Summary
According to the 2007 Credit Card Satisfaction survey, AmEx provides the highest customer satisfaction. Read more at CreditCards.com.
The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Please review our list of best credit cards, or use our CardMatch™ tool to find cards matched to your needs.
See 2008 survey, 2009 survey
American Express took the top spot in the just-released 2007 Credit Card Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power and Associates. AmEx was bolstered by strength in some areas that are vital to consumers. “They were certainly leading in membership benefits and problem resolution. When there was a problem, they did a good job of resolving that problem for the consumer,” says Jeff Taylor, Senior Director of Banking for J.D. Power.
The findings are based on responses from 7,812 credit card users surveyed in June and July of 2007. J.D. Power is well-known for its surveys of consumers and their satisfaction with different industries’ products; this represents its first look at credit card issuers.
Of the 10 credit card issuers considered in the study, American Express walked away with a score of 735 out of 1,000. The inaugural study looked at how pleased consumers were with their plastic by weighing five factors, including benefits and features (with a 34 percent weighting), rewards (25 percent), billing and payment process (21 percent), fees and rates (16 percent), and problem resolution (4 percent).
Results showed that 80 percent of consumers have some type of rewards credit card, with 40 percent of cardholders earning airline miles with their cards.
Match card, lifestyle
One implication of the study for consumers is to recognize how they use credit cards. “First, what kind of consumer are you? If you pay your bill in full each month you want to look at rewards and membership benefits. If you don’t pay the full amount every month, then things like credit limit and interest should be your main criteria,” Taylor says. “Customers who are aware of and use their card benefits are generally more satisfied with their issuer.”
Card issuers relatively unpopular
J.D. Power reported that the average satisfaction score for credit card users was 658 points — a number significantly below the average satisfaction level consumers reported for other financial industries, such as mortgage servicing (798), online investing (773) and retail banking (763).
One reason the credit card industry might rank so low is that the issuers don’t completely control the transaction, Taylor says. Most issuers use the Visa or MasterCard networks to process their transactions. He notes that American Express and Discover — the second-ranking issuer — are the two that do their own transaction processing.
On the other hand, American Express and Discover were panned by customers for not being universally accepted. Almost 90 percent of MasterCard and Visa cardholders said they could use their cards anywhere they wanted. Fewer than 20 percent of the American Express and Discover cardholders agreed.
2007 Credit Card Consumer Satisfaction Study | |
Credit card issuer | Score |
American Express | 735 |
Discover | 728 |
Industry average | 658 |
Citi cards | 652 |
Chase | 651 |
US Bank | 646 |
WaMu | 638 |
Wells Fargo | 636 |
Capital One | 617 |
Bank of America | 607 |
HSBC | 571 |
Source: J.D. Power and Associates |
To comment on this story, write to mailto:editors@creditcards.com?subject=reader_comment.
See related: 2008 J.D. Power satisfaction survey
Editorial Disclaimer
The editorial content on this page is based solely on the objective assessment of our writers and is not driven by advertising dollars. It has not been provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners.