Will the Move Your Money Project Influence Reform?

by Scott Dawson, Jr., February 16, 2010 | Money, Recession | No Comments

Bloggers Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson made a New Year’s resolution to rehabilitate the American financial system. Conceived during a dinner conversation, the Move Your Money Movement was launched as a financial protest against the risky behavior that landed us in our present financial climate of restricted lending practices.

In their original Move Your Money Project post , they try to convince Americans to move their funds to local, community banks and credit unions. By encouraging people to pull their money from big banks entangled with billion-dollar bailouts, the Movement seeks to help out the small, community banks struggling to compete.

It is interesting to note that the Move Your Money Movement places financial reform squarely in the hands of the public. The site MoveYourMoney.info urges people to support their local financial system by putting their money in small banks. Everything nowadays is reverting back to strengthening local connections, and this Movements allows consumers to directly invest in their community.

Check out the short film below made by filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki created to further highlight the contrast between the practices of big banks and community banks.

The original post makes a good point – FDIC deposit insurance protects your money at small, local banks the exact same way it does at big banks, so whether consumers chose to participate in the Movement, they do so at no risk. (The National Credit Union Administration insures the deposits at credit unions in much the same way.)

As part of the Movement’s efforts make it simple for American consumers to transfer their funds, the Institutional Risk Analytics database has been integrated into the Move Your Money site so supporters can easily enter their ZIP code to get a list of community banks in their area.

According to the original post, if “enough” people move their money into smaller community banks, it will positively advance our financial system toward economic growth and stability. My question is this – Will moving your money actually help your community? How much participation is needed to achieve the Movement’s goal of financial reform?

It appears that people are paying attention and actively contributing to the Move Your Money campaign as it becomes a viral movement. With nearly 30,000 Fans, the Move Your Money Project is engaging with their audience through Facebook. The Movement is also using Twitter at @MoveYourMoney to reach out to their online community of supporters. Do a quick Twitter search for #MoveYourMoney and you will quickly understand that the message is spreading.

You can visit www.MoveYourMoney.info to learn more about this movement. Do you think that the potential impact outweigh your invested effort in moving your money? I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this.