Take Action

There are practical steps that Individuals, Businesses and Community Banks and Credit Unions can do to implement an effective program that leverages the power of the people to benefit their community.

FOR INDIVIDUALS

Step 1: Locate a Community Bank or Credit Union.
If you need to, check with your Chamber of Commerce, use the Yellow Pages or ask friends, aquaintences or others in your community to find which one is suitable for your needs.

Be wary of names that sound like Communinty Banks. Some ‘local’ banks are owned by other banks whose agenda is not in the best interests of your Community. Use links in the sidebar to find community banks or Credit Unions in Canada, USA or the UK (other countries added soon). Once you locate a Community Bank or Credit Union, important questions you might like to ask them are:

  • What percentage of your money is loaned locally? (The more, the better)
  • If a ‘local’ bank, is it owned by a bigger bank or or being bought-out? (If so, find a different bank) 
  •  Is it FDIC insured? (USA). (Never put more than $250,000 in one bank)
  • Is the bank committed to supporting local businesses, environmental stewardship, social and economic equality, and other values of particular importance to you?
  • Are employees at the bank/credit union paid well, local, diverse, and seemingly cared for in their jobs?
  • Do they have sound business practices and financial statements? Analyze their annual reports.
  • What are the hours of operation? Does this work with your schedule?
  • How close would you like the bank’s location to be to your home or place of work?
  • What are their ATM fees? Are there multiple ATM’s in town?
  • Can you access the bank or credit union through international ATM machines to make travel easy?
  • What type of online banking services do they have?
  • Is paperless billing an option?
  • Can you apply to see what credit limit you qualify for before opening an account? If it’s lower than you current limit, ask if a transfer of credit is possible.
  • What are their lending and investment services like?
  • What are their Certificate of Deposit interest rates?
  • What are their wire transfer fees?

Step 2: Open Your New Account

In most cases, you should be able open a checking account with an initial deposit of $25 to $100. At a credit union, you’ll also become a member and co-owner at the same time. Most banks/credit union’s provide debit cards when opening accounts.

  • Order new checks. These typically arrive within 1 to 2 weeks.
  • If you need to, apply for a credit card from your new local bank or credit union at the same time.

Step 3: Ask Your Employer to Reroute Your Direct Deposit

When you open your new account, ask the bank or credit union for a direct deposit authorization form that includes your new account information. Give this form to your employer and anyone else who makes direct deposits to your account. It may take one or more pay cycles for the change to be made, so keep your old checking account open and watch for the switch.

Step 4: Contact Companies that Direct-Debit Your Account

Using your last bank statement, make a list of any businesses that you’ve authorized to directly debit your account. Ask your new bank or credit union for an automatic payments authorization form that includes your new account information. Send this to the businesses on your list.

Step 5: Set-up Online Bill Paying for Your New Account

If you like to pay bills online, set up bill payment information for your new account. Also, stop any automatic, recurring payments you have established through your old account.

Step 6: Transfer your Loans and Mortgage

Discuss with your new bank/credit union how to best transfer any loans or mortgages you have. This may take some negotiation and time but in the long term, is highly beneficial to you and your community. Interest on your mortgage is used by your local bank/credit union and benefits your community.

Take a moment to think about all the people in your community who have loans and mortgages. It is astounding just how many of them use a central bank. This is a vast sum of money that is extracted from your community. Wouldn’t it be better if this money stayed locally and benefitted YOUR community?

Step 7: Close Your Old Account

Once you have started receiving direct deposits into your new account and are sure that there are no outstanding checks or automatic debits that need to clear, close your old account. Warning: do not just withdraw the last dollar and assume the account will fade away on its own. Your old big bank may start charging you fees for having an empty or inactive checking account. Instead, follow the bank’s procedure for closing out the account.

Step 8. Enjoy your new local banking relationship!

 Ask businesses in your community that you interact with, where THEY do their business banking. If they bank locally, support them. If they do not, think about using alternatives businesses to get your goods and services. You have power. Use it to encourage businesses in your community to bank local too.

 

FOR BUSINESSES

If you already bank locally, simply follow Step 9. If not, follow steps 1 – 8 (above) and any other you deem crucial to operating your business successfully. The key is to bank locally which supports your community.

Step 9: Let your Customers know you Bank Locally
Ask your Community Bank/Credit Union if they provide any ‘I Bank Locally’ Window Decals for you to display at your Business or on your business vehicle. If not, order window decals to let people in your community know that you bank locally and support your community in the process. Your customers will appreciate it. Next time you advertise your business’s products and/or services in the media, include details that you bank locally.

Excerpt from New Rules Project

FOR COMMUNITY BANKS AND CREDIT UNIONS

Promote your name and services in the community while growing your individual and business banking customer base. Let people in your community help you increase the number of businesses in your community to bank with YOU instead of via a local branch of a large central bank. Here is a simple way to do it.

1. Provide your business customers with ‘I Bank Locally’ window decals
Have your business customers display ‘I Bank Locally’ window decals at their place of business. Let them proudly inform others that they bank locally. If a few businesses in a community offer similar products and services, customers may think twice about which one they would like to shop with.

2. Create an advertising campaign
Use your local media to let people know that businesses who bank with you will be displaying a new decal on their window and ask your community members to shop with businesses that bank locally.

3. Offer incentives for new Businesses to switch
If possible, prior to your advertising campaign, create some new incentives for any new business switching from a Central Bank branch to your Bank/Credit Union.

4. Provide a list of Businesses who bank with you
If possible, provide a website link to display the businesses that bank with you. This is a way for people to confirm that businesses in the community they transact with, actually bank with you. It is a means for a check and balance between businesses displaying window decals and who they bank with.