NEFCU garners 900 new customers on Bank Transfer Day

NEFCU, one of the biggest credit unions serving Long Island, says it picked up more than 900 new customers during the week of “Bank Transfer Day,” when small banks and credit unions cashed in on enmity toward big banks since the subprime credit meltdown of 2007.

Based in Westbury and formerly known as Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union, NEFCU said it opened 932 accounts between Oct. 31 and transfer day, Nov. 5. That’s 143 percent more than normal for a week. The non-profit credit union says it has almost $1.7 billion in assets and more than 160,000 members.

On Saturday, it opened 165 new accounts, more than double the normal Saturday volume, a spokeswoman said. For the month of October, NEFCU gained 2,145 new members, 23 percent more than the normal monthly volume this year and 34 percent more than a year earlier.

Bank Transfer Day, started by a Los Angeles businesswoman on Facebook, is a movement born of antibank sentiment building since the federal government bailed out big banks in 2008. For local credit unions and community banks, the recession and big banks' recent unpopular attempts to charge fees for debit cards have been a boon.