TROY, Mich. — Younger consumers are driving growth in new financial accounts, often adding to existing relationships rather than replacing them, while the credit profiles of many new checking and personal loan customers suggest financial strain, according to a new J.D. Power report.
Millennials and Generation Z customers accounted for a majority of new account openers across checking, savings, credit cards, investments and personal loans, the third-quarter 2026 Signals Intelligence for Financial Services report found.
New account opening rates increased modestly across all five product lines between the first and third quarters of 2026. Checking posted the largest increase, followed by savings.
Signs of Financial Pressure
Among new checking account openers, 58.9% had credit scores between 400 and 659, below the report’s prime threshold. The share was 54.9% among new personal loan customers.
J.D. Power said that credit profiles could indicate that customers are seeking new accounts while under financial pressure.
Borrowers’ stated reasons for opening accounts also pointed to a need for relief. Among personal loan customers, 35% cited debt consolidation and 31% cited a financial emergency. Among credit card customers, 19% wanted to improve their credit history and 14% needed access to more credit.
Adding Accounts Rather than Switching
Additional accounts were more common than replacement accounts across four product categories, according to the report:
- Credit cards: 61% of new accounts were additional accounts, compared with 13% that replaced existing cards.
- Checking: 47% were additional accounts, while 27% were replacements.
- Investments: 47% were additional accounts, compared with 25% that were replacements.
- Savings: 46% were additional accounts, while 21% were replacements.
Among checking and savings account openers, 21% said the new accounts were intended for budgeting or organizational purposes.
The report also found that major banks gained share across several product lines, highlighting increases of 3 percentage points for Chase and 2.8 percentage points for Bank of America, with gains in checking and credit cards.
Implications for Financial Institutions
The findings suggest consumers increasingly spread their financial business among providers to meet different needs, complicating institutions’ efforts to become a customer’s primary financial partner, J.D. Power said.
The report urged institutions to understand customers’ financial motivations and coordinate offerings across product lines so customers seeking another account have a reason to keep that business with their current provider.
The report tracks customer acquisition and attrition across financial services. Its third-quarter findings were based on more than 230,000 responses collected from July through September 2026. Jennifer White, J.D. Power’s managing director of financial services intelligence, authored the report.
