Best and worst banks

[Meya]

That does seem kind of scary hjm, I see what you mean. But what about a company where you give them all your credit card info, and just in-case you loose your wallet or if it is stolen, you call this one number and it will cease them all at once? I have heard about it, but forgot who it is. I will come back and fill this gap in.

[rlee1918]

What do you think the best and worst banks are, rated by you, by experience?

[Joeyman]

I definitely suggest a credit union. All credit unions are non-profit. CU services has really made credit unions convenient, if your shopping for a credit union make sure they're apart of the CU services (most are). If their in the CU network than you can bank at any participating CU credit union. Also enjoy free ATM usage at the CU banks/ ATM machines (including all 7-Elven stores).

My credit union is clear downtown; however, there is a different credit union down the street from me that I bank at more, and it's not even my bank! :D The feeling is weird. :x Also keeping in mind, credit unions have lower VISA rates, auto loan rates, and home loan rates. If your having trouble getting VISA cards, banking with a credit union might be worth it. Often times they are small, and will look at your relationship you've had with them the past few months. They look at different things when deciding to approve you for loans - things like length of membership, direct deposit, etc. I'm not saying they don't check your credit, but they're just willing to work with you more than a large bank.

[ColoNative]

What do you think the best and worst banks are, rated by you, by experience?

Generally speaking usually subprime banks are worse then the prime banks.

Sub prime:
First Premier Bank
First Bank of Delaware
Applied Bank
Some HSBC(Orchard/Household) and Some Capital One
Barclays Bank Delaware

Prime:
Bank of America
Citibank
Chase
Discover
Amex
US Bank
Wells Fargo
Some Capital One
HSBC (actually branded as HSBC and not Orchard/Household, GM Card)

It all depends on who you ask and what the criteria are though. A lot of people hate on the sub-prime banks because the fees or APR's are too high but the bank itself has actually done nothing wrong. Other people here will tell you horror stories of Chase, Bank of America and Amex.

For me personally, I have found Discover, Amex and Citibank to have the best service, though Citibank has some pretty high APR's (they may not start out high but Citibank loves change in terms). I loved Chase before they merged with Bank One now I am indifferent to them. Bank of America...well, their service stinks to be honest, but their products are great.

In terms of where you are in your credit, I would say Capital One is pretty hard to beat. And if you treat them right they will change with you. My first card was Capital One. It had a lousy $300 limit and 19.8% APR, now it is a Platinum with a $10K limit and I have been at 10.9% APR fixed since 2000.

I generally advise people to avoid the sub prime banks all together. If you must, open one (preferrably Capital One) and use it for a year or so. If your credit score is still questionable then I advise people to open a securred credit card from Bank of America, Citibank, US Bank or Wells Fargo. You are going to pay fees for "unsecurred" cards from the sub prime banks anyway, so you might as well take your money and deposit it for the securred card to get your foot in the door with a prime bank. They generally unsecure the card within a year to year-and-a-half and you get your money back (with interest at Citibank).

[rsty99]

Something also to look for is many Banks offer accounts for veterans. I have an account with 5/3 bank which offers free checking and other benefits that some may not know about.

https://www.53.com/wps/portal/pv/?Ne...king+Benefits/

I think one fo the problems I have found is training of bank employees. I know what bank branch to go to and not got to. I went to the Chase branch next to where I work and asked to have them make it so I could see my Chase Visa when I log on to my checking account. This had been done already with a previous cc from them at another branch with no problems. After a half hour with a bank manager he couldn't do it. I had to go to other branch in the next town where it had been done before and no problems.

Also something else to consider which I learned 10 years ago, I had a credit union account with my payroll going to them. Once I got laid off and they did not see my dd for one month they did not want to cash my checks anymore and put a hold on them. I was like WHAT?, I had been depositing more than $6000.00 a month and now was being treated like I had committed some crime. Later on a financial advisor told me it is always best to never have your loans with the bank you do have your dd with and have another bank account open for that. I don't know if anyone else has had this happen. but now after going back to school and starting a new career I have really changed the way I do my banking after all this.

Todd

[Wanderer]

No idea but, a bank generally has the right of "offset". If they do and you have a loan with them they can offset your savings, checking, CD's and/or whatever to pay the loan. This could include your credit card depending on the relationship between the bank and credit card issuer. So in one way that is quite true.

[Wanderer]

Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc had their outlook lowered to negative by Standard & Poors Rating Services. It seems there is doubt on whether they would receive further support from the US Government. Source the Wall Street Journal 02/09/2010.

[Meya]

Yeah, but wasn't they in the process of returning their borrowed stimulus package? Bofa, yeah I can say that they have treated some of their trustworthy customers pretty bad, but still in all, I have to say that when it comes to banking, I don't think I am leaving them anytime soon. Been with them for over 20 yrs now, I guess I am too used to them.

