Bank of America Group Withdrawal

[dylan]

I have talked to a couple of people today who, after seeing the video of the 25 people being arrested for closing their accounts at Citibank in the video below, are very interested in having a group withdrawal of money from a bank, specifically Bank of America.

I was wondering if anyone else is interested in doing the same and although my account is at SEFCU I wanted offer my assistance in organizing this event.

If you want to participate please leave a comment below and let's talk about when we can do this.

Here is the video, for those who haven't seen it:

[Inna]

Count me in.

[matthew]

I already went to SEFCU and talked to them about opening batches of accounts. They gave me a stack of applications and told me what to do. I'd planned on proposing this to the GA, perhaps as something to be managed by the Direct Action Working Group.

[flashmob]

There is a planned action coming from wall street. I don't think it is a decided action by their GA but probably a fringe (i.e. Anonymous) to do it all together on Nov 5th for a bigger impact.

[loyalsd]

I went and opened a SEFCU account this wknd. Have not moved my funds from B of A yet, so am interested in taking part in this group action. FYI, there is a current Facebook event that calls for all accounts to be moved from big banks to smaller ones or to credit unions no later than Nov. 5.

[dylan]

Well the 5th is a Saturday. I was thinking this could be an event. Maybe on the 4th? I think having a press conference or otherwise contacting the press would be a good idea.

There's a SEFCU and Bank of America on State Street. We could walk across the street from one bank to the other.

It's cool there is a fb page nationally but I think one for a local event would be helpful.

[benbrucato]

Great ideas, all! Maybe Coalition Building should reach out to SEFCU specifically and invite them to come out - it would be pretty cool to see cooperatively owned and run businesses openly support the Occupy movement. What do others think?

[loyalsd]

I think getting the press involved is a brilliant idea. I also like the idea of coalition-builing with SEFCU. Below is an interesing read.

www.reddit.com/r/occupywallstreet/comments/ldmo9/i_just_closed_out_my_chase_account_and_have_some/

[rana]

I know a really rad teller at SEFCU, I'll run it by him if I see him before then.

[kanelucian]

WOW, when i watched that video, its crazy to believe I was watching a video of a bank in New York City United States of AMERICA

[joshred]

It might be a good idea to remind people to open their accounts *before* closing their existing accounts. They might want to get their debit cards in-hand right away.

[flashmob]

Oct 17, 2011 7:23:49 GMT -5 dylan said:

Well the 5th is a Saturday.

Good observation. That is a stupid plan. But most banks do have some hours on Saturday at certain branches.

[dylan]

derp.

Oct 17, 2011 7:23:49 GMT -5 dylan said:

Well the 5th is a Saturday. I was thinking this could be an event. Maybe on the 4th?

[anthony]

I am down with helping anyway I can with this. There is also a Pioneer Savings Bank on Broadway around the corner from State. This bank is a very small bank owned and operated here in the Capital region. Their main branch is in Troy.
Love the idea of getting theses local banks on board with this movement. Asking the managers of these branches to help with information on how to close their accounts correctly at the the rally will be a benefit and at the same time relieve our work. We can concentrate on directing people to the managers. I have been spreading the word to whom ever wants to listen. Some feedback or worries why people do not want to switch is that they go on vacations or travel and will not be able to use their debit card everywhere. I think this is just a myth.
Just a point of reference, they are trying to get people to close accounts by Nov 5th, not specifically on that date. Get people to close accounts right away.
I own a small business and have moved all my accounts to Sefcu and Pioneer. Love that I did.
And please do be polite when closing accounts, but make sure you give a good reason, because they will report this to the higher ups.

[Albanius]

The SEFCU branch on New Scotland ave, a couple of blocks south of Madison, is open Saturday until about 1 PM.

But if the idea is to close a significant number of BOA accounts at the same time, IMO it would be better to do it during the week, allowing a few days for people to have opened SEFCU accounts first.

[rana]

I think the 4th would be great. People who decide to open SEFCU accounts can just march across the street and deposit their money. I think it would be best if people go sign up for their new accounts before that day so we don't overwhelm the SEFCU workers.

[hz]

Hey guys,

I'm on the PR team. Let me know what you want out to the press and I will send it to all our contacts.

-Hezzie
[e-mail]

[inna]

Nov. 5th is next week, so it would be great to plan our BofA withdrawal day asap. I propose scheduling a planning meeting sometime between now and Wednesday before the GA or @ 8pm. Please post what time you think would work best.

The nearest branch of BofA to OA seems to be@ 69 State St, and their hours of operations: Lobby: Mon-Thu 9-4, Fri 9-5, Sat-Sun Closed. (i.e. we cannot close our accounts at that branch on Nov 5th – sorry)

Some questions to consider:
1. date and time
(maybe Friday afternoon?)
2. Spreading the word (It would be great if our PR/Outreach/Coalition groups would plug into this, maybe we can even invite some representatives from this group to the meeting to have their input? Maybe there are thoughts or specific things we have about things we want to do – Facebook event, flyer etc. Many of our people already do not use BofA, so I think it would be really important to have a lot of outreach on this to hopefully make a big statement with a big turn out.)
3. how loud do we want to be about it (I personally would be content just having a whole bunch of people going in special shirts or signs posted on them (maybe of the V mask?) and quietly but very visibly closing out their account. – What are other people’s thoughts? Should we make T-shirts?)
4. Are there other big banks in the area that we would like to close accounts in as well? (We don’t want to be exclusive here J)

Thank you and I am looking forward to planning this with you soon.
Inna

[haroldmiller]

MoveOn is coordinating the action. They research and found the Bank of America at Haniford Plaza on Central Ave is open on Saturdays. They looking to start action at 10am

[inna]

That is almost 3 miles from the occupation! Are we going to march that? In addition - this is not a central location and nobody will see it. What are they planning? Are they inviting the media? What are they doing? More information please .

I don't like that MoveOn is coordinating this. I think we should be coordinating this and controlling the message.