Banking, finance, and taxes
America's Best (and Worst) Banks of 2016
Published:
Last Updated:
Since the November elections, the S&P Banks Select Industry Index has risen slightly more than 26%. Financial institutions are widely seen as being significant beneficiaries of President-elect Trump’s push to reduce regulation.
But while investors are cheering, consumers may be less enthusiastic about banks. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has recorded more than 679,000 complaints against nearly 3,000 U.S. banks and financial institutions since July 2011.
Using the CFPB’s data set, researchers at LendEDU ranked the 57 banks in the S&P Banks Select index on the basis of the number of complaints received normalized by the value of a bank’s deposits. Banks with the most complaints per billion dollars in deposits were, of course, the worst and banks with the fewest complaints the best.
Of the 57 banks in the index, the researchers found 12 that had received no complaints at all — or at least no complaints that they could find. All were regional banks, and the largest one, Silicon Valley Bank, has a total of $38.2 billion in deposits. What’s interesting about that bank, which is owned by SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB), is that it is also the top holding (2.89%) in the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSEMKT: KBE), which tracks the S&P Banks Select index. Good service pays off apparently.
The big (diversified) bank with the fewest complaints was Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) with 5.78 complaints per $1 billion in deposits, followed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) with a score of 5.82. The country’s other big banks did not fare as well: three ranked in the bottom five and a fourth ranked sixth.
Here are the five worst banks in the country:
Ranked sixth worst was U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) with 7.14 complaints and deposits of $334.6 billion.
In addition to Silicon Valley Bank, the other 11 banks with no complaints are:
For more details and description of the methodology used in the study, see the LendEDU website.
Let’s face it: If your money is just sitting in a checking account, you’re losing value every single day. With most checking accounts offering little to no interest, the cash you worked so hard to save is gradually being eroded by inflation.
However, by moving that money into a high-yield savings account, you can put your cash to work, growing steadily with little to no effort on your part. In just a few clicks, you can set up a high-yield savings account and start earning interest immediately.
There are plenty of reputable banks and online platforms that offer competitive rates, and many of them come with zero fees and no minimum balance requirements. Click here to see if you’re earning the best possible rate on your money!
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.