ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The slide in credit union service has slipped once again in the eyes of U.S. consumers.
For the fourth consecutive year, credit unions’ score in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)—a well-respected independent survey of the financial services industry—has fallen, this time by one percentage point, to 75. The study reveals that banks now surpass credit unions in nearly every service category as rated by American consumers.
In the ACSI 100-point scale, credit unions now trail banks by three percentage points. It isn’t that banks have improved their levels of service in the eyes of consumers; instead, banks’ overall score (78) has remained relatively unchanged over the last four ACSI reports.
ACSI’s Finance Study 2021-2022 provides customer satisfaction benchmarks for banks, credit unions, financial advisors, and online investment. CUToday.info has had extensive coverage of the ACSI findings, along with credit union responses, recommendations and more in recent years.
“Credit unions continue a long, slow decline in member satisfaction,” said Forrest Morgeson, assistant professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI. “Rapid membership growth fueled by the pandemic and ongoing industry consolidation may be leaving customer service behind. And members appear to be noticing. Banks now excel in most areas of the customer experience, save the credit union industry’s traditional area of strength: in-person service.”
The Findings
Among the findings in the latest ACSI:
National Banks Improve
National banks climbed 1% to an ACSI score of 77, followed by super regional banks, up one percentage point to 76. Citibank has taken sole possession of first place among national banks after inching up one percentage point to 78. Bank of America rose one percentage point to 77 to meet Chase (unchanged) in second, according to the researchers. Wells Fargo took last place for the sixth consecutive year despite advancing three percentage points to 76.
Regional Banks
Capital One expanded its lead among super regional banks, surging four percentage points to 81. PNC Bank is next, up three percentage points to 78, followed by U.S. Bank, which rose three points to 77. Four super regional banks scored 76: Citizens (up three percentage points), Fifth Third Bank (up three percentage points), Regions Bank (up one percentage point), and TD Bank (unchanged), the research found.
Bank of the West debuted near the bottom of the category with an ACSI score of 74, same as KeyBank, which rose percentage point year over year, ACSI said.
Truist, formed by a 2019 merger of SunTrust Bank and BB&T, is the only bank to lose ground. Amid its branding conversion to Truist this year, the bank’s satisfaction dropped three percentage points to 73 – the lowest score among all banks.
Investment Firms
Meanwhile, Fidelity was ratted highest among investment firms, while Vanguard tumbled into third place, according to the researchers. Fidelity climbed one percentage point to the top of the online investment industry with an ACSI score of 80.
“Charles Schwab bounced back from last year’s slip, improving three percentage points to 78. After leading last year, Vanguard faltered by four percentage points to 77, equaling Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade, which rebounded one percentage point year over year,” according to the researchers.
Customer satisfaction with the group of smaller online investment firms and Edward Jones both slid one percentage point to 76, just ahead of Robinhood, which surged six percentage points to 75.
“Merrill Edge (Bank of America) landed at the bottom of the category after stumbling percentage point to a score of 74. Fidelity remained at the top financial advisor spot with a steady ACSI score of 81. Charles Schwab (unchanged) and Wells Fargo (up one percentage point) share second place at 80, followed by the group of smaller advisors (up three percentage points) and Morgan Stanley (up one percentage point) at 79 apiece,” the researchers said. “Merrill (Bank of America) is unchanged at 78, while the group of independent advisors and Raymond Jones both climb 1% to 77. UBS slipped one percentage point to 76, ahead of last-place LPL Financial, which fell by one percentage point to 74.”
Financial Advisors
According to the ACSI findings, customer satisfaction with financial advisors moved in the right direction, up 1% to a score of 79, while the online investment category held steady at 78.
The ACSI Finance Study 2021-2022 is based on interviews with 13,546 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between October 2021 and September 2022.