Saturday was the fifth of November, and many remembered to take a stand and shut down their big retail bank accounts, transferring their cash to a new credit union account. Here’s a video out of Occupy Portland covering what happened on Bank Transfer Day. Interviewees talk about why they’re switching to a credit union, and how this is just the beginning.

“Corporate banks exist to serve stockholders,” says a credit union worker. “Our profits are returned to the members in the form of better rates and lower fees. So it gets more money in to their pockets which they can recirculate into the community.” She notes how everyone on the board of directors of the credit union is a volunteer.

But they’e not stopping here. “Some of the biggest account holders are municipal, county and state governments,” says an activist in the video. “Right now their money is invested in the same banks that ran roughshod over our communities.” The next step is bringing pressure to bear to get municipalities and institutions to move their money away from big national banks and into smaller banks. With the millions that can be in those accounts, that’s no chump change.

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