The public has voted the Commonwealth Bank the worst mortgage lender and Big 4 bank in a recent Mozo survey, with NAB topping the big boys category thanks to its break-up fee-axing campaign.
23,000 people voted for the best and worst financial institutions in Mozo’s 2011 People’s Choice Awards, with the Commonwealth Bank home loans rating 5.9 out of 10, down from 6.7 in 2010. Thanks to its home loan rate rise last November, the Commonwealth’s overall satisfaction rating dropped to 6.8, whilst clever marketing and the axing of penalty rates meant NAB’s overall rating jumped from 6.9 to 7.1, making it the most popular Big 4 bank.
The Greater Building Society was voted the Best Home Loan provider, with a rating of 9.4, whilst ME Bank came in second with a rating of 8.8 – largely because both chose not to raise home loan rates above last November’s official cash rate increase.
ING Direct was named Australia’s Best Bank for the second year running thanks to its consistently competitive online savings rate everyday banking and mortgage products. It also won the Best Bank Accounts and Most Trusted Bank awards.
Local mutual societies shined this year, increasing their average overall satisfaction rating from 8.1 to 8.2 in 2011 against a backdrop of declining satisfaction in banking providers overall. Customers rated mutuals better than the banks on the key measures of service, trust, price and features, and equal to the Big 4 for convenience.
According to Mozo Managing Director Rohan Gamble, competition returned to the banking landscape in 2011, with many new marketing campaigns.
“While these stunts certainly grabbed the headlines, customer satisfaction is driven by actions not marketing. The NAB’s axing of penalty fees, ING Direct’s consistently competitive interest rates and the Greater’s commitment to people before profits have made them the big winners in customer satisfaction.”
The complete Mozo People’s Choice Awards list is available at http://mozo.com.au/peopleschoice
