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According to a study by ABA Banking Journal, three in four Americans only have some or little confidence in their banks. [1] Having a good relationship with your bank, knowing your money is safe, trusting their financial advice, and knowing that you can promptly receive support when needed, is vital.
To find out which U.S. banks have the most satisfied customers, the study analyzed 75,478 customer reviews of 108 of the most popular brick-and-mortar and online-only banks in the U.S. The study used 122 keywords (words or phrases) related to positive and negative experiences to find the percentage of reviews that indicated a bad customer experience, and the percentage that indicated a positive one. Examples of words used in the study include ‘friendly’ or ‘difficult’, but false positives and false negatives (e.g., ‘not friendly’ or ‘not difficult’) were also taken into consideration.
Key findings
- TowneBank is the U.S. bank with the best customer experience (93% of reviews are positive).
- First Commonwealth Bank (87.9%) and Pacific Premier Bank (87%) are the banks with the second and third-best customer service.
- State Street (56.7% positive reviews), PNC Bank (43.2%), and U.S. Bank (41.9%) are America’s best large banks.
How the largest American banks performed
It’s estimated that the top five banks in the U.S. control around 41.2% of the domestic market in terms of assets. [2] But is bigger necessarily better for consumers? On average, considering the largest 10 banks analyzed, these banks received an average of 37.5% positive reviews and 39.4% negative reviews. In comparison, the study average was 55.4% positive reviews and 26.2% negative reviews. This indicates that those banking with smaller businesses were more likely to be satisfied.
Considering the percentage of positive reviews, State Street (56.7%), PNC Bank (43.2%), and U.S. Bank (41.9%) had the highest percentage of positive reviews.
| Performance of the largest U.S. retail banks (by consolidated assets)* | ||||
| Size | Main bank name | Consolidated Assets (Mil $) | % of positive reviews | % of negative reviews |
| 1 | JPMorgan Chase | 3,643,099 | 38.1% | 32.1% |
| 2 | Bank of America | 2,615,296 | 29.1% | 33.3% |
| 3 | Citibank | 1,760,921 | 29.1% | 43.9% |
| 4 | Wells Fargo Bank | 1,711,028 | 30.7% | 41.1% |
| 5 | U.S. Bank | 659,191 | 41.9% | 40.6% |
| 6 | PNC Bank | 549,324 | 43.2% | 36.0% |
| 7 | Truist Bank | 527,488 | 28.8% | 50.5% |
| 8 | Capital One | 490,573 | 37.8% | 40.0% |
| 9 | State Street | 368,219 | 56.7% | 23.1% |
| 10 | TD Bank | 366,507 | 29.0% | 53.1% |
*One review may have both positive and negative keywords. Some reviews may not contain any of the keywords considered and are not counted. Therefore, positive and negative reviews may sum to greater or less than 100%.
The most common negative words/phrases in reviews
On average, one in four (26.2%) reviews analyzed had something bad to say about their customer service experience. And the figures were pretty similar for both online (25%) and traditional banks (26.4%).
The most common word found in a negative review was ‘worst’ (found in 16.8% of complaints). Customers of BMO Bank were the most likely to review their experience of the Illinois-based bank as the ‘worst’ (25.7%).
It’s not just the quality of the service that unhappy customers complain about, but the attitude of bank staff too. One in three (13%) complained about a ‘rude’ experience – and the rudest employees, according to reviews, work for PlainsCapital Bank (26.1% of negative reviews for this bank refer to ‘rude’ treatment).
The third most common word found in negative reviews was simply ‘bad’ (10.2%). Cathay Bank is the worst of them all, with 19.7% of reviews mentioning a ‘bad’ experience.
