Rich Households Using Five Major Banks

A recent study by custom research agency TNS found five banks that have solid and customer bases consisting of many affluent Americans.

The study, called "Banking the Affluent Customer," ranked Bank of America, Chase Bank, Capital One Bank, TD Bank and Key Bank as the top financial institutions for being able to retain and build wealthy customer bases - those who have $100,000 or more in assets.

Credit unions lost a great deal of wealthy consumers during the years of 2009 to 2010.

"Despite being relatively unimportant to customer retention, effective management of customer relationships, e.g., showing customers that you know them and their history with you, and rewarding their loyalty, is critically important to growing share of wallet," said Joe Hagan, TNS' senior vice president of multi-client programs. "Yet affluent customers tend to give their banks low marks in these areas."

Even wealthy consumers can rack up credit card debt, and those who are at risk may want to curb their spending habits. The economy is currently in a difficult state, and overspending on credit cards could not only ruin a consumer's credit, but also hurt their finances for a long time to come.