Bank Transfer Day: Marches Planned on Banks Nation

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Today is Bank Transfer Day -- a deadline of sorts to a movement calling for people to shift their funds from for-profit banking institutions to not-for-profit credit unions before Nov. 5.

More than 82,000 people have RSVPed to the movement's Facebook event, which is supposed to "ensure that these banking institutions will always remember the 5th of November," by sending a message "that conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices."

"The principle behind monthly debit card fees weren't something I could support as a conscious consumer," said Kristen Christian, Bank Transfer Day's sole organizer. "Investigating my options, credit unions were clearly the most logical choice. I decided ... that I had to take further action to educate the American people in how credit unions serve local communities."

And that's how Bank Transfer Day was born. Just don't confuse it with Occupy Wall Street.

"I'm humbled that OWS has chosen to adopt BTD's directive, but felt it is necessary to distinguish between the two movements because of growing fear among Bank Transfer Day supporters that I was advocating and supporting disruptive actions a select few OWS organizers have chosen to engage in," Christian told ABC News.

The 27-year-old art gallery owner from Los Angeles said she had never participated in any Occupy activities, and posted the following disclaimer on her website:

"While the Bank Transfer Day movement acknowledges the enthusiasm from Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street, the Bank Transfer Day movement was neither inspired by, derived from nor organized by Anonymous or the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Bank Transfer Day movement does not endorse any activities conducted by Anonymous or Occupy Wall Street," the Facebook page for BankTransferDay.org states.

Several Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested last month for entering a bank in downtown Manhattan looking to close their accounts with the bank.

At least one group has advised businesses of a "heightened risk of violence" today, but so far there have been no reports of violence stemming from the event.

The social media research company ListenLogic said it analyzed several million online posts that have identified "a significant increase in support for key Occupy events during the Nov. 5 weekend." The spike includes a 25 percent increase in threats made by protesters during the past week, nearly 70 percent of which target police.

The other most commonly targeted groups include: politicians (10 percent), corporate executives (8 percent) and reporters (3 percent). More than 80 percent of Occupy-related videos viewed on YouTube for the 30-day period ending Nov. 4 include such acts of violence, destruction or arrest activity. There are more than 1 million online posts per day about the Occupy movement, according to ListenLogic.

ListenLogic said marches to bank branches have been organized throughout the United States related to Bank Transfer Day.

At least 650,000 people have already switched to credit unions since Sept. 29, according to the Credit Union National Association, after Bank of America announced plans to charge a $5 debit card purchase fee next year. The bank announced Tuesday it was canceling the fee.

The association estimates that credit unions have added $4.5 billion in new savings accounts.

"More than four in every five credit unions experiencing growth since Sept. 29 attributed the growth to consumer reaction to new fees imposed by banks, or a combination of consumer reactions to the new bank fees plus the social media-inspired Bank Transfer Day," the association said in a statement.

Christian said she did not intend to start a big movement when she shared her plans with her 500 Facebook friends.

Christian also explained the reference to Englishman Guy Fawkes who tried to assassinate King James I in an attempt to restore Catholicism on Nov. 5, 1605. Fawkes' mask has become more widely used in the Occupy Wall Street protests.

ListenLogic said Guy Fawkes masks are used by Occupy protesters to symbolize anarchist intentions and, "more recently, to maintain anonymity while being destructive," Christian said.

Occupy protesters with anarchist intentions are planning bonfires in city streets, according to Christian.

Christian said she hopes the use of Eddie Colla's Guy Fawkes imagery would replace any previous negative association of this date with the image of Americans in peaceful solidarity fighting for ethical business practices and community growth.

While many credit unions have cheered on her effort, some have said Saturday is not an ideal date for thousands to transfer their accounts.

Stephen Ranzini, president of University Bank in Ann Arbor, Mich., said there could be technical difficulties in transferring money on a day when money can't be transferred between institutions because the Federal Reserve is closed.

"Come Friday. Come Monday. Why come Saturday?" he told the Wall Street Journal.

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hope the community banks make out like gangbusters

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The big banks are keeping mum about whether customers are switching to non-profit credit unions this weekend as part of the Facebook-propelled "Bank Transfer Day" protest.

In Los Angeles, organizers predicted that thousands would move their accounts from the big commercial banks, but it was unclear how many actually did.

Doug Allen moved the bulk of his and his wife's savings to Partners Credit Union in Burbank, which has added some 600 new accounts recently and took the unusual step of opening its doors on a Saturday.

"I've meaning to do it for awhile, so when I saw this event today, I thought, 'That's the perfect reason to finally do it,'" Allen said.

An estimated 650,000 consumers have transferred $4.5 billion from banks to credit unions since the end of September.

Colleen Haggerty, a spokeswoman for Bank of America's Southern California operations, said the giant institution had no comment.

But she said that the bank has to publicly disclose its deposits every three months to comply with regulations governing financial institutions and publicly traded companies.

That means the information will be broadly available at that time, though it might not be possible to check whether deposits dropped on a particular day.

She said the bank, under fire for a now-abandoned plan to charge customers $5 per month for ATM privileges, was still "great" for customers.

"Bank of America continues to be a great place for customers to manage their everyday finances and achieve their savings goals," Haggerty said in an email. "We offer customers more choice and convenience, including industry-leading fraud protection, access to thousands of banking centers and ATMs, and the best online and mobile banking, which allow customers to bank on their terms 24/7."