High street banks give you every reason to leave them for someone better … manipulation of the Libor, mis-selling scandals, bonus cultures. Here's how you can make a stand

Computer glitches leaving customers without money, interest rate manipulations, mis-selling scandals … it’s little wonder consumers are getting fed up with the big banks. Here we look at some ways you can register your protest.

Take your money away

When it comes to making your feelings know, not much beats voting with your feet. If you are fed up with how the big banks are behaving you could try withdrawing your cash and putting it elsewhere – but where exactly?

For current accounts it’s quite tricky, as the market is dominated by the big banks. Metro Bank is a relatively new player and untouched by scandal, but customers need to visit a branch to open an account and those branches are currently only in and around London.

Nationwide building society and Co-operative Bank are more widespread than Metro Bank and also offer online banking. They do, however, both have at least one skeleton in the closet: both have set aside money to reimburse customers who were misold payment protection insurance (PPI).

For savings there is more choice. You could reject the traditional models entirely and put your money with a peer-to-peer lending service. These allow you to – almost – cut out the middleman between lenders and borrowers: instead of your money going to a bank, which then decides who to lend it to, you can make those decisions yourself. The rewards are potentially good – Zopa is currently advertising an annual return of 5.5%, while Funding Circle says its investors are achieving 8.5%. However, bad debts are possible and bear in mind that peer-to-peer lending is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

If you would prefer a more active alternative to the banks, where you can see exactly what your money is doing and you can become actively involved, then check out the growing number of community finance initiatives taking off around the country. They are undoubtedly more risky than leaving your money in a deposit account, but you receive higher returns (potentially) and cut out the financial middlemen altogether.

Also, don’t rule out credit unions, which are finally coming into their own. New rules make them much more attractive for your savings – use this search facility to find one local to you.

Sign a petition

Ann Pettifor, director of thinktank Prime, has put a petition on the Number 10 website calling for a Leveson-style inquiry into the behaviour of banks. If it gets 100,000 signatures it could be debated in the House of Commons. Pettifor’s petition states: “We the undersigned call for an independent, judicial public enquiry into fraud, wrongdoing and ethics of British banks, their management and their staff, and the role of the British Bankers Association. The terms of reference of this inquiry should also include the manipulation of interest rates on about £225 trillion of assets. The inquiry must have full powers to compel witnesses to appear on oath, and to obtain all forms of evidence.”

Pettifor says she posted the petition after seeing “a Twitter storm” following the announcement of the Barclays fine. She said: “Mervyn King has called for an inquiry into the way RBS has handled the problems with its computer system, but he hasn’t once called for an inquiry into the financial crisis.” To sign the petition, which closes on 29 September, go to the page on the Number 10 website.

Join a campaign

Check out the Move Your Money campaign website, a child of the Occupy Wall Street movement that was launched in March. It offers advice on how to organise a protest or meeting, template emails you can send to friends and family urging them to switch their cash away from the traditional banks, and template letters you can send to your MP asking him or her to support an early day motion calling for a “more sustainable banking system”. “At an individual level, you can’t do everything to put an unfair economy right – but you can do something. Move Your Money is the new Fairtrade. It is the campaign for our time,” says Ed Mayo, head of Co-ops UK, which supports the site.

Buy shares and vote

One way to have your say is to become a part-owner of a bank. Gavin Oldham, chief executive of the Share Centre, says small shareholders can often have a big impact on companies.

“Shareholders do have a lot of influence – personal shareholders particularly – so all directors are aware that they are willing to speak to the media and raise issues,” he says. “Chairmen and non-directors give attention to personal shareholders which is quite disproportionate to the value of their holding.”

Buying a share could get you into an AGM where you can stand up and ask a question, but if you have a bigger holding you could stage a protest at any point – if you can get support. If you have shares with a nominal (not market) value of £100 and can get the signatures of another 100 shareholders with holdings also worth a nominal £100, you can propose a shareholder resolution calling for changes.

With the same backing, you can also put a message out to all other shareholders, which might be a good way to raise awareness of an issue you think needs action. If you are buying through a third-party as most people do, make sure it extends the shareholder rights to you.

Patrick Connolly of IFA firm AWD Chase de Vere is more sceptical about the power of individual shareholders, but says institutional investors do have a lot of clout. He says names like F&C, Aviva and Insight Investment are good at looking in-depth at companies and taking action against them. You could consider putting your investments with a company that is likely to stand up to the banks.