Bank Transfer Day may have been a big deal in the nation’s urban centers on the West Coast and on the Eastern seaboard but in places like Parkersburg, W. Va. and Dubuque, Iowa, it was more of a nonstarter.
“Look, we have no big box banks out here and we’re already pretty saturated with community banks and credit unions and so it was a nonevent,” declared Jason Norton, senior vice president of the $599 million Dutrac CU of Dubuque.
There was nary a reporter’s call about Bank Transfer Day from the Quad Cities media, said Norton who said he was “appreciative” of what the CU trades did in pushing the message but it “had little impact out here.”
And in West Virginia, too there was little Bank Transfer Day activity beyond a cursory poster in a branch window or a press release.
“There is no Bank of America branch in West Virginia or any of the large national banks with a presence in other cities so we simply saw no reason for an aggressive campaign,” said Michael Tucker, president/CEO of the $91 million West Virginia Central of Parkersburg.
During the past few weeks West Virginia Central has been promoting a “5 cents for every debit transfer” promo with a favorable uptick but that is the extent of Bank Transfer Day there, Tucker said.
However, West Virginia Central is grateful for the positive CU exposure and getting out the anti-bank fee message, “particularly when there is a BofA branch across the river in Ohio.”
Rich Shaffer, assistant vice president of the West Virginia Credit Union League, said so far the trade group “has not received a single call from any of the media in Charleston or Huntington” about Bank Transfer Day.
He agreed that considering the lack of megabanks it is not entirely surprising “but I might have anticipated some reporter calling me.”
