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Credit
Unions Continue to Rank Higher in Customer Satisfaction
Published on 10-08-2004
When it comes to overall customer satisfaction, credit
unions continue to outpace the competition. According to the American
Banker/Gallup 2004 Consumer Survey, credit unions have for the 20th
consecutive year, ranked first in customer satisfaction. Of those
polled in this year’s survey, 73 percent who use credit unions
as their primary financial institution said they were “very
satisfied” with credit union service, up from 63 percent in
2003. Banks edged up slightly in customer satisfaction, from 54
percent in 2003 to 58 percent in 2004 – still below the 2002
level, which was 61 percent. Thrifts actually ranked higher than
banks in overall customer satisfaction in the 2004 survey, increasing
4 percentage points to 59 percent.
When asked to compare their levels of trust and confidence
in the banks they use with other financial services companies, non-banks
got more, favorable marks again this year, continuing a trend of
the past several years. A declining percentage of those surveyed
said they trusted their banks more than other types of financial
companies, while an increasing percentage said they trusted their
banks the same amount as the others. For instance, 32 percent of
those with accounts at banks and credit unions said they trusted
their banks more this year, compared with 38 percent in 2003 and
40 percent in 2002. Some 46 percent said they trusted their banks
the same, up from 42 percent and 30 percent. Nineteen percent actually
rated banks worse.
In addition, nearly 30 percent of respondents to the
2004 American Banker/Gallup Consumer Survey said they think a bank
has violated their financial privacy - the highest level since the
question was first asked in 2001. For credit unions, the number
is 27 percent. As to whether they fear a financial institution would
release their personal information, 31 percent of bank customers
said they were “very concerned” – that is up from
26 percent in 2003. The number of credit union members “very
concerned” dropped from 33 percent in 2003 to 28 percent in
2004.
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