--- title: Millennials Are Rejecting Big Banks in Favor of Local Banks description: Low fees and seamless online banking are paramount. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2015-11-10T21:53:44.000Z' modified: '2024-04-02T05:11:43.000Z' section: Banking tags: - Banking - millenials word_count: 260 canonical: https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A man exits a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles, California, on July 13, 2015.](https://img.money.com/2015/11/151110_inv_bigbankscommunitybanks.jpg) *A man exits a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles, California, on July 13, 2015.* Big banks don't usually lose, but according to a new survey, millennials are increasingly taking their business to small, local institutions. The [survey](https://www.accenture.com/us-en/~/media/Accenture/Conversion-Assets/Microsites/Documents17/Accenture-2015-North-America-Consumer-Banking-Survey.pdf), from Accenture, found that millenials are much more willing to switch banks than other age groups. Over the past 12 months, large banks lost around 16% of their millennial customers. At the same time, local banks gained 5% more millennials, and credit unions picked up 3%. According to the survey, high fees and poor loyalty programs have spurred on this exodus. Thanks to the rise of online banking, the need for twenty-somethings to have branches across the country isn't as important as it once was, and a good mobile platform goes a long way toward getting younger customers to stay. Considering that big banks generally have [much higher fees](http://www.money-rates.com/research-center/bank-fees/) than their smaller competitors, and fewer and fewer offer free checking, it's not surprising that (often broke) millenials are interested in keeping their overhead low. A small bank with only a handful of regional outlets has an advantage similar to that of an online bank: no need to pay for a physical branch in every neighborhood around the country. That often translates to a better deal and better rates for consumers. And then there's the personal attention that many millennials require. “Millennials in particular crave more high-touch,” Cam Fine, president and chief executive officer of Independent Community Bankers of America, [told Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-10/millennials-do-not-like-big-banks-and-all-those-fees-they-charge). “They want to make sure people are paying attention \[to their needs\].” That's certainly much easier on a small scale. **Read More: *[Money's Best Banks 2015-16](https://money.com/collection-post/best-big-bank-td-2015/)*** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Banking", "item": "https://money.com/banking/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Banks", "item": "https://money.com/banks/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Millennials Are Rejecting Big Banks in Favor of Local Banks" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/", "name": "Millennials Are Rejecting Big Banks in Favor of Local Banks", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-11-10T21:53:44.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:11:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Millennials Are Rejecting Big Banks in Favor of Local Banks", "articleSection": "Banking", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/11/151110_inv_bigbankscommunitybanks.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1400, "caption": "151110_INV_BigBanksCommunityBanks" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ethan Wolff-Mann", "url": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ewolffmann" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-11-10T21:53:44.000Z", "description": "Low fees and seamless online banking are paramount.", "abstract": "Low fees and seamless online banking are paramount.", "@id": "https://money.com/millennials-leaving-big-banks/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:11:43.000Z", "wordCount": 260, "keywords": [ "Banking", "millenials" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bank", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank" ] } ] } ] } ```