WASHINGTON–A new study ranks the 10 largest banks and 10 largest credit unions according to the quality of their online credit card application process.
According to WalletHub, four issuers – one bank and three credit unions – tied for having the clearest credit card applications. This includes Capital One for the eighth consecutive year.
WalletHub said its 2017 Credit Card Application Study seeks to identify which issuers present their card offers in a clean, uncomplicated way for consumers. The company said it scored the 10 largest banks and 10 largest CUs according to how each effectively it conveys four types of information:
- Rewards: Does the issuer’s product page clearly define — without reading the fine print — how to earn rewards and how much they are worth (e.g., are 50,000 miles worth a trip to Chicago or Greece)?
- Annual Fee: Is the annual fee clearly displayed, beyond pricing disclosures or fine print?
- New-Purchase Financing Costs: Are the introductory and regular APRs for new purchases clear to the consumer – without having to reference pricing disclosures, fine print or a separate page?
- Balance Transfer Costs: Are all relevant balance-transfer terms (introductory and regular APRs as well as the balance transfer fee) clear without referring to pricing disclosures, fine print or a different page?
The three most highly rated credit unions in the WalletHub study are State Employees CU (North Carolina), BECU (Washington) and Navy Federal (Virginia).
WalletHub said its “most improved” award goes to Wells Fargo, which saw the score for its online credit card listings improve by 10.33 percentage points relative to 2016. This was due to improvements in terms of new-purchase clarity.
Balance transfer fees and rewards redemption value remain the biggest weaknesses for banks and credit unions alike, according to WalletHub, which said, “A great deal of ambiguity remains in those areas.
Overall, however, credit card applications are more transparent than at any point since 2010, with the average WalletHub Transparency Score having increased by 17.01% since then, the company said.