BECU has ‘a record number’ of customers
Oct 14, 2011, 3:36 AM | Updated: 9:47 am
The largest credit union in Washington has picked up ‘a record number of new customers,’ with many of them defecting from Bank of America.
“In August we set a record of 8,700 new members, a new record in September of 9,400 and we are on track to exceed this in October,” says Todd Pietzsch with Boeing Employees Credit Union. “It’s safe to say that since the first of the month we have approximately 7,000 new members.”
BECU is the fourth largest credit union in the country.
Seattle-based Verity Credit Union has also had an increase in business, along the lines of 15 percent.
“We have seen a spike in the number of people coming into all of our branches because they are fed up with their big bank and wanting to make the switch,” says Melina Young, a spokeswoman with Verity. “I have also seen a lot of activity on our Twitter feed with people mentioning @verityseattle as a great alternative and asking questions about the situation.”
I’m checking with another local institution, Umpquah Bank, to see if their numbers are growing too.
The nation’s largest financial institution, Bank of America, announced it will charge a $5 per month fee for customers who use debit-cards. That will begin in January.
Other large banks are also increasing account fees. They say their costs are going up and the charges are in response to federal caps on the amount banks can charge merchants for processing debit-card purchases.
An online petition, attempting to get Bank of America to drop the “outrageous fee,” has about 300,000 signatures.
I’m curious, if you’re a B of A customer, have you dumped them?
NOTE: Bank of America has announced its online bill pay will be out of service for Washington and Idaho customers this weekend from 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15 to 11 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16. The outage includes text and mobile services. Read more.
