LAKE BLUFF, Ill.-Credit unions and banks are doing a good job of answering their phones, but banks are doing it better.
A new Moebs $ervices study shows that financial institution call centers answer their phones 53.1% of the time on the first ring-and when they don't, the median hold time is 60 seconds. "Well within the range of good service standards," said Michael Moebs, economist and CEO. "If you do wait when you call an FI, you don't wait long. They are doing a very good job."
Bank call centers performed the best with no hold time 56.1% of the time. Credit unions came in at 43.8% with no hold time. CUs had more than double the median hold time (90 seconds) compared to banks (42 seconds). The survey of hold times was conducted in June, and included 1,676 institutions with $500 million in assets or more.
"The banks are doing a better job than credit unions because their approach has been more empirical, they are measuring everything: How many people do I have in the call center and what is the optimal level of support? What is a good call? One bank even had a call center ombudsman who answers directly to the CEO," said Moebs.
Down On Main Street
But it's not the big banks or large credit unions that are setting the pace, advised Moebs. "It's the Main Street institutions. The large community banks are really good at this, and the large community credit unions are not bad, as well."
Looking at average hold times by asset size, the smaller asset size FIs have substantially fewer callers with hold time (44.1%), compared with larger depositories, shared Moebs. "Especially those $25 billion to $50 billion, who have 64.3% of their callers with wait time. As important, the wait time at smaller institutions is 111.9 seconds versus 191.5 seconds for the biggest (FIs over $50 billion). This almost minute-and-a-half difference is significant."
What is also significant, reported Moebs, is that banks, credit unions and thrift call centers are outperforming retail services industry averages. "Bottom line, banks and credit unions are doing a much better job with their call centers than the retail services market as whole-where only 32% of the time you get through to a person without waiting."
Moebs explained that financial institutions below $500 million were not included in the survey because many don't have a call center or have very limited capability.
"The study is a strong response to those in Congress, financial institution regulators and consumer advocates," suggested Moebs, "because it shows FIs, even the largest, really do try to respond to their consumers."
