What financial institution gets the best bank ratings out there? This can be EXTREMELY hard to determine because of all the local, state and national branches.
Obviously you might have a "killer" local branch that would beat a good national chain any day of the week.
However, since it would take eons to cover every company out there, I've restricted this review to 2 of the best "national" companies.
#1) Bank of America (BOA) You are probably shocked to hear this-but BOA is actually one of the better institutions around.
I know what you're thinking-but hear me out.
Certainly everybody knows about their reputation for lousy customer service-and there is some validity to that-but they aren't as bad as you might think.
It really depends on which branch you go to-and this is true of just about every financial institution.
And if their customer service is lacking, this is more than made up for by their top notch online banking system.
This is probably just behind Wells Fargo in terms of usability and overall user-friendliness.
It is easily one of the most secure online systems on the planet-you don't have to worry about identity theft at all.
All of the best bank ratings will confirm this.
Washington Mutual (WM) This is the other one to be reviewed.
Quite simply, WM consistently gets solid customer service ratings.
While it's still one of the biggest financial institutions in the country, it's not so big that customer service is neglected.
The branches still have that "neighborly" feel to them-this is one big advantage it has over BOA.
"One-stop" shopping While WM does have the feel of a local branch, the BIG ADVANTAGE they have over many local companies is that they offer just about every financial service under the sun.
Why is this important?