Canstar reveals Australia’s most satisfied banking, credit card and frequent flyer customers

Your relationship with your bank can last for years if you feel you’re getting good service, or you can easily switch to a rival if you don’t feel happy. So Canstar asked thousands of people a number of questions to see how satisfied they were with their bank, with our results revealed in the 2022 Most Satisfied Customers Banking Awards.

“We wanted to know how everyday Australians felt about things like customer service, communication with their bank, whether they were getting value for money, fees and charges, and interest rates,” explained Joshua Sale, Canstar’s Ratings Manager.

“We also asked people about their bank’s ability to meet their banking needs and their overall satisfaction. Given some people may have accounts with several different banks, we screened their results to just the institution into which their salary was paid.”

Canstar looked at how all that varied across a range of banking services, from the major banks to customer-owned banks and just digital-only banking.

“We also looked at how people felt about some of the various banking services they used, from home loans to credit cards and the reward programs that may be offered,” said Mr Sale.

More than 9,000 Australians took part in the research done between February and June this year, with the survey numbers limited to just those who use a particular bank or service. Those numbers, listed below for each award, have now been crunched to reveal the winners.

At a glance

The winners are:

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What did customers like about the winners?

IMB Bank took out both the overall bank and the customer-owned bank categories in Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers Awards in 2022. There were 43 banks overall and 17 customer-owned banks considered as part of the survey.

IMB, established in 1880, has retail branches throughout the Illawarra, Newcastle-Hunter, Sydney and South Coast regions of New South Wales, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory and Melbourne.

“IMB was the top-scoring bank for value for money, customer service and ability to meet customers’ banking needs, and beat the average score on each of the variables assessed,” said Mr Sale.

Meanwhile, National Australia Bank (NAB) was the winner when considering just the four major banks. As with IMB, NAB’s ability to meet customers’ banking needs and its customer service helped it stand out ahead of its big four rivals in the customer satisfaction stakes.

Digital banking has become more and more popular in recent years, and every provider wants to make its online service better than others. Winner Up’s customers were particularly happy with its budgeting tools and communication.

With plenty of competition in the home lending market, ING came out on top in overall satisfaction. Value for money proved to be the most important factor in this category, followed by customer service.

“In this category, customers tended to be most satisfied with value for money and customer service, and appeared to remain least satisfied with interest rates and fees and charges,” explained Mr Sale.

Of the consumers assessed for the award, the most satisfied came from Tasmania and South Australia and were more than 70 years old.

Narrowing the home loan market to just the major banks and it was Commonwealth Bank with the most satisfied customers. In a tight race, CommBank’s customer service, loan flexibility and communication helped it edge out its competitors.

Bank Australia took home the prize for customer satisfaction in credit cards, with value for money being the most important factor in the results, again followed by customer service. Bank Australia’s customers were also happy with its privacy and security features and its communication.

Narrow the field to just low-rate credit cards and the winner was Bendigo Bank whose customers praised its value for money, customer service and digital banking, among other factors.

Some credit cards come with a rewards program and the winner in the category was American Express. Amex’s communication and customer service helped it stand out against its competitors for this award.

If it’s frequent flyer points you’re after, the Velocity Frequent Flyer program has retained its position from 2021 as winner in this category. The rewards program itself was the most important factor for customers here, while access to any special airport lounge was the least important factor.

To find out more about how Canstar determines the winners of our Most Satisfied Customers Awards, you can read our Customer Satisfaction Award Methodology.

Main image source: fizkes/Shutterstock.com.