America's Banks Ranked by Complaint Rate
We took nearly 3 million CFPB banking complaints, normalised them per 1,000 estimated customers across 57 US institutions (expanded methodology rolling out later in 2026), and ranked the results. The findings reveal a financial system where the highest-rate major banks generate complaints at more than 22× the rate of recognisable low-complaint peers such as Goldman Sachs.
The headline finding
Synchrony Financial generates 6.86 complaints per 1,000 customers — 22× the rate of Goldman Sachs (0.32/1k), one of the lowest-complaint major banks. Most consumers who hold Synchrony-issued cards don't know Synchrony is their bank.
Highest complaint rates among major banks
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Switching banks takes about 2 hours of active effort spread across 10 days. Federal data shows which banks have significantly lower complaint rates.
The Synchrony story — 22× the rate of Goldman
Synchrony Financial is not a household name — but it is likely the issuer behind cards millions of Americans use every day. The Amazon Store Card. The Amazon Prime Store Card. PayPal Credit. CareCredit. The Lowe's Advantage Card. The Google Store Card. All of these are Synchrony Bank products.
When something goes wrong with any of these cards — a billing error, a fraudulent charge, a dispute — you are dealing with Synchrony Financial, not Amazon or PayPal. And federal data shows that Synchrony resolves a smaller proportion of complaints than almost any other major institution.
At 6.86 complaints per 1,000 customers, Synchrony's complaint rate is not a rounding error above the industry average — it is 22 times the rate of Goldman Sachs (0.32/1k), one of the lowest-complaint major banks; smaller institutions such as First Citizens (0.09/1k) rank lower still. The most common complaint categories involve incorrect information on credit reports, suggesting systemic issues with how the institution handles credit data.
The best performers
First Citizens (0.09/1k) and Webster Bank (0.22/1k) anchor the low-complaint end of the rankings, running leaner consumer operations without the sprawling retail networks or store-card partnerships that drive complaint volume elsewhere. Among the mega-banks, JPMorgan Chase (0.53/1k) is the standout, and Goldman Sachs (0.32/1k) remains one of the lowest-complaint major banks — though both still sit above the smaller institutions that genuinely top the list.
What this means for consumers
Most people choose a bank based on branch locations, app ratings, or introductory offers. Federal complaint data offers a different signal — one based on what happens when things go wrong, not when they're going right.
A 22× gap between the highest-rate major banks and recognisable low-complaint benchmarks like Goldman Sachs is not noise. It reflects fundamental differences in how institutions handle disputes, errors, and customer problems. Switching banks takes 2 hours of active effort across 10 days — for most people, a meaningful reduction in complaint rate is worth that.
See the full rankings
All 57 institutions (expanded methodology rolling out later in 2026). Filter by category, check enforcement history, compare any two banks.
Ashley Nicholls is the founder and editor of ComplaintRate.com, an independent data publisher tracking US financial complaints across federal sources.