Too often with the problems prevailing in banking it can be tough to know how to take meaningful action: causes and solutions always seem distant and opaque. ‘Banker-bashing’ has become a popular hobby – customer satisfaction with the banks has plummeted to 25 per cent. Stories of bankers’ bonuses, the mis-selling of insurance to small businesses, and the manipulation of interest rates has made banks, like their assets, rather toxic.

But what can angry customers do against the financial giants? Move Your Money UK is providing an answer. The group, established in February 2012, encourages people to transfer their savings and current accounts from the ‘big banks’ – Barclays, RBS, HSBC, Santander, and Lloyds – over to ethical, local and mutual alternatives such as credit unions, ethical banks and building societies. By moving their money customers can voice their disapproval at the record of the big banks whilst investing their savings in projects that improve our communities and environment.

In the days before Move Your Money these solutions were not really ‘out there’. A 2008 survey for BBC Watchdog found that while only 50 per cent of people were happy with their banks, married couples are still more likely to get divorced than they are to change banks. A lot of responsibility for this lies with the popular press. Banking stories tend to be rather formulaic: banking corporation commits unethical act, consumer loses out, cycle continues.  A quick trawl through newspaper headlines emphasises this point: Banks in ‘significant change’ to squeeze more from customers (Daily Mail); Laughing all the way to the bank: £6bn profit for greedy Barclays and HSBC (Daily Mirror); and Greedy Bankers Drive me Potty (the Sun) are representative of how the popular press portray the banking issues. Customers are portrayed as helpless victims of the banking leviathan with no means or hope for change.

Things have changed recently however with Move Your Money’s message receiving mainstream media exposure. Move Your Money spokespeople have appeared on programs such as Newsnight, Daybreak, and The One Show, while journalists Tim Walker of the Independent and Zoe Williams and Deborah Jane Orr of the Guardian have all provided support to the movement. The message appears to be hitting home. Since January 2012 Move Your Money estimates that 500,000 people have switched their current accounts to ethical alternatives such as Co-ops and mutuals. In the three weeks since the Barclays Libor scandal there has been a 61 per cent increase in the number of people requesting to switch to the Cooperative.

You too can help to spread this message of change. Pledge online to move your money and receive advice from the campaign in doing so. You can also become a messenger by posting a link to the campaign on Facebook or Twitter or by joining the Facebook group. So, if you’re fed up with the banking sector, join the 500,000 Britons who have already taken action and Move Your Money today!

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Matt Hawkins is a blog outreach coordinator and volunteer with the Move Your Money campaign. In his day job he works in the transport industry and runs a blog.

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Photo: TaxBrackets.org