Local banks have outstripped the big four Australian banks for service in Consumer NZ’s latest survey.
Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said the survey found locally-owned TSB had the happiest customers with 87 percent very satisfied with the bank’s service.
The Co-operative Bank was close behind with a satisfaction score of 82 percent, followed by Kiwibank with a rating of 71 percent.
Aussie-owned banking giants ANZ and ASB ranked last.
“Just 52 percent of their customers were very satisfied with the service they were getting. Both banks rated below-average for value for money and their customers were also more likely to be thinking about switching,” Ms Chetwin said.
ANZ and ASB also stood out for their upselling practices.
“Their customers were significantly more likely to report the banks offered financial products, such as credit cards, without the customer requesting the product,” she said.
Overall, 27 percent of customers reported getting unsolicited offers from their bank for products ranging from insurance to mortgage top-ups. The most common offers were credit cards and increases in credit card limits.
“While there’s nothing wrong with banks letting their customers know about new products, the practice raises questions for us about the banks’ compliance with their responsible lending obligations,” Ms Chetwin said.
By law, lenders must ensure credit is suitable for borrowers and meets their needs.
“Our survey found less than half of the customers who got these offers thought the product was a good option,” she said.
Of those offered a new credit card or an increase in their card limit, only about one in three thought it suited their needs.
Survey results are available in the April issue of Consumer magazine and online at consumer.org.nz. A nationally representative sample of 1544 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over took part in the survey.
Banks’ customer satisfaction scores
TSB: 87 percent
The Co-operative Bank: 82 percent
Kiwibank: 71 percent
BNZ: 65 percent
Westpac: 55 percent
ANZ: 52 percent
ASB: 52 percent
Satisfaction ratings show the proportion of respondents who scored their provider 8, 9 or 10 on a scale from 0 (very dissatisfied) to 10 (very satisfied).
8 Comments
Good point. The consumer page says it's representative, but perhaps it's just regionally representative. I would be surprised if the numbers of respondents lined up with market share.
As an online only survey it would surely have selection bias against older people, who don't even want to do banking online, let alone talk about banking online.
Also seems odd that on a scale of 0-10, only 8-10 count as satisfied while 7 of the options indicate dissatisfaction. Would have though 5/10 = pass mark :)
To be fair, I have bias about surveys... only a certain slice of society ever wants to do them and in this day and age, I am not sure they're truly representative. I just don't like any of them.
"By law, lenders must ensure credit is suitable for borrowers and meets their needs." Do they? My wife regularly gets aggressively targeted letters from ANZ asking her if she wants an overdraft or higher credit card limit (but does most of her banking with another bank.) Looks to me like banks have went back to handing out credit lines like candy over the last couple of years.
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