More consumers leaving big banks for credit unions

Credit unions and community banks in the Bay Area are seeing a spike in new members, sparked in part by general anger with big banks and in part by their now-abandoned plans to charge for using debit cards.

While data for the Bay Area is not yet available, on a national basis credit unions gained an astonishing 650,000 new members in October, 50,000 higher than the number of new members who joined in all of 2010, according to the Credit Union National Association.

In the Bay Area, Patelco Credit Union had about a 70 percent increase in new members signing up in October compared to the two previous months.

"We were averaging about 80 new members per business day in August and September," said Alison Jones, vice president of marketing at Patelco. Through the last week of October, "it's up to 135 new members per business day." ..........(more)

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