Frustration fuels 'Bank Transfer Day'

John Gallea, a Sicilian immigrant who speaks little English, doesn't know much about the banking crisis that's sparked protests around the country.

But when the Farmingdale retiree needed a bank check to buy a Hyundai Elantra, his large commercial bank wanted to charge him $10. When he complained, the bank wouldn't budge.

That was all Gallea needed to take action.

Saturday, he joined scores of other people at the headquarters of Bethpage Federal Credit Union, eagerly participating in "Bank Transfer Day."

Organizers of a grassroots movement that started on Facebook had been calling for people to shift their funds from for-profit banking institutions to nonprofit credit unions and community banks.

"The big banks are just not flexible," said Gallea's daughter, Dina Robinson of Bethpage, who explained her father's frustrations. "Banks used to be local institutions, but they kept getting bought by bigger and bigger banks."

The Bethpage credit union, with 40 branches on the Island, used the occasion to recruit customers, treating them to popcorn, hot dogs, soda and Top 40 music played by a radio DJ.

By the end of the day, the credit union had opened hundreds of new accounts, bringing the one-week total to 1,521 -- four times more than usual, said president and chief executive Kirk Kordeleski.

"We see this as part of a larger shift," he said. "There is a growing frustration with some of the larger banks . . . that they didn't behave as they should have, and they got bailed out and now they're charging fees."

Managers and employees of other credit unions on Long Island also reported increased traffic and a surge in new accounts Saturday.

"People are starting to look at their options," said Robert G. Allen, president and chief executive of Teachers Federal Credit Union, which has 22 branches in Suffolk County.

According to the Credit Union National Association, an industry trade group, about 650,000 customers joined credit unions in October after Bank of America announced plans to charge a $5 monthly debit card fee -- a move the bank later scrapped. Those new deposits amount to $4.5 billion, the association reported.

Bank of America and other big banking chains have kept a low profile in recent days, declining to comment on Bank Transfer Day.

Joe and Colleen Mongiello, a couple from Syosset, visited the Bethpage credit union Saturday to open a home equity line of credit. They also have accounts at Bank of America, but plan to close them soon.

"It's just a matter of time," Joe Mongiello said. "Credit unions tend to be more public-friendly. The big banks just want every dollar from you."

Spurred by Bank Transfer Day and inspired by Occupy Wall Street, Seth Seleshow opened an account at the credit union Saturday.

"I stayed just for the convenience," Seleshow, 41, of Plainview, said of his former bank. "Change isn't supposed to be easy . . . but it does feel good."