Seattle ranks No. 1 in conversion to credit unions

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/credit-unions-still-gaining-fans-long-after-switch-from-big-banks/

Remember Bank Transfer Day?

I didn’t either, but it got a lot of press back in 2011. In September of that year, Bank of America announced a $5-a-month debit-card fee. Anti-big bank sentiment — already strong in the wake of the Wall Street bailouts — hit near fever pitch. Activists encouraged consumers to switch en masse on Nov. 5 from commercial banks to not-for-profit credit unions.

It was a great success in the Seattle area, where credit unions reported a surge in new membership. We wrote about it at the time, but also noted that representatives of local credit unions said they didn’t expect the influx to last.

Well, the anger at big banks may have softened a bit since those days, but the migration to credit unions here shows no signs of abating.

According to data from Nielsen Scarborough, a record 31.5 percent of people in the Seattle metropolitan area now use a credit union as their primary bank — up from 23.2 percent in 2008. Among the 50 largest metros, that ranks as the largest increase in credit-union banking.

The credit unions’ gains have come at the expense of commercial banks, and in particular Bank of America. In 2008, B of A and credit unions were nearly tied in the Seattle market. Now, more than twice the number of consumers use a credit union as their primary bank compared with the country’s second-largest bank.