If you only need a bank to use the cash machine, customer service may not matter. But for those who expect quality service, bigger banks might not always mean better.

Sometimes you've got a question, you may need to change an account, find out about a loan, or figure out how to do a wire transfer.

"Whatever it is you have to actually talk to people in the bank. And there are big differences in satisfaction in regard to that," said Robert Krughoff, President of the non-profit Consumers' Checkbook Magazine, a bi-annual regional publication that surveys local consumers about various services in their communities.

Researchers at the magazine surveyed hundreds of local bank customers and asked them to rate their banks, based on personal experience.

The survey participants were asked for feedback on convenient hours, reasonable fee policies, staff knowledge and attitude, speed of service and whether the bank's written communications were clear and easy to understand.

Customers were asked to give ratings of superior, adequate or inferior based on their bank experiences over the previous year. The bank surveys were conducted from January 2004 to September 2007.

The key question: What percentage of customers in the survey would give their bank an overall rating of superior?

All of the participating customers of Shoreline Bank, which serves North King and South Snohomish Counties, gave a superior rating for overall service.

Valley Bank, which serves South King and North Pierce Counties, got an overall superior rating from 94 percent of participating customers

Columbia Bank, a mid-sized bank serving Washington and Oregon, was rated superior overall by 93 percent of its customers who responded to the survey.

Eighty-five percent of Washington Federal Savings customers rated them superior.

Among Bank of America customers who participated, only 56 percent gave a superior rating.

The lowest ratings went to Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, with each getting a superior overall rating from fewer than 40 percent of the customers who responded.

Credit Unions also got varied responses, with overall superior ratings from a low of 63 percent of America's Credit Union customers, to a high of 95 percent percent of participating customers of Cascade Federal Credit Union.

Consumers' Checkbook points out that the survey questions are subjective to some degree, and some of the differences may be explained by differences in personalities, backgrounds, standards, biases, and other characteristics of the raters.

Because of differing bank size, some banks had several hundred customers who responded while others had only ten. The results are offered as a tool in comparing how different banks may meet your particular needs.

In response to the low ratings for Wells Fargo, a local spokeswoman said that while they pay attention to periodic surveys such the one conducted by Consumers' Checkbook, they focus more on their own surveys, which reach 50,000 customers a month, to help the bank maintain and increase customer loyalty.

US Bank, whose only media spokesperson is located in Minnesota, said they would have no comment until they could contact someone at the corporate offices in the Puget Sound area.

For More Information:

Consumers' Checkbook