OneWest Bank, CIT’s Southern California branch bank, was named the best bank in California on MONEY’s Best Banks in America list.

“OneWest Bank is committed to the Southern California community and delivering great service and competitive bank products that drive value for our customers,” said Steve Solk, president of Consumer Banking. “We’re honored to be listed as the best bank in California for the second year in a row. This recognition demonstrates the dedication of our banking team across our 70 branches and the level of personalized service we offer our customers.”

MONEY recognizes OneWest Bank as one the few banks with an extensive network across Southern California that also makes no-fee checking and the ability to earn out-of-network ATM fee rebates easily accessible.
More about the rankings

MONEY evaluated the largest 90 brick-and-mortar banks, 50 credit unions and 15 online banks, as identified by bank consultancy firm Novantas.

Bankrate.com, MONEY’s project partner, collected data on fees, interest rates and account requirements for checking and savings accounts. Using Bankrate’s data, MONEY compared more than 800 accounts and 18,000 data points.

Data was collected in July and August, and MONEY independently fact-checked information for each winner in September and early October.

When selecting state winners, MONEY excluded checking accounts that required a minimum balance greater than $1,500 to either open the account or waive monthly fees. Priority was given to banks whose checking accounts had no (or easily waived) monthly fees and low or no ATM fees.

MONEY also sought higher interest rates for checking and savings accounts. Additional factors included J.D. Power customer service ratings, when available, from the 2017 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, geographic reach within a state, recent enforcement actions and mobile app ratings in the iTunes and Google Play stores.