NEW YORK–Forbes has released its first-ever listing of “Best In-State Banks and Credit Unions,” identifying one credit union as receiving the highest marks and saying that overall CUs outperformed banks on overall score.
The rankings are not based on balance sheets but instead on a survey of 25,000 consumers in the U.S. The banks and credit unions were rated on overall recommendations and satisfaction, as well as five subdimensions (trust, terms and conditions, branch services, digital services and financial advice).
Nationwide financial institutions such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase Bank, which have branches in at least 15 U.S. states, were excluded from the final rankings. Ten other national banks were not considered for that reason, including U.S. Bank, PNC Financial and Bank of the West (BofA, Wells and Chase all rated lower than most of the “small” banks), said Forbes. Navy Federal Credit Union (30 states) was the only credit union eliminated for its reach.
Final scores ranged from 40 to 95.4, with Connecticut’s Thomaston Savings Bank posting the top rating overall. Between one and five companies were awarded Best-In-State designation, based on the number of responses in each state.
Forbes said the credit union getting the top score overall is Louisiana-based Barksdale Federal Credit Union, which was chartered to serve Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, La. But which now serves more than 1,000 companies, associations and churches and has 127,000 members. It also serves East Texas following a merger.
Three credit unions that got high marks across multiple states in the Forbes survey include Eastman Credit Union (Tennessee, West Virginia), Security Service Federal Credit Union (Colorado, Texas, Utah) and Visions Federal Credit Union (New Jersey, New York).
Shrinking Numbers, Growing Importance
“There were 18,000 commercial banks and savings institutions in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, but 35 years of massive consolidation and nearly 3,000 bank failures have cut the total by 70%,” Forbes said in releasing its analysis. “With the proliferation of online banks, it is even more important for local banks to demonstrate their advantages in regard to customer service, accessibility and financial advice.”
To compile the survey results, Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista.
In total, 124 banks and 145 credit unions made the final cut, representing 2.4% of U.S. financial institutions. Credit unions outpaced banks with an average score of 80 versus 75.2 for banks, Forbes said.
Forbes said it found that despite a decade of rock-bottom interest rates on savings accounts, customers mostly give their banks and credit unions high marks, with a general satisfaction rating of 4.42 for credit unions and 4.24 for banks, on a scale of 1 to 5.
The complete Forbes article can be found here.
The full credit union listings are here.