CUNA said Thursday that at least 650,000 consumers have joinedcredit unions since Bank of America announced its now-canceledplans to charge $5 a month for debit cards.

An additional $4.5 billion in new savings accounts also has goneto credit unions during that time, the trade group said, basing itsestimate on a survey of 5,000 credit unions nationwide.

The rush of new accounts that followed the Bank of Americaannouncement, and the run-up to Bank Transfer Day it apparently ignited, compares with the 0.2%negative growth the trade group had reported through August, whenit said there were 92.6 million credit union membersnationally.

“These results indicate that consumers are clearly making asmarter choice by moving to credit unions where, on average, theywill save about $70 a year in fewer or no fees, lower rates onloans and higher return on savings,” said CUNA President/CEO BillCheney.

Credit unions of $100 million in assets and larger in particularare seeing the growth. They account for about 20% of all creditunions and about 80% of the members. CUNA said its survey showedthat about 70% of these credit unions report membership growthsince Sept. 29.

Cheney also said that CUNA's aSmarterChoice.org websitealso is showing a surge, with more than 56,000 visitors inOctober.

This is at least the second indication that the media hype andcredit union advertising and promotions around Bank Transfer Day this Saturday, and anger over bank fees ingeneral, may be driving account switching.

Earlier this month, several credit unions and technology vendorssaid they were seeing an upsurge in use of their onlineaccount opening and switching solutions.