| The top 10 most common negative words/phrases in reviews | ||||
| Rank | Word or phrase | % of occurrence in all negative reviews | Bank with the greatest % of this word | % of occurrence in negative reviews |
| 1 | worst | 16.8% | BMO Bank | 25.7% |
| 2 | rude | 13% | PlainsCapital Bank | 26.1% |
| 3 | bad | 10.2% | Cathay Bank | 19.7% |
| 4 | horrible | 9.7% | Dime Community Bank | 19.5% |
| 5 | terrible | 8.2% | Woodforest National Bank | 16.7% |
| 6 | slow | 5.3% | Arvest Bank | 14.2% |
| 7 | unprofessional | 4.7% | Bank of Hope | 11.5% |
| 8 | disappoint* | 3.9% | Pacific Premier Bank | 20.0% |
| 9 | worse | 2.7% | Banc of California | 6.5% |
| 10 | on hold | 2.4% | Bank of Hawaii | 8.6% |
The best banks in the U.S. for customer service
| The top 10 most positively reviewed U.S. banks | ||
| Rank | Bank | % of positive reviews |
| 1 | TowneBank | 93.0% |
| 2 | First Commonwealth Bank | 87.9% |
| 3 | Pacific Premier Bank | 87.0% |
| 4 | Centier Bank | 84.0% |
| 5 | Central Bank | 83.8% |
| 6 | First United Bank & Trust Company | 81.5% |
| 7 | Tri City Bank | 80.1% |
| 8 | Sandy Spring Bank | 78.7% |
| 9 | OceanFirst Bank | 78.6% |
| 10 | Washington Federal Bank | 78.6% |
The top five U.S. banks for customer service
1. TowneBank: 93% of reviews are positive
TowneBank may only have 44 branches across Virginia and North Carolina, but this relatively small bank considerably outpaced its larger competitors when it came to customer service. [9] An impressive 93% of all reviews for TowneBank had something nice to say about their experience dealing with the bank. 17.9% of positive reviews mentioned that they would ‘recommend’ the bank, 10.8% said the service was ‘great’, and 8.7% described the staff as ‘knowledgeable’ (the three top appearing words for the bank overall).
The small-town, local feel of the bank comes across in reviews. One Virginian customer writes, “TowneBank at the New Town branch location lives up to its name of being a hometown bank. The staff at this branch provide exceptional personalized customer service”. On a similar note, another satisfied Virginian customer writes, “It is so important to support these smaller banks in order to keep things fair for us consumers”.
2. First Commonwealth Bank: 87.9% of reviews are positive
First Commonwealth Bank serves Pennsylvania and Ohio, and claims on its website to be ‘big enough to deliver all of the services of a large bank, yet small enough to allow for one-on-one, know-you-by-name relationships with our customers.’ [10] The company must be doing something right because 87.9% of reviews for the bank had something positive to say about their experience.
The same as TowneBank, the most frequently seen positive words in reviews were ‘recommend’ (22.6%), ‘great’ (11.1%), and ‘knowledgeable’ (6.4%).
Also like TowneBank, customers appreciated the local feel of the bank and placed a lot of trust in the bank. “[They] have modern banking functionality with a small community feel…best of both worlds,” one reviewer writes. “I feel so safe with my finances here,” reads another five-star review.
3. Pacific Premier Bank: 87% of reviews are positive
The California-founded Pacific Premier Bank was found to be the 3rd best U.S. bank for customer service, with a positive review score of 87%. Pacific Premier Bank has already achieved some impressive accolades, including being ranked Top Public U.S. Bank by S&P Global Market Intelligence in 2022. [11]
The most frequent positive words and phrases for this bank differed from the two previous banks, but were more reflective of the study norm. The most commonly seen words were ‘friendly’ (12.7%), ‘great’ (11.3%), and ‘helpful’ (10.5%).
The exceptional in-person service shines through in reviews. One glowing review reads, “This bank provides the best customer service I have ever received. Part of their hiring process must be to test for service.” Another recommends the bank to “anyone looking for a bank that really cares about their customers”.
4. Centier Bank: 84% of reviews are positive
Of all reviews analyzed, 84% of reviews for Centier Bank had something positive to say about their experience banking with this Indiana family business. ‘Friendly’ (15.5%), ‘helpful’ (14.1%), and ‘great’ (13.9%) were the most commonly seen words in reviews for this bank too.
Again, bigger isn’t always better. Customers valued the familiarity and attention provided by this local bank. As one Indianan review states: “Small, friendly and family oriented banking. My best banking experience. You recognize the quality of customer service when an issue has occurred. When you need quality service, it’s there”.
5. Central Bank: 84% of reviews are positive
Completing the top five best U.S. banks for customer service is Central Bank. Central Bank has 158 locations across Missouri, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, and Oklahoma and an impressive 83.8% of all reviews contained positive keywords. [12] The top three words found in positive reviews for the bank were ‘great’ (13.9%), ‘helpful’ (13.2%), and ‘friendly’ (11%).
Looking closely at the reviews, Central Bank appears to particularly excel at its mortgage loans. One of the many reviews about a positive mortgage-loan experience writes, “I never thought I would call the mortgage process easy and enjoyable […] From the first disclosure to the last drop of ink on the final closing documents, we were informed and expertly guided”.
The exceptional service leaves even long-standing customers impressed. “I have banked at Central Bank of Midwest for over 40 years, but yesterday their customer service was more outstanding than ever!” writes one happy customer from Kansas.
The most common positive words/phrases in reviews
The good news is that you are twice as likely to have something positive (55.4%) rather than negative (26.2%) to write about when reviewing one of the 108 popular U.S. banks in the study. Again, the difference is slight comparing online bank reviews (55.8% positive) and traditional banks (55.3%).
The most commonly found keywords in positive reviews were ‘great’ (13.1%), ‘friendly’ (10.6%), and ‘helpful’ (10.4%) – demonstrating that the attitude of staff towards customers makes a significant difference.
| The top 10 most common positive words/phrases in reviews | ||||
| Rank | Word or phrase | % of occurrence in all positive reviews | Bank with the greatest % of this word | % of occurrence in positive reviews |
| 1 | great | 13.1% | First Interstate Bank | 19.9% |
| 2 | friendly | 10.6% | Glacier Bank | 12.1% |
| 3 | helpful | 10.4% | Ameris Bank | 16.2% |
| 4 | recommend | 6.9% | First Commonwealth Bank | 22.6% |
| 5 | good | 6.9% | Synchrony Bank | 16.9% |
| 6 | best | 6.0% | Citizens Business Bank | 10.3% |
| 7 | love | 5.4% | Chime Financial, Inc. | 25.7%* |
| 8 | professional | 4.8% | Popular Bank | 8.2% |
| 9 | care | 4.5% | Synchrony Bank | 18.6% |
| 10 | excellent | 3.3% | Amerant Bank | 8.8% |
*Chime Financial, Inc. has the phrase “the #1 Most Loved Banking App” as its trademark.[13]
Methodology
We collected 75,478 online reviews in May 2025 regarding the most popular retail banks in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve and popular online-only banks suggested by Google. This came to 108 retail banks overall.
To analyze which banks were the best and worst for customer service, we looked at the occurrence of a set list of 122 keywords (61 positive and 61 negative). The study discounted false positives and false negatives (e.g., ‘not bad’ or ‘not great’). The analysis also accounted for misspellings and conjugations.
One review may count as both a positive and a negative review. For example, a review saying “I was left on hold for an hour, but once I did get through to a member of staff, they were very helpful” contains the words ‘on-hold’ (a negative phrase indicator) and ‘helpful’. This is why the percentage of negative reviews and the percentage of positive reviews can total more than 100%.
On the other hand, some reviews may not contain any of the keywords in the study, meaning they were discounted from the analysis. This means that some positive and negative percentage scores will add up to more (or less) than 100%.
