Move Your Money

AlterNet has written in support of the Move Your Money project before. Now writer Scott Thill makes the case that, when looking for places to move their money, consumers should make sure to investigate their local credit unions:

The blueprint is simple enough. Credit unions pool their resources to offer inviting interest rates and lower fees to their members. As of September 2009, over 78 cents of every $1 credit unions held in savings was out in loans to members. The remaining 22 cents goes into bedrock-safe investments—federally insured deposits and government bonds. Nothing gets pissed away in pointless bonuses, and nothing gets invested in the Wall Street securities casino. As a result, credit unions offer better rates than banks at both ends of the spectrum—deposit accounts that pay more, and loans that cost less.

Unlike conventional banks—which thanks to the Clinton-era repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, have been allowed to merge their investment arms to more completely fleece customers by skimming cash off the top of every transaction and funneling their money into economically damaging activities—credit unions are cooperative entities that don’t hide behind labyrinthine legalese or gotcha fees.

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We agree that credit unions, like community banks, are a great alternative to the big banks. Click here to find a credit union near you.