transfer Day Toolkit
CUNA has assembled a number of resources for credit unions to use in order to learn more about the movement, tailor their marketing to drive more consumers to their credit union, and communicate with the press. The downloadable materials are available below:
Credit Union Ready Sheet - Tips on how your CU should prepare
Q and A - commonly asked questions and their answers
Talking Points - To use as a guide to share the position of credit unions on Bank Transfer Day
Model Press Release - To get the message out to the press that your credit union is ready to take in new members
Talking Points for CUs Regarding Bank of America's Dropping of its Monthly Debit Card Fee
CUNA's YouTube Videos to Promote "smarter choice(s)"
In an effort to further leverage and maximize consumer interest in credit unions both ahead of Bank Transfer Day and afterward, released three new (and short) videos on its aSmarterChoice.org YouTube channel, each illustrating some "bad choices" and challenging viewers to learn more about making a "smarter choice."
Visit www.youtube.com/user/asmarterchoice to view the videos and feel free to share them on your Web site or wherever you'd like to promote Bank Transfer Day.
Check out an example of one the videos below:
CUNA Bank Transfer Day T-Shirts
Based on ideas and suggestions from credit unions, CUNA launched two t-shirts in the spirit of Bank Transfer Day, giving credit unions another option to capture the energy of this event.
The t-shirts are available for sale at CUNA's ICU Day Web site and are priced based on the quantity purchased. For more information, contact CUNA by email at icuday@4imprint.com, phone at 888-238-1360, or fax at 800-982-9171.
For more information on Bank Transfer Day, visit www.njcul.org/bank-transfer-day.aspx.
CUNA Web Banners
CUNA has released a series of downloadable Web banners to credit union to use to drive traffic to CUNA's consumer awareness site aSmarterChoice.org. NJCUL has made these Web banners available for credit unions on the Bank Transfer Day page of its Web site.
The Web banners are animated "gif" files; they switch off between the main message, and the signature for aSmarterChoice.org. To use, just link the gifs to the URL below, which will lead users to the consumer Web site and in turn help more people to find a credit union that they can join. Just right click the image and click "Save Image As". Make sure you save the image as a "gif" file.
URL: www.asmarterchoice.org/?utm_source=creditunions&utm_medium=new_banner&utm_campaign=banktransferday
Fore an easy-to follow instructional PDF of these Web ads, click here.
NJCUL's Banking You can Trust Toolkit
Credit unions can also tailor their consumer awareness campaigns and up their exposure to be the answer to consumers' frustrations. Credit unions across the country are taking their "ditch your bank" messages to billboards, airwaves, and newspapers.
Credit unions can use a message in their marketing leading up to and around the Nov. 5th date such as the one available through NJCUL's "Banking You Can Trust" Toolkit that states "I Love My Bank Because it's Not a Bank". To access the toolkit visit www.njcul.org/banking-you-can-trust-toolkit-.aspx. A login and password is required to access the page. If you do not have a login and password, www.njcul.org/Secure/Register.aspx.
