Friday, January 29, 2010

Terra Verde Radio Show

So for anyone who missed today's radio broadcast, here it is in full glory.

Terra Verde is a live public affairs program in Berkeley that focuses on investigating and analyzing environmental issues from a global perspective. How that figured out into today's money broadcast was based on our large financial institutions and their investment into horrible environmental practices. Adam spoke about each individual's money carbon footprint and then went on to discuss MoveYourMoney.Info and my adventures. It's highly informative and fascinating. Enjoy.

Terra Verde - January 29, 2010 at 1:00pm

Click to listen (or download)
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Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Surreal Life

This little post is going to be a quickie, which, I'm sure you're saying to yourself...yeah, right.

But seriously. I wanted to make a formal show of my gratitude for this crazy week I've had. As of Monday when my Move Your Money blog went live, I've seen an incredible influx of support and comments about my project. I made the front page of MoveYourMoney.info, had FirstBank employees sending me personal emails, and tomorrow, the final cherry on top will be...ummm...topped.

At 2:00 pm Mountain (1:00 pm Pacific) I will be interviewed on KPFA, Berkely, California's Free Speech Radio. The show is called Terra Verde and it's host Adam — a pleasant chap with an awesome British radio voice — and I will be discussing my money adventures. Tune in at the link above if you're avoiding work on a Friday afternoon. If not, maybe I'll just blare the recording while driving around with a loudspeaker.

Thank you all so very much for your words and support. I might shed a tear, but instead I'm just going to drink some Kettle One.

Cheers,
Beeze
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Friday, January 22, 2010

Moving My Money

A Special Message From Our Editor In Chief —



Recently I was speaking with a friend about the subject of personal banking and we were recalling a time not too long ago when we were both in our early teens. The scene isn't exactly out of the George Bailey community banks we see above, but when we both opened our very first bank accounts (her's with her Grandmother's $20 gift, mine with my first paycheck from the first job my father gave me) there was a sense of pride and personal growth that came from having your own bank account, your own checks, your own money. It was the first step to adulthood, as important as a first kiss or getting your 1989 Dodge Daytona hatchback at 15. Even then, in the not so distant 1990s, banks stood for a promise of greater things to come — college, your first career, the down payment on a home, loans to create your own business when it had come time to leap out on your own. But times have changed in the blink of an eye. Good lord how they have changed.

Let me take you back to 2002, where I had recently been a little down on my luck. Without going into too much personal detail, I was suffering from what I'd like to call a bout of Early-Twenty-Itis. Broke, jobless and hungry, I decided that I would sell my mint-condition 1973 Conn Soprano Saxophone on the newly instituted Craigslist.com. Ebay hadn't been working for me (I was honestly worried about not getting the full value out of the instrument) so I posted the saxophone up on Craigslist. A few days later, I received an email from a man in Indonesia who would pay my asking price immediately for the sax. Perhaps a little naieve but not stupid, I told him I would wait for his check to arrive. Once it cleared my bank account, I would send the sax.

The check came. Seven days later the money was in my account. I was thrilled and went to UPS to box and ship my sax overseas. Seven days later, the money disappeared. My sax was somewhere over the ocean and I had just paid a hefty amount on my credit card with the cash. I was scared shitless. Where had that money gone and what in the hell was I going to do now?

I went to Wells Fargo, where I had been a customer since the age of 15. I tried to talk to the bankers, none of which were any help to me. Finally, after throwing what amounted to an adult temper-tantrum, a gentleman came out to explain that since I was such an outstanding Wells Fargo customer, the bank had given me their own money prior to the check actually clearing. "Checks take two weeks to clear," he told me. "We took our money back once we realized the routing number was false."

Wells Fargo stole my saxophone. No one called to tell me the routing number was fraudulent or that I should probably not go spending all that money I had deposited. They just took back their cash, regardless of what it did to me as a struggling twenty-something. There was no remorse and hardly an apology. Wells Fargo had its way with me and my saxophone, but I, like many Americans, continued to bank with them for another seven years.

We all know the story of what happened to our banking institutions during the latter half of the 2000s. The Big 6 U.S. Banks — consisting of Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Wachovia (NYSE: WB) Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) and JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) — began to fail. Big bonuses, corporate greed and irresponsible lending led to a collapse in our financial system. Bailing out the big banks was essential to saving our economy and I believe most Americans understand that. However, the bailout was supposed to increase lending so that small businesses could create jobs and so homeowners wouldn't face foreclosure. Instead of re-investing in America, the heads of the big six banks decided it would be far better to decrease lending and keep their bonuses. While people were losing their homes, the fat cats in New York were eating lobster off of strippers in private hotel rooms. They were wiping their asses with gold plated toilet paper while we were all struggling to support ourselves. They showed that they didn't give a flying diamond crusted shit about the American people, their customers, those same people whose tax dollars went to saving their institutions. So I've decided to make a change.



Based on Arianna Huffington's MoveYourMoney Movement I decided to dump Wells Fargo and move my cash to FirstBank, a Colorado Bank that has been in business since 1963 and has been rapidly growing ever since. FirstBank is now Colorado's second largest depository institution and the largest locally owned bank in the state. Since 2000, FirstBank has donated $24 million to charitable organizations throughout the area.

Moving my money would take some preparation. I knew that once I closed my Wells Fargo account, I would have no way to pay bills or use an ATM unless I had another account already open at FirstBank. I knew that a debit card would take several days to arrive and that it's arrival would certainly be delayed due to the MLK holiday that fell on the upcoming Monday. Additionally, my pending transactions at Wells Fargo would prevent me from closing my account with them immediately. I did, however, have enough money on hand from a healthy week at work to roll into FirstBank at 16th and Tremont and open up both a checking and savings account on Friday, January 15, 2010.

