A recent analysis by J.D. Power reveals an overall decline in customer satisfaction for online-only banks due to issues with customer service and efficient problem resolution.
“Despite significant increases in deposit interest rates for both checking and savings accounts—but decreases in the proportion of customers who had to pay a fee or experienced a problem—overall satisfaction still declined. That’s because customers who experienced problems had a very tough time resolving them in a timely manner, causing satisfaction with the ease of problem resolution to decline sharply,” Paul McAdam, senior director of banking and payments intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a statement.
Regardless of the many benefits of online-only direct banking – including higher interest rates, lower fees and easier access to banking services – problems with debit cards, fraud and outdated mobile apps appear to be negatively affecting customer satisfaction, J.D. Power found.
Customer satisfaction ratings for direct bank checking accounts have decreased from an overall score of 715 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2023 to a score of 688 in 2024.
The analysis found that the average total time reported to resolve a customer’s problem has increased from 1.9 days in 2023 to 2.6 days in 2024.
An analysis of overall customer satisfaction for checking providers ranks Charles Schwab Bank highest with a score of 732. Capital One is ranked second with a score of 717 and Ally Bank is ranked third with a score of 702.
For savings providers, Marcus by Goldman Sachs is reported to have the highest overall customer satisfaction with a score of 756. Ally Bank is ranked second with a score of 743 and Capital One is ranked third with a score of 730.
These scores are based on rankings in J.D. Power’s U.S. Direct Banking Satisfaction Study, which measures overall customer satisfaction with direct banking services through analysis of several categories that include customer service, customer experience with managing their account on a mobile app or website, banking fees, and the level of trust a customer has with their bank. This study collected 8,648 responses from direct bank customers from December 2023 through March 2024.
