Methodology

To identify America’s Best Banks, Lendingtree in consultation with Newsweek culled candidates from among more than 2,500 Fdic-insured financial institutions. Lendingtree then applied filters to narrow the candidates in each category, based on the most salient features for each bank type or account; Lendingtree supplied the data and made recommendations for a proprietary scoring system developed by Newsweek, based on the most important factors for each type of bank or account. Data sources included Depositaccounts.com, info published by each bank, FDIC reports, CFPB complaints and mobile app reviews.

All together, 55 factors were assessed, including various fees, current and historical interest rates, account terms, customer service features and mobile app scores.

For state winners, the best big bank needed to have at least one branch per 100,000 residents and $10 billion in assets; the best small bank had to have less than $10 billion in assets and be among the five banks with the most branches in the state. A bank couldn’t have more than one branch to be considered for best online bank. For best customer service, a bank had to have responded to at least 97 percent of complaints filed with the CFPB in a timely fashion to be considered.

To be considered for best online savings or online checking accounts, a bank had to have fewer than 100 branches; banks needed more than 100 branches to win for either the best checking or best savings account award. (For the full methodology, go to newsweek.com/bb-2021.)

Newsweek exercised final editorial judgment when selecting winners. Current interest rate information is accurate as of September 24, 2020 and represents the highest rate a customer could earn, if all qualifications are met. The complete data set was last updated by Lendingtree on September 10, 2020.