 Customer satisfaction results prove interesting
Credit unions and societies have received a higher customer satisfaction rating than the Big Four banks according to a new survey released this week.
Australian banks currently dominate the lending market in terms of mortgages, however they rated lower in satisfaction surveys.
The survey by CHOICE collated the data from 3,000 respondents, all of whom were CHOICE members. Participants were asked to rate their satisfaction in terms of banking, home loans and credit cards with their current lender. Customers also rated other features of their banking such as ATM access, customer service, interest rates, fees and bank locations.
The big issues highlighted by customers were unsurprisingly high fees, poor service and the fact that banks did not pass on all of the Reserve Bank's entire rate cuts to mortgage holders.
Interestingly though, bank customers say they are reluctant to change to a different financial institution.
"If more people switched to a credit union or building society - which consistently scored much higher satisfaction scores - the big four might get the message and be encouraged to lift their game," CHOICE spokesman Christopher Zinn said.
Scoring the highest satisfaction rate overall was Credit Union Australia and Teachers Credit Union with 84 per cent. Next, with 82 per cent, was Bendigo Bank.
The big four banks came in much lower. ANZ scored highest out of the Big Four with 66 per cent then Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Westpac were equal as both scored 64 per cent. National Australia Bank (NAB) received the lowest scores from their customers.
In terms of mortgages arrangements, ME Bank, ING Direct and Bankwest scored the highest satisfaction levels. And the survey found that CBA, Westpac and NAB customers were the least satisfied.
Recently, many banks reduced or abolished many bank fees such as overdraft fees, but with interest rates set to rise in the very near future, customer satisfaction may fall with many lenders.
While the RBA was aggressively cutting the cash rate late in 2008 and early 2009, many banks were reluctant to pass on the savings in full to home owners, in many cases only passing on cuts of 80 basis points each time the cash rate was cut 100 basis points.
None the less, home loan rates did fall from their October 2008 high's of around 9.75% down to rates around 5.75% by April of this year.
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