Community Action For Palestine is so glad you’ve decided to divest from the dirty banks who fund and support the genocide in Gaza, and the occupation of Palestine. If you’ve pledged, you’ll receive periodic emails from us detailing the tasks within each step. As we progress through the divestment process, we will update where we are on this page, so everyone can follow along. Let’s get started!

Once you’ve decided you want to divest from your bank, you need to decide which credit union is right for you. All credit unions in Canada offer comparable everyday banking services, and the larger ones have multiple branches making access convenient and easy. Additionally, almost all are part of The Exchange Network, so you can access the ATMs of numerous other credit unions without incurring fees. Having said that, not all credit unions are completely free from unethical investments (although they are much better than the banks).

This step involves two parts, PART A, evaluating your everyday banking priorities, and PART B, evaluating the ethics of the credit union. Let’s delve into each below. 👇👇👇

  • Consider what your everyday banking (chequing and savings) priorities are:

    • Location: How much does the branch location matter to you? Do you prefer to pop by a branch nearby to do your banking, or are you happy to do everything online? Review this map to see which credit unions have locations near you.

    • Features: The largest credit unions will have all of the services and features, and have easy-to-use apps for your banking. Review this comparison chart from Change Course to compare several major credit unions in BC and Ontario at a glance. Based on asset size, the largest and most feature-rich credit unions operating in these provinces are:

      British Columbia: Vancity, Coast Capital and First West credit union.

      Ontario: Meridian, Desjardins Ontario Credit Union, and Alterna Savings.

  • Evaluate how ethical the credit union you’re considering actually is:

    1. Are they a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV)? The GABV is an association that evaluates banking institutions from all over the world for their environmental, social and corporate governance values. In order to become a member of the GABV, credit unions are assessed against a comprehensive set of guidelines. Vancity (BC), Kindred (Ontario) and Desjardins (Quebec) are the only Canadian financial institutions who have made the cut.

    2. Ask about their investments. For any credit union you’re considering, you’ll want to probe further and ask some searching questions about their investments. Give them a call and ask if they have a policy to evaluate whether their investments are held in businesses that manufacture weapons, military surveillance systems, or otherwise enable the illegal occupation of Palestine. Specifically, ask them if any of their investments are held in corporations who have been identified by the following three sources, as being complicit in one or all of the above violations:

      • Who Profits Divestment List (Who Profits Research Centre is an independent research center dedicated to exposing the commercial involvement of Israeli and international corporations in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine).

      • UN Human Rights Council Divestment List (download the Word document linked in the final paragraph of their article to find the list of corporations they have identified as being complicit in the occupation).

      • AFSC Divestment List (American Friends Service Committee is an an organization founded in 1917 that promotes divestment campaigns in pursuit of justice, peace and civil rights worldwide; scroll to the bottom of their article and expand their divestment list of corporations).

    With the exception of Vancity, Kindred and Desjardins, your shortlisted credit union will most likely not be a member of the GABV, and most will not be able to guarantee or verify whether they have investments in corporations identified in the above divestment lists. Nonetheless, it is important to impress upon them that ethical banking includes divesting from corporations that are complicit in violations of human rights, and to ask what the credit union plans to do to evaluate their holdings. Credit unions are not a perfect solution, but their member-owned structure and their investments in the local economy, make them more amenable to change.

You’ll need to weigh the practical priorities you’ve identified in Part A, with the ethical considerations in Part B, and make a mental note of the credit union you’ve chosen. We’ll open accounts in Step 2 (starting mid-October)!

New members will need to apply to become a member of the credit union first, and you can usually do this on the credit union’s website. There are some cases where you may not be able to open the accounts online, and will have to make an in-person visit: if you wish to open more than a chequing and savings account, want to have joint owners on an account, require a foreign currency account, or want to open accounts for your minor children (to name a few scenarios). If this applies to you, call the credit union to book an appointment so you can complete the necessary paperwork in person.

This step involves three parts, PART A, getting your documentation together, PART B, completing the application forms, and PART C, finding out if the credit union can automate transferring your activities over. Let’s get crackin’! 👇👇👇

  • Get your documentation together. Before sitting down in front of your computer, or leaving your home to visit the branch, make sure you have everything they will ask for (either in digital, uploadable format, or the originals). Each credit union will have different documentation requirements, but the common ones are:

    • Proof of identification (government-issued ID such as a driver’s license).

    • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or bank statement showing your residential address).

    • Social Insurance Number (you’ll need to provide your SIN card number).

