The consumer’s guide to breaking up with your bank
by. Laura Shin
Here’s a great New Year’s resolution for people who want to improve their finances and their mental health next year: audit your bank.
Odds are, even if you’ve thought about switching banks, you haven’t done it. Only about 3 percent of consumers actually switch banks, even though far more consumers are unhappy with their financial institution, according to a Javelin Strategy and Research report.
A fifth of consumers with checking accounts would like to switch, found according to a survey last year by Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports.
Sixty-three percent said they hadn’t made the move because it was too much trouble to transfer their account from one bank to another, and 37 percent said the process takes too long. Twenty-eight percent said they didn’t want to pay any fees to transfer their own money.
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