| Complete results: banks A-Z | |||
| Bank | Bank type | % of positive reviews | % of negative reviews |
| Ally Bank | Online bank | 50.2% | 50.9% |
| Amerant Bank | Traditional bank | 45.5% | 12.5% |
| Ameris Bank | Traditional bank | 78.1% | 7.0% |
| Arvest Bank | Traditional bank | 46.6% | 32.9% |
| Associated Bank | Traditional bank | 54.9% | 27.8% |
| Atlantic Union Bank | Traditional bank | 57.6% | 23.5% |
| Axos Bank | Online bank | 52.8% | 41.0% |
| Banc of California | Traditional bank | 62.8% | 18.1% |
| BancFirst | Traditional bank | 61.1% | 22.6% |
| Bank 5 Connect | Online bank | 69.2% | 7.9% |
| Bank of America | Traditional bank | 29.1% | 33.3% |
| Bank of Hawaii | Traditional bank | 47.7% | 31.5% |
| Bank of Hope | Traditional bank | 36.5% | 32.4% |
| Bank OZK | Traditional bank | 63.3% | 20.8% |
| BankUnited | Traditional bank | 49.3% | 30.4% |
| Banner Bank | Traditional bank | 64.9% | 20.5% |
| Bell Bank | Traditional bank | 70.8% | 12.4% |
| Berkshire Bank | Traditional bank | 45.2% | 30.4% |
| BMO Bank | Traditional bank | 35.0% | 41.9% |
| BOKF, National Association | Traditional bank | 66.6% | 16.1% |
| Bremer Bank | Traditional bank | 56.2% | 21.0% |
| Busey Bank | Traditional bank | 62.3% | 21.5% |
| Cadence Bank | Traditional bank | 50.5% | 30.3% |
| Capital One | Traditional bank | 37.8% | 40.0% |
| Cathay Bank | Traditional bank | 41.5% | 28.8% |
| Centennial Bank | Traditional bank | 59.8% | 25.0% |
| Centier Bank | Traditional bank | 84.0% | 3.8% |
| Central Bank | Traditional bank | 83.8% | 7.0% |
| Chime Financial, Inc. | Online bank | 64.5% | 13.1% |
| Citibank | Traditional bank | 29.1% | 43.9% |
| Citizens Bank | Traditional bank | 45.6% | 37.1% |
| Citizens Business Bank | Traditional bank | 45.3% | 35.3% |
| City National Bank | Traditional bank | 67.9% | 17.6% |
| City National Bank of Florida | Traditional bank | 39.9% | 38.2% |
| Comerica Bank | Traditional bank | 46.8% | 32.1% |
| Commerce Bank | Traditional bank | 51.9% | 30.0% |
| Community Bank | Traditional bank | 57.9% | 22.7% |
| Dime Community Bank | Traditional bank | 59.3% | 29.7% |
| Discover | Online bank | 42.7% | 45.2% |
| East West Bank | Traditional bank | 51.8% | 23.8% |
| Eastern Bank | Traditional bank | 55.4% | 26.8% |
| Enterprise Bank & Trust | Traditional bank | 67.9% | 3.9% |
| Farmers & Merchants Bank | Traditional bank | 67.7% | 15.9% |
| Fifth Third Bank | Traditional bank | 36.9% | 41.8% |
| First Bank | Traditional bank | 67.6% | 22.1% |
| First Commonwealth Bank | Traditional bank | 87.9% | 13.7% |
| First Financial Bank | Traditional bank | 67.2% | 18.6% |
| First Hawaiian Bank | Traditional bank | 43.5% | 33.8% |
| First Horizon Bank | Traditional bank | 60.8% | 25.2% |
| First Interstate Bank | Traditional bank | 59.1% | 27.5% |
| First Merchants Bank | Traditional bank | 63.1% | 21.1% |
| First National Bank | Traditional bank | 44.54% | 40.38% |
| First United Bank & Trust Company | Traditional bank | 81.5% | 12.7% |
| First-Citizens Bank | Traditional bank | 56.5% | 32.0% |
| Flagstar Bank | Traditional bank | 55.5% | 30.4% |
| Frost Bank | Traditional bank | 56.7% | 23.4% |
| Fulton Bank | Traditional bank | 51.6% | 31.5% |
| Glacier Bank | Traditional bank | 57.1% | 20.5% |
| Hancock Whitney Bank | Traditional bank | 50.5% | 30.0% |
| HSBC Bank USA | Traditional bank | 30.6% | 49.0% |
| Huntington Bank | Traditional bank | 38.1% | 42.5% |
| Independent Financial | Traditional bank | 62.4% | 27.6% |
| JPMorgan Chase | Traditional bank | 38.1% | 32.1% |
