The American Customer Satisfaction Index released last week reported that customer satisfaction at credit unions hit a five-year low.
According to the 2015 ACSI report, credit unions earned what would qualify as a B- in school: an 81 out of 100. That was down 4.7 basis points since 2014 and was the lowest score in five years. In 2011, the score reached a high of 87.
The index was based on 9,202 customer surveys collected in the third quarter of 2015.
Credit unions still beat regional and community banks, which scored an 80. They also landed ahead of super-regional banks (76) and national banks (72).
Declining satisfaction isn't just a credit union problem, ACSI said. Cost-cutting, fees and premiums lowered customer satisfaction in the entire finance and insurance sector, which includes banks, credit unions, life insurance, health insurance and internet investment services. This year the sector's overall score dropped 0.4 basis points to 74.8 — the lowest in a decade, the index noted.
"ACSI data show that both smaller banks and credit unions provide similar service levels that far exceed large national banks across most elements of the customer experience — including staff courtesy, transaction speed, service variety and competitiveness of interest rates. National banks, by virtue of their size and resources, maintain an advantage in just two areas: number of branch locations and ATMs," the report said.
ACSI also found that credit unions were tied with small regional and community banks for website satisfaction (they all scored an 86), but got higher marks for call centers (an 85, compared to 82 for smaller banks). However, ACSI said credit union call centers are showing signs of strain — their satisfaction scores tumbled 6 points from 2014.
Members appeared to be sticking with their credit unions, though. The 2015 Temkin Loyalty Index, also released last week, found that credit unions ranked number 13 out of 293 companies in terms of how likely members were to repurchase from the institution, recommend the institution to others, forgive it for mistakes, trust the institution and try the institution's new offerings.
The Temkin index evaluated the loyalty of 10,000 U.S. consumers to 293 companies across 20 industries.
USAA took the top spot overall, with a loyalty index of 74%, followed by supermarket chains H-E-B, Publix, and Trader Joe's. With a score of 68%, credit unions tied with Chick-fil-A, Victoria's Secret and ACE Rent a Car. RadioShack and credit card company Barclaycard were at the bottom of the list with scores of 48%.
In general, supermarkets, fast food chains and retailers had the highest loyalty levels, but credit unions and H-E-B led the pack in trust, it said. Temkin also said credit unions had loyalty levels that outperformed their industry averages.
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