Bell Bank Review
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Bell Bank Review 2026
A complete, unbiased guide to Bell Bank's financial products and services.
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Bell Bank is a privately held, family- and employee-owned bank headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, founded in 1966 as State Bank of Fargo by Thomas 'Buck' Snortland and associates. It has operated under the Bell Bank name since 2016, following the acquisition of Minneapolis-based Bell Mortgage in 2011 and a series of rebrands. With approximately $14 billion in assets as of 2025, Bell Bank is the largest privately held bank in North Dakota and one of the largest in the Upper Midwest. It operates 27+ full-service banking locations across North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona, and maintains mortgage offices across more than a dozen states. Its parent company, State Bankshares, is owned by approximately 70 shareholders — with majority control held by the Solberg and Snortland families — and an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that extends partial ownership to staff. Bell Bank's product suite covers consumer banking, business banking, mortgage, wealth management through Bell Bank Wealth Management, and insurance through Bell Insurance Services. Bell Bank Mortgage has become one of the more recognizable mortgage brands in the Upper Midwest and Mountain West. The bank holds a 5-star rating from Bauer Financial, indicating strong capitalization well above regulatory requirements. Its most distinctive cultural asset is the Pay It Forward program — launched in 2007 by CEO Michael Solberg — which gives every full-time employee $1,000 per year to give to people or causes in need, with the bank having distributed more than $31 million in employee-driven charitable giving since launch. Bell Bank is the relationship bank of choice for consumers and businesses in the Fargo-Moorhead metro, the Twin Cities, and growing Arizona markets who want a community-rooted institution with the product depth of a regional bank.
| Full Legal Name | Bell Bank |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Headquarters | Fargo, ND |
| FDIC Insured | Yes — deposits insured up to $250,000 per depositor |
| BBB Rating | A+ |
| Industries / Products | Consumer Banking · Business Banking |
| Data Last Verified | March 20, 2026 |
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Bell Bank is the dominant privately held community bank across the Fargo-Moorhead metro and a growing presence in the Twin Cities and Phoenix markets. Its consumer banking proposition is built around relationship banking at scale — the warmth and local accountability of a community bank combined with the product breadth of a $14 billion institution. Checking, savings, CDs, money market accounts, and consumer lending are available alongside wealth management and insurance under one relationship. Bell's brand is as much cultural as it is financial: the Pay It Forward program and Top Workplaces recognition are active differentiators in a market where consumers and employees choose their bank partly on values. Compared with national banks operating in its markets — U.S. Bank, Chase, Wells Fargo — Bell Bank wins on service personalization, local decision-making, and community commitment. Compared with Gate City Bank, its most direct local competitor, Bell wins on total asset size, geographic reach into the Twin Cities and Arizona, mortgage national footprint, and the breadth of its wealth management and insurance subsidiaries.
- Personal checking accounts
- Savings accounts
- Money market accounts
- Certificates of Deposit
- IRA accounts
- Bell Bank mobile app
- Online banking
- Mobile deposit
- Bill pay
- Zelle
- Account alerts
- Digital account management
Bell Bank's consumer checking and savings products are priced competitively for a community bank of its scale. Monthly service fees on standard checking are waivable through common qualifiers such as direct deposit or minimum balance. The bank does not compete on the no-fee, no-minimum online-bank model — consumers seeking zero-fee digital banking will find better economics at Ally, SoFi, or LendingClub. Bell's fee value proposition is strongest for customers who maintain a relationship across multiple products: mortgage, checking, and wealth management under one bank reduces friction and can produce meaningful service benefits that offset higher headline fees relative to digital-only alternatives.
Bell Bank's digital banking covers core account management, mobile deposit, bill pay, Zelle, and account alerts through a well-maintained online and mobile platform. The digital experience is appropriate for a community bank of its size and serves everyday banking needs reliably. It is not the reason to choose Bell Bank — the relationship model, local decision-making, and product breadth are the primary draws — but the platform is not a meaningful friction point for customers who chose Bell for its community banking characteristics.