Walking into FirstBank felt like the first step in a bright new future, one that would enable me to not only save money, but to pay off all of my credit card debts and being to focus on my future. Upon walking in I was immediately met by my new personal banker Matt, who was excited to hear about my banking adventure. He had never heard of the MoveYourMoney Movement, but understood my frustration with the bigger institutions. "You're going to love it here at FirstBank," he told me.

I had done my research, so I had a hunch the dude was right. A new friend had met me for drinks a week prior to this blog. She's been a FirstBank employee for nine years and is currently handling mortgages for her branch. She explained to me that during 2009 she only managed two (2) foreclosures. By comparison, the state of Colorado ranked 10th in foreclosures in 2009 with a staggering 50,104 homes in some state of being foreclosed. Now, I know she's just one woman in one branch of one institution, but I'll hedge my bets with those statistics. "Some of us used to complain that FirstBank was too conservative," she told me. "We don't do that anymore."

First, Matt and I set up what FirstBank calls a Money Marketing Checking Account, which accrues interest just like a savings account. As long as I keep a minimum balance of $500, my interest rate is .10%, which isn't a lot I know, but is far better than the 0% rate that I accrued as a Wells Fargo customer for 15 years. We then set up what is known as a Time Deposit Savings Account, in which I guarantee the bank that I will keep a certain amount of money in the account for a certain amount of time (mine: $500 for 91 Days) and I accrue a certain amount of interest throughout the year. The interest rate on the account is certainly higher if you guarantee larger amounts for a longer period of time, but mine started me at a .40% interest rate, which is far better than either of my Wells Fargo or my ING Direct Savings Accounts.

Next came the bonus. Walking into FirstBank was something I needed very little goading to do, yet, Matt told me that because I was opening a checking account I would receive a brand new iPod Shuffle. "Most people come open an account just for the iPod," Matt told me. "It's awesome that you came in here on your own."

The iPod aside, what I really enjoyed about my FirstBank experience was the transparency of the whole process. Matt was open and honest with me about every aspect of my accounts and patient with my litany of questions. I wanted to make sure that FirstBank and I were a good fit together (my other option being BellCo Credit Union) and that my money was in comfortable hands. Assured that I was making the right decision, I shook Matt's hand and headed off into my day.

The process of closing my account with Wells Fargo would take nearly a week. There were pending charges to deal with, the extra charge on my checking account from a restaurant I hadn't been to since September, MLK day, working like a crazy man, etc. etc. Plus, as I previously explained, moving your money takes a little planning. My advice at this point in the journey for anyone willing to join me is to open your new account first. Your money will still be accessible should something unexpected happen.

Now, one week later, I'm standing in front of this horrifically gaudy building on Colorado Blvd. Notice the signs covering the windows to the right of this picture. Yes Wells Fargo, I know I'm walking into a Wells Fargo. You've made damn sure of that. That was the point in which I decided that Wells Fargo is gross. Like the "uncle who touches you" sort of gross.

I was prepared to hate my experience, was expecting a ton of questions as to why I was closing my account and an awkward exit as I headed to the door with all of my monetary belongings in tow. None of these things happened. No one greeted me as I walked through the door. I walked up to a pair of tellers who were gossiping about something random and asked, "Can I close my account with you?" The female teller didn't stop talking until I looked her and repeated myself. "No," the male teller with horribly bright braces explained. "I'll have to get a banker."

After a ten minute wait, the process was remarkably easy. The only real question Jon, my banker, asked me was about my job. "I used to be a bartender," he said before handing over my check. "It was fun."

I didn't expect the song, "Please Don't Go," to begin playing over the loudspeaker as I yanked my money out of their greedy little hands, but I did assume that losing a customer of 15 years would elicit some questioning. "Why have you chosen to close your account?" "What can we do to keep your business today?" "Would you like a sucker before you leave?" Something! Anything! But that's what being a Big 6 Banking customer has become over the past twenty years or so. You're no longer valued. You have become just another number among millions. A faceless name with a deposit slip and an ATM card.



Think about it. Imagine yourself walking into a restaurant only to be greeted by a gum-smacking tween-ager twirling her hair. She's talking to a "Chad" of a waiter and takes her sweet time saying hello to you. She takes you to an awkward table near the kitchen and you sit there without water for a good ten minutes. Finally you order your food, which takes way too long to come out, from a waiter with cigarette breath and then when you eat it you realize it's cold. No one asks you how your meal is and then suddenly you're presented with a check that includes mystery items that you never ordered. Would you sit there and pay for the meal, or would you ask for a manager to complain? Would you then come back repeatedly, ordering the same meal from the same waiter, or would you refuse to return to that establishment and tell all of your friends how awful it was?

We all know what we would do in any other circumstance, but for some reason we as Americans have come to allow gigantic banks to rape us with hidden fees, poor customer service and often illegal business practices. Trust me when I say that moving your money isn't the most convenient thing to do. I still have a load of work to do transferring all of my online banking accounts before I pay bills at the end of the month. Moving your money will take some planning and a whole lot of personal initiative. But wouldn't it be worth it?

The Government tells us that the banks are "Too Big to Fail." But I've come to believe that the Big 6 are simply "Too Big to Listen." The CEOs of these institutions have forgotten that we as consumers have the right to chose with whom we bank with. We don't have to keep our money in their banks. Send a message loud and clear. We do have the power to make them listen, one account at a time. Read more!