Local banks earn high ratings

Bank of the Sierra and Finance and Thrift, both headquartered in Porterville, and Suncrest Bank headquartered in Visalia have all earned high ratings from  BauerFinancial, the nation’s bank rating firm.

Bank of the Sierra and Suncrest each earned three and a half stars, while Finance and Thrift earned four stars in the ratings. Valley Business Bank, headquartered in Visalia, got the highest rating of five stars Visalia Community Bank got three and a half stars.

For the first time since 2007, 38 percent of the nation’s banks have earned BauerFinancial’s highest 5-Star rating. The number of recommended banks (those rated 5-Stars or 4-Stars) is also on the rise. They now constitute over 59 percent of the total. That’s the highest percent of recommended banks since the second quarter of ’08.

BFR’s Troubled and Problematic Bank Report (which includes all banks rated 2 -Stars or below) currently includes 12.7 percentof the industry.

Credit Unions are also showing improvement: over 65 percent of federally insured credit unions are now rated 5-Stars or 4-Stars while just 5.6 percent are rated 2-Stars and below.