Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Common Good Bank - check it out!
Ellen Brown posted the link to http://www.commongoodbank.com/
What Is A Common Good Bank™?
Common good banks™ will be a new kind of community savings bank, controlled democratically by depositors, lending exclusively to socially responsible companies. The companies must report on their social and environmental impact and sustainability. The bank’s profits go to the community. Common good banks™ will offer typical savings bank services: checking accounts, home mortgages, small business loans, ATM cards, etc.
But a common good bank™ is not just another bank with a social agenda. This is a social agenda with a BANK—a bank designed from the ground up to advance and fund that social agenda effectively. Common good banks™ will benefit everyone: with world-changing green investments, better rates for depositors and borrowers, breakthrough support for local businesses, empowerment of those most in need near and far, a predictable modest return to investors, and large annual contributions to the community.
Ultimately, common good banks™ can save the world from corporate domination and give control back to the people.
The first common good bank™ is scheduled to open in 2009. Help make it happen with a no-obligation 10-second signup.
I read just about everything at the site, watched the slide show, signed up, and then read the newsletter I received.
This is just so COOL!
They want to offer full service banking and the concepts are absolutely revolutionary, including the Common Good currency. This will initially confuse most people, but it does make sense.
Two banks are scheduled to open in Massachusetts and California next year. They’re not just dreaming about this, but they really have done a LOT of work.
Local merchants giving discounts is a super idea.
I read the business plan:
Merchant accounts with no annual or monthly fees, with transaction fees of 25¢ plus 2%.
Credit cards. Every member depositor will be issued a free “Local Money” debit/credit card. Member merchants pay zero transaction fees when accepting the card and processing it using a touch-tone telephone or the Internet. The same card can (for a fee) double as a Visa card and/or ATM card.
Unfortunately it’ll take a while to get that going:
The bank will introduce most of its products immediately upon opening. Exceptions are major credit cards, investment services and merchant accounts, which will wait for approximately five years.
Wow, no fees for the the “Local Money” debit/credit card.
They mention mortgages, business loans and subprime loans.
I’m hoping that they won’t bother with credit scores.
They also mention the possibility of offering health insurance and if they could offer homeowners and auto insurance, few people would have to worry about credit scores anymore.
People wouldn’t HAVE to get loans just to increase their FICO credit scores.
I currently have several clients who don’t have open revolving accounts and I just hate having to tell them that they need to have several open accounts to increase their FICO scores.
And most important, my credit services would no longer be needed and I would finally have a bank to recommend to the many readers who email me their banking and especially NSF fee problems.
I didn’t see anything about NSF fees and the business plan explains how accounts can be linked. Maybe there are nominal fees and software that’s designed to MINIMIZE fees.
The business plan addresses some fraud issues, but I’d also like to see them investigate credit card fraud. In case you’re new here, Capital One refused to provide me with ANY info about fraudulent charges and when I sued them for the info, judge Wake in Phoenix federal court ruled that Capital One had no fiduciary duty to assist me with my investigation. I’m pretty sure that I could have identified the merchant who compromised my data, but the crooked bankers cover for the criminals. And promptly my card was again fraudulently used, maybe after I ordered from the same merchant.
Having banks return the profits to the community is how it SHOULD be.
Having a bank controlled democratically by depositors is so cool and so is their voting system. They’ve really given this a lot of thought.
This is how government SHOULD work.
In fact, if the Common Good Bank is successful, local governments might just implement similar voting procedures, including internet voting. There’s nothing wrong with electronic voting as long as the voting machines aren’t compromised. And if people got more involved and didn’t always feel like nothing they do matters, things could get a lot better.
I also checked out the contact page with the listing of people involved and there are many names, fortunately I didn’t recognize any of them, no Fairbank (Capital One CEO) or other infamous bankers as far as I can tell, although the business plan mentions AmEx for investments. It also had an interesting structure of unpaid trustees and paid directors.
I hope you’ll ALL sign up and support the currently ONLY viable alternative to the big banks.
The Common Good Bank is a fantastic way to make a difference for all.
