"In financial services, members vote with their wallets. PenFed is very proud of its efforts and its results in striving to be the champion of the consumer. Being part of the credit union movement that is centered on people helping people is very rewarding," PenFed President/CEO James Schenck told CU Times. "When employees take perfect care of their members, the results speak for themselves. At PenFed, we strive to learn from any error or member dissatisfaction so that we can continually improve our processes to best serve them. Positive word of mouth from satisfied members is one of the largest contributors to PenFed's growth."

The Alexandria, Va.-based PenFed has $19 billion in assets and 1.4 million members.

"SECU appreciates the value that (the) CFPB brings to consumers, and SECU actively pursues a resolution to all complaints/inquiries regardless of the source," Senior Vice President of Corporate Auditing Steve Herrell also said in a statement to CU Times. "We place great emphasis on member service at all levels within our organization and that is reflected in the low number of complaints received."

The Raleigh, N.C.-based SECU has $31 billion in assets and two million members.

The Tukwila, Wash.-based BECU, which has $13.9 billion in assets and 940,000 members, did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the report, account management was by far the most common type of complaint (44%), followed by deposits and withdrawals (25%). About 13% of consumers complained about sending or receiving payments, 10% complained about problems caused by low funds and 7% complained about using a debit or ATM card.

"In terms of issues with account management, some consumers complained they were denied the ability to open an account, and were often uncertain as to why a company refused to open an account," the report said. "Consumers also raised concerns about issues experienced at the time of the account opening concerning eligibility for bonuses, account features and promotions for specific products."

The report said consumers also frequently complained about financial institutions that closed their accounts without explanation. The CFPB also noted complaints about difficulties opening accounts, problems resolving disputed transactions, account holds and overdraft fees.

"Some consumers mistakenly thought by not opting-in to overdraft protection for ATM withdrawals and debit card transactions (allowing the consumer to use overdraft protection for these transactions, subject to a fee) they would not be subject to overdraft fees for other transactions," the report said. "Consumers also expressed concern that the posting order of transactions often increases the number of overdraft fees imposed."

North Dakota (600%), Arkansas (200%) and Alaska (167%) experienced the greatest percentage increases in bank account or service complaints from August through October 2014 to August through October 2015. Hawaii (-52%), Wyoming (-40%) and Rhode Island (-18%) experienced the biggest percentage decreases, according to the report.

Though the CFPB's complaints database only includes complaints regarding providers with more than $10 billion in assets, the agency said it has handled approximately 75,300 bank account or service complaints since March 1, 2012. They represented about 10% of all the complaints the CFPB has received, it said.

Complaints about prepaid products showed the greatest percentage increase from August-October 2014, where there were 142 complaints, to August-October 2015, when there were 417 – a 193% increase. Payday loan complaints showed the greatest per centage decrease from August to October 2014 (589 complaints) to August to October 2015 (469 complaints), representing about a 20% decline.

However, debt collection, credit reporting and mortgage complaints continue to be the top three most-complained-about consumer financial products and services, collectively representing about 66% of complaints submitted in October 2015, the CFPB said.

This company-level complaint data lagged other complaint data by two months to reflect the 60 days companies have to respond to complaints, the CFPB noted. However, companies are expected to respond to complaints sent to them within 15 days, it said.