    If you’re making an in-person visit, don’t hesitate to ask the credit union whether they have any investments in the corporations listed in the following three divestment lists (if you have access to a printer, feel free to bring a printout of each!). They may not have an immediate answer for you, but you can stress that divesting from corporations that violate international and humanitarian laws should be a necessary condition for ethical banking, and ask them how and when they plan to accomplish that.

    1. Who Profits Divestment List

    2. UN Human Rights Council Divestment List

    3. AFSC Divestment List

  • Complete the application forms. Get on your computer, or get to your branch, and fill out the application forms to become a member and open your everyday banking accounts! Follow the steps they provide to fund your account, and make sure to download a digital copy or ask for a printout of a VOID cheque from your new chequing account (you’ll need this in Step 3).

    Don’t close your bank account or transfer all of your balance over just yet. You’ll want to keep enough funds in your old bank account to cover any upcoming transactions. In Step 3, we will work on transferring your activities over to your new credit union accounts.

  • Does your credit union offer ClickSWITCH? ClickSWITCH is a program offered by some credit unions that automatically transfers all of your automated payments and deposits from your old bank account. Don’t start just yet, as you’ll need to assess what transactions are coming up and what funds you need to maintain in both your old bank accounts and your new credit union accounts to ensure everything clears without issue. If ClickSWITCH is available, you can make use of it in Step 3.

Once your new credit union accounts are open, all of the transactions in your old bank account (eg. payroll deposits from your work, bill payments for your rent, etc.) will have to be transferred to your new credit union. Some credit unions offer a service called ClickSWITCH which allows (some) payments and deposits to be transferred to your new account automatically. But you’ll still want to manually identify all of the places where you receive money (deposits) and send money (payments), and make sure they are switched over to your new credit union.

This step involves four parts: PART A, transfer your deposits and payments to your credit union, PART B, double check that you’ve captured everything, PART C, budget how much $$$ to keep in both your old bank account and your new credit union chequing account, and PART D, do NOT close your bank account. There’s an extra step (optional) for anyone who’d like to divest their credit card too. Lez GO! 👇👇👇

  • Get all of your deposits and payments updated in your new credit union chequing account. Start by making a checklist of all of the places you receive money from (Deposits) and send money to (Payments), and work through your list, transferring each one over to your new credit union.

    This is the super tedious (but critical) part of this step, so hang in there! Below are some of the typical deposits and payments the average person has, and how to transfer them over:

    DEPOSITS TYPICALLY INCLUDE:

    • PAYCHECK FROM WORK: Download a VOID Cheque or DIRECT DEPOSIT FORM from your new credit union chequing account and give it to your employer (typically the HR person). They will update their payroll records so that your future pay goes into your new account (be careful not to send your financial details over email though, as that communication method may not be secure). Ask your employer when your next deposit will come through in your new credit union account (it might take one payroll cycle before their records get updated).

    • CONTRACT OR BUSINESS INCOME: If you do contract work or run a business, you might get paid by automated online processing systems like Stripe, Square or PayPal, or you might get paid manually by eTransfers from your customers. Update these sources with your new credit union account details so that all future funds will be deposited there. For eTransfers, we recommend setting up the auto-deposit feature so funds get deposited automatically, without the need to answer any security questions (even if you don’t make contract or business income!).

    • CANADA REVENUE AGENCY (CRA): The CRA sometimes takes, and the CRA sometimes gives! Be sure to log in to your personal CRA Account and update your financial institution details with your new credit union account. If you have a business, you’ll want to do the same for your CRA Business Account.

    • EMPLOYER INSURANCE: If you’re lucky to have employer-sponsored health insurance you will want to update your banking information with the insurer, so that any reimbursements are deposited into your new credit union account. You may need the VOID Cheque from your new credit union account to do this.

    PAYMENTS TYPICALLY INCLUDE:

    • MANUAL BILL PAYMENTS: These are payments you manually schedule a bill payment for, through online banking. These can include credit card payments (if they’re not automated), property taxes, and other charges that get billed to you on an invoice. Find the list of Bill Payees in your old bank account and manually add them to your new credit union account (but don’t delete them from your old bank account).

    • AUTOMATIC BILL PAYMENTS: These are payments that automatically get taken out of your account, and usually include: rent/mortgage, childcare fees, sometimes credit card payments, utilities, insurance, car payments, and automatic RRSP/RESP/TFSA transfers, to name a few. Make a list of which payments go straight out of your old bank account, and log into these companies’ websites to update your Pre-Authorized Payment information. You’ll need the VOID Cheque from your new credit union account to do this.

