Guest blog: Ethical Consumer’s Banking Report and Broader Political Action

Ethical Consumer’s new March 2012 Banking Report is now uploaded to its website. It has been timed to link in with this year’s banking campaigns and provides some core data for the Move Your Money UK website.

Before you look through the alternative providers on this site, or in Ethical Consumer’s new report, the following points will help you think about which account would be right for you to move:

• Savings Accounts are the easiest to move. Just open up a new one and transfer the money over.

• ISAs are also pretty easy to move, but follow the advice so as not to lose its tax free status.

• Mortgages are more complicated to move but they are a source of large profits for problem lenders to spend on things like absurd bonuses and tax avoidance.

• Current Accounts are more complex but teams of switching specialists should be on hand to help at the new bank you want to move to.

• Consider holding some savings in a local credit union or smaller, regional, building society as an investment in your local community.

• If you do close your account for ethical reasons, (a) remember to sign up to the Move Your Money UK pledge, and ?(b) write to the bank to tell them why.

Originally published in February 2012 at moveyourmoney.org.uk