More than 1.3 million Americans shift funds amid higher costs for checking, savings and credit accounts.
By E. Scott Reckard and Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times

March 1, 2012, 8:40 p.m.
Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington—
Consumers fed up with the rising tide of bank fees helped the nation's credit unions more than double their number of new customers last year, new figures show.

More than 1.3 million Americans opened new credit union accounts last year, up from less than 600,000 in 2010, the National Credit Union Administration reported. That brings the number of credit union members to a record 91.8 million.

Credit unions were given a boost last year as major banks became targets of the Occupy Wall Street movement. It didn't help when Bank of America began plans to impose a $5 fee for debit cards, triggering howls of protest from consumers, Congress and even the White House.

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The $96 billion in credit union accounts is dwarfed by the $12.6 trillion floating in the nation's banking system. But the shift into these funds serve as a warning sign to banks, which critics say have long operated as if they had no competition.

More: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bank-fees-complaints-20120302,0,7970213.story