[krave]

The Least-Trusted Banks in America

by Jennifer Saranow Schultz
Tuesday, February 9, 2010

provided by


Customers of the biggest banks in the United States are the least likely to believe their financial institution does what's best for them as opposed to what's best for the bottom line, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

The report, Forrester's annual Customer Advocacy rankings, ranks nearly 50 financial services firms in the United States by the percentage of each firm's customers who agree with the statement: "My financial provider does what's best for me, not just its own bottom line." The results are based on a survey of about 4,500 consumers.

The bottom seven of this year's rankings, first to last, are Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, TD/Commerce, Fifth Third, Citibank, and in last place, HSBC.

Among Bank of America customers, 33 percent agreed with the statement above, while 31 percent of Chase customers agreed, 29 percent of Capital One customers agreed, 28 percent of TD/Commerce Bank customers agreed, 27 percent of Fifth Third Bank customers agreed and 26 percent of Citibank customers agreed.

Among HSBC customers, only 16 percent said they agreed with the statement, the lowest customer advocacy score ever reported in the United States, down 10 percentage points from HSBC's score last year and in line with other recent similar poor rankings of other HSBC units.

An HSBC spokesman declined to comment on the survey, since he hadn't seen it yet.

To put the rankings in perspective, large banks have generally been at the bottom of the list since the survey was initiated seven years ago, and many of the banks have alternated between the bottom spots year to year, said a Forrester vice president, Bill Doyle, who wasn't aware of anything particular HSBC has done recently that would make its score so low. Last year, for instance, Capital One was at the bottom with 22 percent of its customers agreeing with the statement. In fact, the more customers a banking institution has, the lower its customer advocacy ranking is likely to be, according to Forrester.

Why the poor rankings for the big banks? "Part of it is that the banks are preoccupied with their bottom line. They are public institutions who are in business to make money for their shareholder and inevitably, that shows to customers," Mr. Doyle said.

A high customer advocacy ranking means that customers tend to believe their bank takes their side in disputes, does what is right even if it's not required by regulation to do so, gives fair rates or performance comparisons and is clear about charges and fees, Mr. Doyle said.

Wells Fargo/Wachovia, by contrast, did better than the other big banks. About 40 percent of its customers said they believed the bank does what is best for them, with Wachovia's customers probably pulling up Wells Fargo's ratings, Mr. Doyle said. Wachovia has generally done substantially better in the rankings than the other big banks.

According to Mr. Doyle, customer advocacy rankings are a predictor of customer retention and attrition, and customers who rate their financial service firms high are more likely to consider their firm for additional products. In contrast, customers who give their banks a low ranking are most likely to switch in the next year and are "going to be reluctant to put any more money and open new accounts at those institutions," Mr. Doyle said.

This means the low rankings don't bode well for the bigger banks, many of which are reaching federal limits for how much they can increase deposits by acquiring other banks and must rely on attracting more customers to increase revenue.

Credit unions ranked much higher than the big banks, as they have in previous years, with 70 percent of credit union customers saying their financial institution puts their interests first. Mr. Doyle said this is because of credit unions' different operating model -- they are owned by customers -- and because they tend to emphasize customer service.
After credit unions, the bank run by USAA, a financial services company that serves the military and their families, came in next with 64 percent of its customers agreeing with the statement. It was followed by ING Direct, with 46 percent. Regional banks including PNC, U.S. Bank and BB&T came in next with rankings similar to Wells Fargo/Wachovia. Regional banks, which often can't afford big advertising campaigns, tend to emphasize customer service, Mr. Doyle said.

Insurance firms, meanwhile, remained the highest rated firms for customer advocacy, with more than half of all customers rating their insurers high on customer advocacy and insurers representing two-thirds of the firms in the top half of the rankings. The ranking of investment firms, meanwhile, fell below banks for the first time since the rankings began. Investment firm rankings tend to fall when the market isn't doing well, Mr. Doyle said.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...ecking_savings

[Wanderer]

krave - thanks for the info. Back to the credit unions and local and regional banks. In my many years of life, I have found my best customer satisfaction being the smaller banks. They have pretty much what I needed for services and showed me respect. I never bothered much with the big boy banks until I took the big tank. Also, today pretty much everyone has debit/credit cards, online, bill pay, checking, savings, investment products, cd's, insurance (door opened with the elimination of the Glass Seagal Act in 1998) and so on and so on so why the big boys?

[krave]

i agree Wanderer. I'm now looking for a Credit Union close to our place where I could join...

[Wanderer]

meya - until the last ten+ years Minnesota did not have any real big boy banks. With all the happen's we now have Wells Fargo Bank NA and US Banks. For me going to a big boy bank was so as I do business and travel in the US there would be more banking options. Why change banks if they work for you? I sure wouldn't!

[Wanderer]

All - remember "...the person who has the gold rules...". The big boy banks have the gold and unless Congress forces them to change they will do whatever they please. We don't have to like it... but!

[Meya]

That is why I am staying!

[maureen]

So far, I've no problems with hsbc.