Guess who landed the #1 slot on the new “World’s Best Banks” list??
Oh – it’s USAA! Heyo!!!
And that’s just not my opinion as it always is, but this time that of a new survey that just dropped by Forbes after interviewing over 40,000 people around the globe.
Here’s the background on it:
Instead of gauging the balance sheets and P&L statements, as Forbes does for its ranking of the 100 largest publicly-traded U.S. banks published annually in January, Statista surveyed more than 40,000 customers around the globe for their opinions on their current and former banking relationships.
Banks were rated on general satisfaction and key attributes like trust, fees, digital services and financial advice.
So a more “Peoples Choice” feel here than statistics, which it SHOULD be these days because people are supposed to always come first! Making me even happier to see USAA on top of the list since their service to their members is legendary…
Here’s what they specifically said about them in their analyzation of the report:
USAA was the highest-rated bank in the U.S. The bank is open to members of the U.S. military and their families and has more than 12 million members. It scored highly on trust, financial advice and terms and conditions.
Yup! And why I’ve been a proud member for over 20 years now! Thanks Daddy-o!
But enough gushing….
Here are the top bank lists from the US, Canada, and United Kingdom who make up a bulk of the readers of this blog… With a little action from Indonesia thrown in, in hopes of wooing them to read more and improve their rank of 20th place here! ;)
The Best Banks in the U.S.:
A total of 60 were listed, but here’s the top 10:
- USAA
- Bell Bank
- S&T Bank
- Liberty Bank
- United Community Banks
- Fulton Bank
- WesBanco
- Discover Bank
- Rockland Trust
- Eastern Bank
Not surprisingly, you don’t see any of the Big Four on there! (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup) In fact, two of the four didn’t even place in the top 60, and the other two who did (Chase and Citigroup) came in at 37th and 51st respectively.
I actually don’t recognize any of those banks up there except for USAA and Discover Bank, which probably means a lot of the littler regional ones are getting some good play!! So good on y’all!
The Best Banks in Canada:
There was only a total of 5 banks listed here for some reason (maybe they blew the others out of the water?!), but here they are in the order ranked:
- ATB Financial
- Tangerine
- Simplii Financial
- Desjardins
- RBC
Tangerine used to be alllll over the blog scene back in the day, and you could hardly even read an article without a Canadian $$$ blogger mentioning them! So glad to see they’re still making people happy!
The Best Banks in The United Kingdom:
Here are the top 10 out of the top 15 that made the list:
- Starling Bank
- Monzo
- Nationwide Building Society
- First Direct
- Virgin Money
- M&S Bank
- Sainsburys Bank Plc
- The co-operative bank
- Clydesdale Bank
- Tesco Bank
Don’t know any here except for that Virgin brand (hubba hubba), but interestingly I did notice a majority from the next five that rounded out the list (Halifax, Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland). They used to advertise across a lot of $$$ blogs :)
The Best Banks in Indonesia!
The top 5 out of 10:
- Bank Central Asia
- PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN)
- HSBC
- Bank Negara Indonesia
- Bank Mandiri
That last one sounds like a tropical drink, doesn’t it? :)
To see the full lists of all 23 countries polled, click here: The World’s Best Banks 2019 (use the drop down on the left to select your country) And then to see the write up and analyzation of the lists, go here: The World’s Best Banks: ING And Citibank Lead The Way
ING bank ended up ranking highest across the world with 8 “top” appearances out of the 23 countries, who was then closely followed by Citibank who made 6 placements, though again not highly listed in the U.S. or even Canada or the United Kingdom. In third place came mobile bank N26 who landed on 5 top slots without even operating any physical branches! (Their free worldwide ATM withdrawals and fee-free currency conversions sealed the deal for them!)
So there you have it! The world’s best banks according to Forbes!
What do you think? Did your bank make the list? Have you tried any of these and later ended up regretting it?? Where all my Indonesians at?! ;)
Speak your mind now or forever hold your peace(ful checking account)!
*****
For more “top lists”, see The Best Banks and Financial Products of 2019 that we shared in January covering banking too, but also financial apps, credit cards, credit unions, brokerage accounts, and more.
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USAA is hands down the best bank. I have never felt more secure about doing business with someone. They are always there when you need them, have excellent customer service, and have many more bonuses that would take me forever to list. I’m thankful for my step dad for serving. As well as all that do serve!
They need to hire you for their marketing division, haha…
(and obviously I agree with all of the above!)
ING turned into Tangerine in Canada so it is on the list as #2. Just separate from the world wide operations I guess?
Ahhh, possibly!
I can understand USAA (everybody seems to love them) but by now I’m a little shocked when people use banks instead of credit unions. Like Wells Fargo — they’re still in business how? And if I had a nickel for every hijink I’ve heard about BofA trying to pull, I’d be a noticeable fraction closer to FIRE.
I guess it’s name recognition and folks not yet realizing the only reason a physical presence is necessary is signing loan paperwork. Checks get “deposited” on a cell phone, cash is withdrawn at a no-surcharge 7-11 around the corner from my house. Pretty sure I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used a branch (even though it’s only a dozen minutes from my house): a car loan in 2001 and another in 2004, withdrawing cash for an engagement ring in 2010, setting up an account with my wife in 2011, signing mortgage refinancing documents in 2015… yeah, that’s about it.
And do you know who invented the deposit-by-phone trick??
Oh, that was USAA ;)
Also been doing free ATM withdrawals for years…
But I’ll second you on credit unions – they’re great. And really do put their members first because they own them!! ;) (And are non-for-profit)
Like most people these days, I have very little to no brand loyalty, but when it comes to USAA, as the ad’s say: We are USAA Members for Life. I shopped around for insurance. Once. I quit trying when an agent leveled with me and told me how lucky I was to be eligible for USAA and that they can’t touch them. That was 20 years ago. Their service is unparalleled. They actually treat you like a valued customer. I only wish they offered High Yield online savings accounts like Ally or a HELOC. We do all our banking with them with those exceptions.
Yeah, that is one of their downfalls but I still stick with them just for the convenience of having everything in one main spot… The only accounts I have outside are my business accounts (USAA still doesn’t offer!), as well as my investments which now go directly through Vanguard… They used to all be with USAA but was like $40 a transaction or something to get Vanguard funds and eventually just sucked it up and moved.
Credit Union member for most of my adult life. Very little experience with banks.
Probably safe to keep it that way :)
My wife’s Dad was a 20+ year Marine. For some reason he refuses to open a USAA account, I’ve really tried on multiple occasions to get him to do so, I honestly don’t know what he has against them nor do I understand why he wont just do it so his kids can benefit… Its annoying really.
That is annoying :( He can literally just put like $10 in a savings account there one week, let you guys all call up and get verified and “in,” and then go back later and close it out if he wanted to. Hell – maybe you should just give him the $10 to do it and let him keep it afterwards! Haha…
My bank is on the list and is ranked #1. USAA is the best! The whole family uses it. It’s a great tool to be able to keep an eye on all three of my children’s accounts. We manage everything online and my kids have never had to step foot in an actual bank location for any reason.
Oh that’s pretty cool you can watch their accounts like that! Is it just because you’re part-owner of them or something, so when you log on to your accounts you see *everything*? Or is it a special setup you have? (My 3 all have savings accounts in their names that I manage for them, but they’re too young to start really making any transactions…)
USAA WOOT! They never give me anything because I slipped in when they were letting civvies join but I still love them :D
Haha… yeah…. so many people got mad at them for that too!! It was one of my most trafficked pages here when I announced that on the blog years ago… still gets angry comments, on both sides :)
I hear ya on the investment side. It was convenient to use because it was all right there when you logged into your account. At $8.95 per buy or sell on individual stocks, I hated having to wait to save enough money to justify the transaction. Luckily, I found M1 Finance. Which I just wrote an article on and why I’ll never invest with anyone else but M1.
Oh yeah – people rave about M1! So I believe it!
Wow, USAA – really? They used to be good – now I stay as far away from them as I can. I’ve left one acct just so I can pay one recurring bill that I want to keep separate from all my other accounts. Their interest rate is awful. Like all the other banks, they seem mainly interested in seeing how much they can get from you. Oh, and power of attorney – forget it. They will only accept it if it is on their form. Stay away from them! I have found them annoying to work with, which fortunately isn’t often. Don’t believe the hype – they have gone downhill A LOT!
Dang – sorry to hear you’ve had such $hitty experiences with them! I suppose all banks are bound to screw up a times though… although I can’t imagine that’s correct about the power of attorney thing?
Okay, I have access to USAA thanks to my Dad too. I’ve only ever considered their car insurance but obviously, I need to consider their banking. Do you actually have a brick and mortar USAA bank in your area? Or is it solely online?
I think there’s now one or two brick and mortars in the country (maybe more?), but I’ve always done things online or over the phone/mobile app over the past 20 years…The only time it gets tricky is if you come across large wads of cash you need to deposit :)
Which would be a lovely problem to have ;)
Indeed, haha…
We use Chase, I remember signing up when I was 17 and got $200 for opening a checking and a savings account. I thought “Wow! $200! I’m rich!” lol I’m 30 now and still use them. Sure they do shady crap as do most of the big banks and corporations but I haven’t had any issues other than them charging $12 when we made too many transfers from our savings one month.
You were smart enough to go for the accounts offering money! I fell for all the free t-shirts!