    • PAYMENTS CHARGED TO A CREDIT CARD: Internet, cell phone, subscriptions, yoga classes, Uber rides, etc. are usually charged directly to your credit card. If you’re keeping your old credit card, nothing needs to be done with these (whew!). If you’d like to change your credit card, we’ll look at this in more detail in the extra (optional) step after PART D. Hold tight for now.

    • PAYMENTS MADE VIA eTRANSFER: Find the list of eTransfer Contacts in your old bank account and manually add them to your new credit union account (but don’t delete them from your old bank account).

    In today’s tech-intensive world, it’s likely that you have connected your old bank account to an app or service, such as PayPal, Wise, Apple Wallet, etc. Update your records with all of these apps and services, so they are linked to your new credit union account. Delete your old bank account from these apps and services.

  • Double check that you’ve transferred everything over. You probably captured most of your deposits and payments from PART A, but chances are that you haven’t captured every last one. So, log in to your old bank account and download all of the statements, for the previous 12 months. Open up these PDFs and skim through the entire previous years’ activity to see if you’ve missed anything. Update any missed deposits or payments with your new credit union account. AND SAVE THOSE PDFs. They will not be accessible after you close your bank account (which we will do in Step 4).

  • Budget how much money you need to keep in both your old bank account and your new credit union chequing account. At this point, all of your deposits and payments are transferred over to your new credit union chequing account, but there may still be some deposits and payments that will take some time to update (like your payroll, or life insurance premium payments for example).

    Consider how much money you need to keep in BOTH your old BANK account and your new CREDIT UNION account to cover any payments and not go into overdraft:

    • Looking at your list of payments, which ones are going to be due soon? Will your paycheck, contract or business income cover those? Will those deposits be available in your new credit union account in time to clear your payments?

    • What are the Credit Union’s minimum balance requirements? Ask the credit union to waive the first month of fees, while you work on funding your account.

    Based on the above, send yourself an eTransfer from your old bank account (it will automatically be deposited into your new credit union account if you set up auto-deposit). The amount should be enough to cover your upcoming payments and any minimum balance requirements, but not so much that any payments processed from the old bank account will bounce due to insufficient funds. It’s a tricky (but one-time!) balancing act. eTransfers come with daily limits, so you may need to send yourself a few separate transfers.

  • DO NOT CLOSE YOUR OLD BANK ACCOUNT.

    We are going to give everyone a few weeks to work through Step 3, then wait about a month to make sure everyone was able to successfully move their activities over to their new credit union. In Step 4, we will evaluate where you’re at, and give you the steps to close the old bank account if you’re ready.

  • You want to kick that pesky bank credit card out too, eh? We get the feeling. But… before you cancel any credit cards, remember that your credit score is tied to your oldest credit card and your most-consistently-paid-up credit card, so don’t get rid of those! Use them once a year and pay them in-full and on-time, to keep them working for you.

    If you have a balance on your credit card, you can apply for a card with your credit union and have the balance transferred over. Just make sure you’ve done some research to get the lowest interest rate. You may also want to look at rewards and how you can maximize those (you won’t be able to earn any rewards if balances remain unpaid, so keep that in mind).

    If you are willing to take this extra step and change your credit card, you’ll need to update all of the payments that got charged on your old credit card (eg. monthly subscriptions, iTunes, spin membership, etc) to the new one.

The final step is making sure you are ready to completely divest your Everyday Banking activities and close your bank account! Follow Part A and Part B below, to confirm that you are ready to close your bank accounts. Once you’ve confirmed that, go ahead and DIVEST! Part C details one final task that we encourage you to complete: letting your bank know why.

  • Clear out your bank account, when you’re ready. You’ll want to make sure all of your automatic transactions have successfully been moved over to your credit union, so wait anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months to confirm this. Once you’re confident that has been done, transfer the remaining bank balance into your new credit union accounts. You can do this by sending yourself an eTransfer up to the daily limit, or if you want the funds sooner, you can arrange a wire payment or interbank transfer. Remember to download your bank account statements from the previous 12 months, as your online access will be disabled once you close your account.

  • Get ready to close your bank account. Depending on your bank, you may be able to phone them to close your account, or you may be required to visit them in-person. In our next email, we will send you the telephone numbers and email addresses of all the banks, along with template letters, so that you can notify them about your divestment. The communication you have with both your bank and credit union is critical to spreading awareness about Palestine.

  • This final task - sending your bank a letter - is a crucial opportunity to educate and inform staff and management that their bank is complicit in a heinous system of injustice.

    Contact us for a template that you can customize, and email it to your bank once you’ve divested: