To create this list, Forbes Advisor analyzed 159 financial institutions, including a mix of traditional brick-and-mortar banks, online banks and credit unions. We ranked each institution on 29 data points within the categories of fees, account variety, access, customer experience, digital experience, business features, minimums, deposit and transaction limits, APY, and whether or not it offered accounts exclusively for nonprofits.
The following is the weighting assigned to each category:
- Fees: 15%
- Account variety: 10%
- Branch and ATM access: 10%
- Customer experience: 10%
- Digital experience: 15%
- Business features: 10%
- Minimums: 10%
- Limits: 10%
- APY: 5%
- Exclusive to nonprofits: 5%
Specific characteristics taken into consideration within each category included monthly fee, ability to waive the monthly fee, overdraft fee, NSF fee, other fees, ATM network, branch access, merchant services, integrations, Better Business Bureau rating, Trustpilot rating, live chat availability, mobile app ratings, online bill pay availability, online banking access, transaction limits, cash deposit limits, minimum deposit requirements and minimum balance requirements.
Financial Institutions with accounts offering no or very low fees scored the highest, as did those offering low minimum requirements, high transaction limits, and high customer service and digital experience scores. To appear on this list, the institution must be nationally available.
