Despite recent consumer and media backlash over card practices and fees, there is some good news: Credit card issuers are doing a better job in providing customer service, a new report suggests.
“Huge efforts have been made in the area of customer service, and consumers have noticed,” Bob Taglin, director at Auriemma Consulting Group, tells PaymentsSource. “There have been a lot of standards put in place for customer service, and banks should feel pretty good about that.”
In an April online survey of 421 adult U.S. consumers conducted for Auriemma’s Cardbeat report, 58% of respondents said they felt their issuer’s customer service treated them with courtesy and respect. Nearly half, 48%, said their issuer’s customer-service representative talked to them in a way they could understand, and 47% believed their issuer understood and appreciated them as cardholders.
The results contradict various media reports and politicians’ complaints during the past several years about financial institutions raising fees for card services, overdraft fees on debit cards and even double-cycling billing on credit cards. Such criticisms sparked the February 2011 implementation of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which limits how issuers may charge their credit card customers and gives cardholders greater ability to manage and pay off their balances.
Asked about the communication they receive from their issuer, 36% of respondents said they received legal information, which clearly relates to the greater transparency required by the CARD Act, says Scott Strumello, an associate at Auriemma. Moreover, 45% said most issuer communications had been relevant to their financial needs, and 33% said their issuer usually sends offers and information that interests them.
Auriemma’s Cardbeat report also notes that 82% of consumers surveyed had called their issuer’s customer service line, while 15% had communicated through the institution’s website. Of that group, 49% said they wanted information, 36% had a problem, 25% had questions about card features, and 7% had a question about redeeming rewards.
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