ABA's Ogilvie responds to Becker's comments on customer satisfaction

<p>WASHINGTON – Citing statistics from research conducted by the American Bankers Association, ABA Executive Vice President Donald Ogilvie in a letter to the editor that ran in the May 10 issue of the American Banker, accused NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker of “play(ing) fast and loose with research numbers regarding customer satisfaction with credit unions versus banks.” Ogilvie refuted Becker’s comments that were quoted in a May 3-American Banker story, “To Credit Union Advocate, Service Record Says It All” “We don’t argue that credit union customers don’t like their institutions. But to say that `credit unions are better at serving everyone than banks’ as Mr. Becker did, is a real stretch,” Ogilvie wrote in his letter. According to the ABA executive vice president, ABA research shows that almost all consumers who keep money in a bank or credit union say they are satisfied with that institution, and most are very satisfied. The ABA’s research further indicates, Ogilvie stated, that three-quarters of consumers who have some relationship with a bank say the financial institution they use most often is a bank. He continued to quote additional statistics from the ABA’s research. “Credit unions do a fine job for their customers. So do banks. And we find it interesting that consumers with incomes of under $30,000 are most likely to say they use a bank over a credit union,” Ogilvie wrote.</p>