| KeyBank | Traditional bank | 39.5% | 42.5% |
| M&T Bank | Traditional bank | 41.9% | 41.6% |
| Mechanics Bank | Traditional bank | 48.3% | 36.5% |
| NBT Bank | Traditional bank | 59.8% | 23.2% |
| OceanFirst Bank | Traditional bank | 78.6% | 9.7% |
| Old National Bank | Traditional bank | 49.2% | 33.9% |
| Pacific Premier Bank | Traditional bank | 87.0% | 4.4% |
| Park National Bank | Traditional bank | 55.3% | 23.9% |
| Pinnacle Bank | Traditional bank | 63.0% | 18.0% |
| PlainsCapital Bank | Traditional bank | 58.4% | 17.6% |
| PNC Bank | Traditional bank | 43.2% | 36.0% |
| Popular Bank | Traditional bank | 37.1% | 30.0% |
| Prosperity Bank | Traditional bank | 54.8% | 32.5% |
| Quontic | Online bank | 65.3% | 15.4% |
| Regions Bank | Traditional bank | 40.6% | 25.0% |
| Renasant Bank | Traditional bank | 62.0% | 24.8% |
| Revolut | Online bank | 39.7% | 1.8% |
| Rockland Trust | Traditional bank | 65.6% | 21.2% |
| Sandy Spring Bank | Traditional bank | 78.7% | 18.4% |
| Santander Bank | Traditional bank | 44.3% | 39.4% |
| Seacoast National Bank | Traditional bank | 62.7% | 24.0% |
| Simmons Bank | Traditional bank | 51.0% | 28.8% |
| SoFi | Online bank | 68.1% | 12.8% |
| SouthState Bank | Traditional bank | 58.0% | 23.1% |
| State Street | Traditional bank | 56.7% | 23.1% |
| Synchrony Bank | Online bank | 43.0% | 52.3% |
| Synovus Bank | Traditional bank | 56.2% | 25.8% |
| TD Bank | Traditional bank | 29.0% | 53.1% |
| TowneBank | Traditional bank | 93.0% | 9.9% |
| Tri City Bank | Traditional bank | 80.1% | 10.7% |
| Truist Bank | Traditional bank | 28.8% | 50.5% |
| Trustmark Bank | Traditional bank | 60.6% | 22.4% |
| U.S. Bank | Traditional bank | 41.9% | 40.6% |
| UMB Bank | Traditional bank | 60.3% | 13.4% |
| Umpqua Bank | Traditional bank | 55.3% | 28.6% |
| United Bank | Traditional bank | 64.1% | 16.1% |
| United Community Bank | Traditional bank | 73.6% | 12.2% |
| Valley National Bank | Traditional bank | 57.7% | 22.9% |
| Varo Bank | Online bank | 62.3% | 9.9% |
| Washington Federal Bank | Traditional bank | 78.6% | 6.7% |
| Webster Bank | Traditional bank | 33.1% | 55.9% |
| Webster Bank | Traditional bank | 30.7% | 41.1% |
| Wells Fargo Bank | Traditional bank | 56.9% | 25.8% |
| Woodforest National Bank | Traditional bank | 58.1% | 3.5% |
| Zions Bank | Traditional bank | 43.5% | 41.8% |
Sources
[1] ABA Banking Journal, ‘Survey: U.S. public confidence remains low for banks, other institutions‘, 2024
[2] Insider Money, “20 Largest Banks in the US by Customers”, 2024
[3] NPR, “CFPB alleges 3 banks failed to protect consumers from Zelle fraud”, 2024
[4] Webster Bank, ‘About Us‘
[5] EMARKETER,’ Top 10 biggest US banks by assets: Data drop‘, 2025
[6] Top Class Action, “TD Bank hit with class action lawsuit over ‘illegal’ paper statement fees”, 2025
[7] Truist Financial, “BB&T, and SunTrust complete merger of equals to become Truist“, 2019
[8] StrongDM, “Truist Data Breach: What Happened and How to Prevent It”, 2025
[9] TowneBank, ‘Discover more about TowneBank‘
[10 ]First Commonwealth Bank, ‘https://www.fcbanking.com/why-us/
[11] Pacific Premier Bank, ‘About Us‘
[12] Central Bank, “Central Bancompany”
About us
With over 30 years’ worth of experience, JG Wentworth is an American financial services company that specializes in structured settlements, annuity purchases, debt relief solutions, and other offerings. JG Wentworth has helped resolve over 2.9 billion debts and 4 billion structured payouts.
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