Bell Bank's loyalty proposition is relationship depth rather than a formal rewards program. The bank does not operate a tiered balance-linked perks structure comparable to Bank of America's Preferred Rewards. Its loyalty mechanism is retention through relationships: customers who bank, mortgage, invest, and insure with Bell benefit from single-institution continuity, staff who know them by name, and local accountability for decisions. The Pay It Forward program is a meaningful cultural loyalty driver — employees who feel ownership in the institution deliver different service than those who do not.
Bell Bank's 27+ full-service locations span North Dakota (Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, and surrounding communities), Minnesota (Twin Cities metro, Duluth, and other markets), and Arizona (Chandler and Phoenix). Mortgage offices extend Bell's operational reach into more than a dozen states. The footprint is not national and is deliberately concentrated in its core relationship markets. For consumers in Fargo-Moorhead, the Twin Cities, or the Phoenix metro, branch access is meaningful. For consumers outside those markets, Bell Bank functions primarily as a lending and digital relationship rather than a branch bank.
Bell Bank's business banking serves small businesses through commercial clients across its Upper Midwest and Arizona markets. Its product set covers business checking, commercial lending, SBA loans, treasury management, merchant services, and equipment finance through Bell Business Credit — a specialty lending team providing asset-based lending and factoring for working-capital-intensive businesses launched in 2022. The commercial lending team makes local credit decisions, which is a meaningful advantage over national banks where credit approval is centralized and slower. For businesses in Bell's core markets that want a bank relationship with a named banker, local lending authority, and full-service treasury support, Bell Bank is the strongest independent community bank option in the Upper Midwest.
- Business checking accounts
- Business savings
- Business money market
- Business CDs
- Sole proprietorship
- LLC
- Partnership
- Corporation
- Agricultural businesses
- Merchant services
- Business debit cards
- ACH payments
- Wire transfers
- Treasury management
- Commercial lending
- Equipment finance through Bell Business Credit
- Asset-based lending and factoring
- Business online banking
- Cash flow tools
- Remote deposit capture
- Bill pay
- Account alerts
Compared with fintech business banking platforms such as Mercury, Relay, or Bluevine, Bell Bank offers materially stronger relationship banking, local credit decision-making, SBA lending access, and the trust of a 5-star Bauer Financial-rated institution. Fintech platforms typically offer faster digital onboarding, higher interest on deposits, and more developer-friendly APIs. Bell's advantage is depth of relationship and breadth of product — a business that wants to mortgage a building, finance equipment, manage treasury, and bank commercially through one institution finds a more complete solution at Bell than at any pure-play fintech.
✓ Best For
- Consumers and businesses in the Fargo-Moorhead metro, Twin Cities, and Phoenix who want a relationship-oriented community bank with the product depth of a regional institution
- Mortgage borrowers who want Bell Bank Mortgage's local servicing model and multi-state reach
- Businesses that want local credit decision-making, SBA lending, and commercial banking from a single named banker
- Consumers and employees who value banking with a values-driven institution — the Pay It Forward program and employee ownership model are meaningful differentiators
✗ Look Elsewhere If
- Consumers seeking the lowest-cost digital-only checking and savings products — national online banks offer better yields and lower fees without relationship requirements
- Businesses that want fintech-speed digital onboarding or developer-friendly banking APIs
- Customers outside Bell's ND, MN, and AZ branch footprint who need regular in-person banking
- Consumers who want a formal tiered relationship-rewards program with explicit balance-linked perks
Bell Bank is the strongest relationship-oriented community bank in the Upper Midwest for consumers and businesses in its Fargo-Moorhead, Twin Cities, and Phoenix markets who want a locally rooted institution with the product depth to handle banking, mortgage, wealth management, and insurance under one roof. Its $14 billion asset base, 5-star Bauer Financial rating, family-and-employee ownership, and Pay It Forward cultural program distinguish it sharply from both national banks and smaller community banks in its markets. It is not the right choice for consumers seeking digital-only banking with the lowest possible fees, for businesses that want fintech-speed onboarding, or for customers outside Bell's geographic footprint who need regular branch access. For its target customer — a consumer or business in its markets who wants a named banker, local accountability, and breadth of service — Bell Bank is the defining independent bank option in the region.
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This rating reflects publicly available information as of 2026-04-10. Submit additional context to be considered in our assessment →
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