Activist Thought and the Credit Union Rush

A portion of the blame for the massive scale of the financial collapse of 2009 falls at the feet of the major banks and financial institutions. The response of the average person to these entities has grown increasingly negative, and was seen most clearly in the actions of certain activist movements. The mortgage crisis and financial crash was a truly complex situation, and a wide variety of parties share the blame, including ordinary people. Some groups simply chose who they believed to be the most actively immoral or unethical and reacted.

Why blame the banks for the mortgage crisis? Many of the loans made during the crisis were known to be bad bets. For example, the amount loaned by banks was often far too much for the individuals or families to ever be able to pay back. When the inevitable happened, the borrowers lost their homes. Additionally, the high-risk investment made off of these unstable loans resulted in major losses. So, while the middle and working classes lost money, a government bailout program compensated the large institutions. The middle and working classes didn’t take too kindly to this.

In order to independently punish these institutions, activists decided to start a campaign for people to close accounts at these banks and switch to a credit union. The push for this switch is based on multiple factors. A credit union is a non-profit institution that is controlled by the will of its members. They often charge few to no fees, and do not engage in predatory loan or collection practices. This movement was viewed as a return to traditional roles of banking, storing, and safeguarding the assets of individuals. The initial thought: return power to the people!

The goal was to cause the accused banks to lose clients and capital en masse, while showing people that they can control their financial well being through a local and personal organization. Unfortunately, most of the largest banks made the lion’s share of their wealth through corporate connections and contracts. Thus, the disappearance of the accounts of individuals, even a large number, was not a huge loss. But this move served as a great boon to credit unions across the nation.

In the end, some of the lasting effects of this action included increased fees, lost benefits on major credit cards, and greater awareness of the role of large and well-known corporations in the financial crash. So, if you have an account at a credit union, whether you meant to or not, you might be standing up to the bad guys, depending on whom you ask.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *