If you’re upset about the latest fee increase or credit limit cut from your card issuer, you may wonder if all credit card companies are the same, or if you have alternatives. Is there such a thing as a kinder, friendlier credit card company? Do some credit card companies stand out among the crowd for better rates, rewards, or even-dare we say-fairer terms and better customer service?
Well, don’t expect to come across a card issuer with an inclination towards the warm and fuzzy any time soon. However, there is indeed a difference among credit card companies, at least as measured by customer satisfaction. According to the 2009 Credit Card Satisfaction Study by the consumer research company J.D. Power and Associates, some card issuers do stand out not only for their better rewards programs, but for better fees, rates, and yes, even better terms and customer service.
The study was based on a survey of more than 9,000 credit card users from May and June 2009. It included a comprehensive rating of how satisfied cardholders were with the following features of their credit cards:
- Fees: fairness of rates, fees and other charges, competitiveness of interest rates, and clarity of disclosures.
- Billing and Payment Process: how easy it was to understand account statements, whether the bill was received well ahead of the payment due date; the variety of methods available for viewing the statement.
- Rewards: ease of attaining rewards, redeeming rewards and understanding the rewards program.
- Customer Interaction and Problem Resolution: responsiveness to questions/requests; time spent helping cardholders understand their options; effectiveness and fairness of problem resolution process.
Not surprisingly, the study found that overall customer satisfaction among credit card holders declined to an all-time low in 2009, dropping to 703 on a 1,000-point scale. However, according to the responses of the 9,000 people included in the study, not all credit card companies are created equal. For the third year in a row, American Express led the pack with an overall satisfaction score of 762 on the 1000-point scale. Close on the heels of Amex were Discover Card with a score of 751 and National City with a score of 740. All three companies, in short, ranked considerably higher than the average satisfaction level of 703 for all card issuers.
Effective communication was a key distinguishing feature of the top-rated credit card issuers. A full 82 percent of Amex cardholders were aware of the benefits and services associated with their card, considerably higher than the industry average of 70 percent. Amex card holders also reported having access to an average of approximately five benefits and services, compared with the industry average of less than three. Amex cardholders rated their satisfaction with their rewards and benefits at a full 757 on the 1,000-point scale, compared with the industry average of 690.
Discover Card excelled in most of the same categories as Amex and further scored high because of its multiple mediums of customer service, including its website, automated phone service, customer service representatives, and low average wait time of only 3.3 minutes to speak with a customer service representative.
If Amex and Discover are rated among the best credit card companies, which companies get the worst ratings? Not surprisingly, the bottom of the heap is reserved for the so-called fee-harvester cards, credit cards targeting people with bad credit, which are known to come with excessively high fees and poor terms. The card issuers in this group included Credit One Bank and First Premier Bank, who got the lowest satisfaction score of all. Other cards which scored low on several measures included Target Visa, Capital One, and HSBC.
