Why I Broke Up With Bank of America

"Someday the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!" – Mary Harris “Mother” Jones

Last November, 2011, I finally made the move to ditch the corporate bank account I’ve had since I was eight years old and opened an account at a local, sustainable bank. So did thousands of Americans during Bank Transfer Day, resulting in over $4 billion dollars moved out of big banks and into credit unions.

Do you know where your money spends the night?  Wall Street banks are trashing our economy and our environment in the name of their own profits—do you buy into their corruption and greed? 
 It’s time to Pink Slip Big Banks and invest in a more peaceful and just future by moving your money!  How?  I used the Move your Money tool to find a listing of local banks and credit unions in my area.  I selected New Resources Bank in San Francisco, the same bank that Rainforest Action Network and CODEPINK use.  After opening my new account, I used the 7 Simple Steps To Move Your Checking Account checklist to really move my money, and finally, I proudly visited a B of A branch and presented them with a Pink Slip - they were friendly enough about losing my business (I admit I'm no millionaire so it wasn't a big loss, though it was the principle of the thing). 

This year on International Women's Day, March 8th, I plan to join the women of the 99% at Break Up Bank of America actions. The Women Occupy Call to Action is an inspiring statement of solidarity with the Occupy Movement and with the thousands of homeowners across the country who have been affected by home foreclosure. Women Occupy is supporting the women-led campaigns of Public Citizen and Rainforest Action Network, to hold Bank of America accountable for the predatory economic policies that are destroying our families and communities.  On March 8th activists in dozens of cities from NYC to LA are planning to occupy Bank of America branches by staging Super(s)hero Showdowns against Bandit of America, holding Really REALLY free markets to show what a feminist gift economy can look like, creating Walk in Our Shoes displays with pairs of shoes to illustrate the real people impacted by home foreclosure, job loss, and environmental destruction, and other creative tactics.  Plus Women Occupy is asking people to cancel their big bank accounts on March 8th and move their money to local banks or credit unions.  Not that another reason is needed to move your money, but why not do it on a big day of action and in solidarity with the 51% of the 99%: women?!  

Since its inception in the early twentieth century, International Women’s Day has been rooted in the struggle for economic justice, growing out of local demonstrations by women workers demanding shorter hours, better pay, voting rights, and an end to discrimination.  Women have long been the prime targets of predatory bank policies and economic collapse: women are 32% more likely than men to receive sub‑prime mortgages and Latina and African-American women borrowers are most likely to receive sub‑prime loans at every income level.  Women make up 51% of the world’s population but 70% of the world’s poor. We perform 66% of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, but earn 10% of the income and own less than 1% of the world’s property.  Our work continues to be unpaid, underpaid and undervalued, making us invisible to economic indicators and ineligible for the rewards reaped by the most “productive” members of society.  It’s time we turned the tables and started going after the big banks! And what better suspect than the biggest of the big banks – Bank of America?