POPULAR BANK — Rated VERY HIGH
Consumer complaint rating · Based on federal CFPB data · How we score
Score: complaint rate (60%) · problems resolved (30%) · money returned (10%) · full methodology
If you are a customer of POPULAR BANK, the data shows an above-average complaint rate. More customers here needed to escalate disputes than at most comparable institutions.
1 in 1,868 customers felt they had no choice but to complain officially
This is not a complaint to customer service. This is a formal complaint filed with the US government, on permanent public record — the last resort after everything else failed.
534 people complained officially and got absolutely nothing
That is 83% of everyone who escalated. They filed. They waited. They were told no. No money returned. No correction made.
Only 11% of complaints resulted in any money being returned
A further 82% were closed with an explanation only — the institution said "we disagree." No money moved. No correction made. The complaint was marked resolved.
98% response rate — but only 17% of complaints were actually resolved
The law requires a reply within 15 days — and they met that. But replying is not the same as fixing. The data shows they are far better at responding than resolving.
29% of all complaints come from Checking & Savings alone
That is 184 individual complaints in one product area. If you hold a checking & savings account here, this risk applies directly to you.
Checking & Savings — 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers
Customers most commonly report waking up to a frozen account with no explanation, direct debits bouncing and triggering fees they did not cause, and being locked out of their own money for days.
A note on accuracy: this institution's customer base is estimated from deposit data rather than directly measured. The complaints are real federal filings. The rate per customer carries some uncertainty — treat it as a strong directional signal.
All figures from the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database and FDIC BankFind — US federal public records.
You might be thinking: this probably won't happen to me. You're right — most customers here never need to file a federal complaint. But 1 in 1868 did. And of those who escalated, 83% walked away with nothing resolved. The question isn't whether it will happen — it's whether you want to bank somewhere with better odds if it does.
✦ Our Top Recommendation
EVERBANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
1.2× lower complaint rate than POPULAR BANK
- Federal data records a complaint rate of 0.45/1,000 customers — significantly fewer unresolved complaints than POPULAR BANK
- If you ever needed to escalate a problem, you would statistically be 1.2× less likely to end up filing with the federal government
- Switching takes about 2 hours of active effort — see our step-by-step guide
▼ See 2 more alternatives
KEYCORP
1.1× lower · 0.48/1k
OPTUM BANK, INC.
1.1× lower · 0.49/1k
“But switching banks sounds like a headache.”
It usually isn't. The average US bank switch takes under 2 hours of active effort, spread across about 10 days. Direct debits can be moved one at a time. Your employer redirects your salary in one pay cycle. You run both accounts in parallel for 30 days — then close the old one.
Read our step-by-step switching guide →What does this confidence level mean?
Medium confidence — complaint sample is large (644 complaints), but the customer estimate uses deposit data which may not fully represent this institution's customer base. The rate is directionally accurate; treat the exact figure as a range rather than a precise score.
Full Data Record
Complaint Rate
0.54/1k
customers per year (CFPB data)
Total Complaints Filed
644
with the CFPB (2011–present)
"We Disagree" Letters
82%
closed with "we disagree" — no fix, no money
Accepted Bank's Rejection
89%
of complainants gave up after bank said no
People Who Got Nothing
534
escalated to federal level and walked away empty-handed
Estimated True Impact
12,880
estimated affected customers (CFPB: ~5% ever file)
vs. Median Institution
1.1×
worse than the median rated institution
How This Compares
POPULAR BANK's complaint rate of 0.54/1,000 ranks worse than 62% of institutions in the ComplaintRate dataset.
▼ Show comparison chart (5 rated institutions)
Breakdown by Product
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▼ Methodology & data sources
Complaint rates are calculated by dividing total CFPB complaints by estimated customer base (derived from FDIC deposit data), normalised to complaints per 1,000 customers per year. Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau public complaint database (2011–present).
Resolution statistics reflect outcomes recorded in the CFPB database as reported by financial institutions. All language describes what the data shows — not the intent of any institution.
Composite Risk Score weights complaint rate (60%), resolution rate (30%), and monetary relief rate (10%). Full methodology →