Trust in banks

Only about 1 in 10 (9%) American adults say they don’t believe their money is “safe” in their bank account. The vast majority (74%) believe their money is safe in their bank, with 17% unsure, according to a recent survey conducted by Finder.

However, the recent collapses of Silicon Valley, Signature and First Republic Bank may be leading to a drop in trust. Over half (52%) of those who don’t believe their money is safe say their views on the matter changed in the last 12 months.

Men are both more and less likely to trust banks

More than three-quarters of men (78%) trust their money is safe with their bank, 8 percentage points higher than women at 70%. However, of those who don’t believe their money is safe in banks, men also lead the pack at 10%, compared to women at 8%.

Over the last 12 months, women are less likely to have changed their opinion on whether their money is safe, with less than a third (29%) changing their minds compared to 42% of men.

However, there is a wide gap between the sexes on whether they believe their money is safe in their account.

Of the women who said their money was safe, just 23% also said they had changed their view on the matter in the last 12 months — less than half of the women (51%) who said they don’t trust their money is safe.

It’s a similar story with men, though not as pronounced, with 40% of those who trust their money is safe saying they’ve changed their opinion in the last 12 months compared to 51% who don’t think their money is safe.

Women vs. men: Is your money safe, and have you changed your views in the last 12 months?

Gen Z losing the most trust in banks

Young Americans are far more distrustful of banks than their elders, with just 61% of Gen Z saying their money is safe in their bank compared to 84% of baby boomers. Almost 1 in 5 (17%) Gen Z say they don’t believe their money is safe compared to just 3% of boomers.

The south has the least trust in banks

Those living in the South and West are the most distrustful, with 11% saying they don’t think their money is safe.

Those earning under $100,000 (11%) are almost twice as likely to say they don’t trust their money is safe than those earning over $100,00 (6%).

Deeper dive into growing distrust

Those who get at least some financial advice from social media were the most likely to distrust banks at 14%. Just 6% of those who got their advice from a traditional adviser said the same.

While those who said they got their financial advice from traditional media are most likely to say their money is safe at 83%.

Those who got advice from social media (14%) were twice as likely as those who didn’t (7%) to say their money was not safe in their bank.

We asked respondents our respondents how much of their money was protected when a bank failed, which is set at $250,000 per account by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). About two-thirds (65%) said they did know.

Those who said they didn’t know how much of their money was protected were more than twice as likely to believe their funds weren’t safe, 15% compared to 6%.

Roughly 1 in 10 (10%) of those who changed their spending habits say they don’t trust their money is safe in the bank compared to 5% of those who haven’t changed how they are spending.

Similarly, those who think a recession is coming in the next 12 months (9%) are almost twice as likely as those who think a recession is unlikely (5%) to say their money is not safe in the bank.

It may seem counterintuitive, but those who are currently invested in cryptocurrencies are the most likely to say their money is safe in the bank at 81%.

Those with poor credit scores (15%) are three times more likely than those with excellent credit (5%) to lack faith in their money’s safety.

• Methodology

  Finder’s Consumer Confidence Index is a nationally representative survey polling more than 6,000 Americans about household finances since October 2022.
  The April data is based on an online survey of 2,113 US adults commissioned by Finder and conducted by Qualtrics/SAP between April 11-20, 2023, with representative quotas for sex and age.
  We assume the 2,113 participants in our survey represent the US population of 259.2 million Americans who are at least 18 years old, according to the July 2022 US Census Bureau population estimate. This assumption is made at the 95% confidence level with a 2% margin of error.
  Our survey asked people if they believe their money is “safe” in their bank and if their views on that had changed in the last 12 months.
  We define generations by birth year according to the Pew Research Center’s generational guidelines, though we’ve combined baby boomers and the Silent Generation into a single group for sampling ease:

  • Gen Z — any adults born post-1997
  • Millennials — 1981–1996
  • Gen X — 1965–1980
  • Baby boomers — anyone born pre-1964

  We define geographical regions as defined by the US Census Bureau.

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