“Move Your Money” is a budding movement that has the capacity to cause a major power shift in the financial industry.  It’s main purpose is to convince people to take their money out of the “too big to fail” banks and move it into the more community-oriented banks and credit unions.

A financial institution’s foundation relies on the core deposits (checking & savings accounts) of businesses and everyday people.  What they want, in essence, is a run on big banks.  A bank run occurs when a large number of people withdraw their deposits.  When this happens the likelihood of default increases, which then encourages even more withdrawals.  This can put a bank in dire circumstances and in extreme cases, bankruptcy.

Because this movement has just begun (late December 2009), it’s to early to tell whether or not people are actually going to move their money.  After all, changing banks can be tedious (which is why SIU Credit Union has a Switch Kit).  But even with this, “Move Your Money” success stories are already being documented.

There is also a tool on the Move Your Money website that lets people search for credit unions and small community banks in their area.  About a week ago, Arianna Huffington went on CNN to promote the “Move Your Money” campaign and in the following 48 hours, 80,000 people used the feature to find a local bank.  Since then this search tool has gotten around 45,000 page views a day.  There is also an edgy YouTube video that in one week, has amassed over 300,000 views:

MoveYourMoney.info uses an IRA database to help people find banks in their area.  Credit Unions don’t disclose financial information in the same ways banks do, therefore SIU Credit Union won’t be found using this search feature.  If you are interested in moving your money, visit us at www.siucu.org for more information, or just stop by one of our four branches and apply to become a member.