By Giuseppe Giannet | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 5 hrs ago
Ask anyone who Occupy Wall Street’s anger is aimed at and they will surely say “banks.” Indeed, the Occupy movement has vilified banks, depicting them as greedy institutions only interested in profits. Therefore, it is natural many believe “Bank Transfer Day” was coordinated by Occupy Wall Street. Below is information that helps answer the question: Was Occupy Wall Street behind Bank Transfer Day?
* “Bank Transfer Day” was aimed at getting Americans to transfer their accounts from the nation’s well-known banks to credit unions and community banks.
* As of today, 85,646 people RSVP’d on the event’s Facebook page. Another 57,659 people “liked” the movement on a second Facebook page created to give more information about “Bank Transfer Day.”
* The movement was not organized by Occupy Wall Street, but by a woman named Kristen Christian, who, according to the Daily Beast, is a 27-year-old art gallery owner in Los Angeles.
* Not only did Occupy Wall Street not organize the event, Christian has gone out of her way to distinguish her campaign from the Occupy movement saying, “While the Bank Transfer Day movement acknowledges the enthusiasm from Occupy Wall Street, the Bank Transfer Day movement was neither inspired by, derived from nor organized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Bank Transfer Day movement does not endorse any activities conducted by Occupy Wall Street.”
* Christian has also voiced concern over recent developments related to the Occupy movement, telling the Huffington Post she hopes the movement doesn’t take any more “disruptive actions.”
* Although the separation from Occupy Wall Street is clear, Christian has voiced her support for the overall Occupy movement and vice versa.
* While “Bank Transfer Day” was Saturday, transfers to credit unions occurred throughout October leading into November. Credit unions gained 650,000 new customers since Bank of America announced a $5 a month debit card fee on purchases. Bank of America has since rescinded on the policy but that did not stop the withdrawals. The $4.5 billion deposited into credit unions was as much as credit unions made from their existing customers.
