America’s Best Financial Services of 2026

Unlike large corporate and national banks, credit unions are nonprofit cooperatives insured by the National Credit Union Administration that pool community resources for lending and more. “Banks are about profits. They may provide nice services, but they’ve become very technical in the way that they approach lending and other services, and then charge certain higher rates,” says Jeffrey Robinson, a professor at Rutgers Business School. “Credit unions have better rates, are not as concerned about making massive profits back to their shareholders, and can take input and feedback from the people who are also members.” It’s become a valuable alternative for people in an “anti-billionaire or anti-corporate mindset,” he says.

Another financial behavior shift that’s happening, particularly in the younger generations, is towards digital wallets and digital-first banks like Acorns, Ally, Chime, and Venmo-owner PayPal—that number is growing year over year, according to research by the Federal Reserve. As preferences change, both legacy banks and fintech companies are trying to adapt, expanding financial service options to meet consumer demands. For example, Cash App, which was launched for peer-to-peer payments, started offering investing and stock trading options in 2019. Traditional banks can still reach these younger generations, Robinson says, if they combine the convenience of digital banking with financial literacy education on longer-term saving strategies for big purchases like houses or for retirement. One way to achieve this is for legacy banks to partner with fintech startups to combine offerings. For example, the full-service Stride Bank (no. 1 in Debit Cards), announced last April that it was partnering with pay-over-time pioneer Affirm to “reach to more consumers and merchants.”