September 9, 2014: Newly released star-ratings from BAUERFINANCIAL, Inc., the nation’s bank rating firm, Show continued progress by U.S. Banks and Credit Unions. Nationwide, the percentage of recommended banks increased from 71.2% to 75.5% from a year ago. That’s the highest since the first quarter of 2007. Credit Union’s rated 5-Stars or 4-Stars now represent 77.5% of the industry.
At the top: New Hampshire was the solitary state with 100% of its banks on our Recommended Report last year; it has now been joined by Alaska.
Three states lost ground at the top end: Delaware, Vermont and West Virginia had a year over year decline in their percent of banks rated 5-Stars or 4-Stars.
At the bottom: The percent of banks rated 2-Stars and below is 5.6%, slightly better than the 6.0% last quarter and a significant improvement over the 8.3% of a year ago. Only 3.25% of credit unions are rated 2-stars or below.
All but five states showed year over year improvement in the banks rated 2-Stars or below. Those states are: Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico and Rhode Island. All others either improved or stayed the same.