Bank Transfer Day Sends Borderland Bank Customers to Credit Unions

National Bank Transfer Day is now in the history books. Saturday was the day when anyone who is fed up with their bank and bank fees was supposed to take their money and run to a credit union.

According to the president of El Paso Chapter of Credit Unions, Jacque Valdez, 650,000 people across the U.S. have joined a credit union since Sept. 29.

“It’s really about consumer awareness,” said Valdez. She said she’s seen a serious spike in interest from Borderland residents, who say they want to switch their savings to a credit union.

“As a member of a credit union, you’re actually a part owner, you have a share in the organization,” said Valdez. “A lot of (the increase in customers), I think, was part of the fees that were going to be assessed on debit cards.”

Those fees are mainly what prompted the grassroots Bank Transfer Movement, culminating in national Bank Transfer Day. It was a call for bank customers to move their money to credit unions by Saturday. As Transfer Day approached, Bank of America offered this statement on Tuesday: “Our customers’ voices are important to us. As a result we are not currently charging the fee, and will not be moving forward with any additional plans to do so.”

ABC7 tried to contact both Bank of America and Wells Fargo for comment but had not received a reply as of late Saturday night.