Have you ever closed a current account or savings account for ethical reasons?

Bridlington1

No

GreenScepter said:

One person's reason for a boycott may be one other person's incentive to join, especially in OPs scenario. If you want to boycott any company for the slightest disagreement you may as well live in a cave and become a hunter gatherer. That's the conclusion I arrived at long ago.

There's quite a few instances where people have boycotted banks for their support or involvement in things I agree with, there's also some areas that people consider to be ethical which I either wouldn't consider to be ethical, or would attach caveats to, e.g. refusing to invest in weapons companies is often considered to be ethical whereas I'd say it depends on the circumstances, sometimes it would be ethical, sometimes it wouldn't.

If I boycotted every company that did something I didn't like I'd have to boycott a vast swathe of organisations including most if not all banks, most, possibly all of the public sector, several retail businesses, all goods made in countries which have regimes I disapprove of etc. If I took the principle to its logical extents I'd also have to refuse to deal with anyone who supported something I disagree with, which is most if not all of the people I have met including most of my family (between myself and my 3 closest family members we voted for 3 different parties in the last general election for a start and my brother who was too young to vote would've likely gone with a different party entirely).

Youngmoneyvibe

Choosing ethical banks is a smart move. Check out banks like Aspiration or Starling for green policies. Consolidating accounts can also simplify budgeting.

boingy

I've been around the block too many times to believe that any bank can be truly ethical. I vote with my feet when I receive poor service. 

confederated

Yes

Bridlington1 said:

If I boycotted every company that did something I didn't like I'd have to boycott a vast swathe of organisations including most if not all banks, most, possibly all of the public sector, several retail businesses, all goods made in countries which have regimes I disapprove of etc. 

I have a couple of red lines - as you say you can't expect to find a company which aligns with all your principles, but if one of your red lines is crossed you might well decide to take your money elsewhere. I did just this earlier this week. My energy company, Ecotricity, were proudly flying the Palestinian flag on their HQ and were crowing about it on social media, along with the Greens. As soon as I found out about it I switched - even though I was halfway through a two-year fix with exit fees of £300. That was definitely a red line for me.

k12479

Youngmoneyvibe said:

Choosing ethical banks is a smart move. Check out banks like Aspiration or Starling for green policies. Consolidating accounts can also simplify budgeting.

The slightest digging on either of these raises their own questionable ethics.

Actually, that's perhaps a little unfair and much of those could be also be attributed to incompetence.

Sea_Shell

Considered it

The trouble is, unless you're prepared to go on a crusade and get others to join you, one person voting with their wallet won't make a blind bit of difference to any establishments ethics.

So are we prepared to cut off our noses to spite our faces??

GeoffTF

I have never considered it. They all lend to people that I do not like, and take deposits from people that I do not like. None of them care about me. My mattress is very ethical, but it is not secure and it does not pay interest. It is also difficult to borrow money from a mattress.

confederated

Yes

Surely everyone has at least one red line? Like the Daily Mail supporting the Nazis in the 30s? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with someone who has no principles, or someone who has principles but is unwilling to act on them. 

clairec666

Sea_Shell said:

The trouble is, unless you're prepared to go on a crusade and get others to join you, one person voting with their wallet won't make a blind bit of difference to any establishments ethics.

So are we prepared to cut off our noses to spite our faces??

Same here, I've got my money spread about a few banks, and I doubt any of them would really miss me if I started a one-woman crusade against them.

I'd be tempted to boycott Santander right now because of their shady tactics with "free" business banking... but I don't have an account with them anyway, so continuing not to bank with them will go unnoticed!

EarthBoy

No

confederated said:

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with someone who has no principles

I think you'll find that for many people, their only principle is "does it affect me personally?"