Amex Again Leads J.D. Power's Card Satisfaction Rankings

American Express received the highest marks from card users and was the only major corporate card issuer to receive an above-average score in the 2008 Credit Card Satisfaction Study, released this month by J.D. Power and Associates.

The study, based on responses from 7,665 card users, rates card issuers on five factors: interaction, billing and payment process, fees and rates, reward programs and benefits and services.

This is the second year that J.D. Power and Associates conducted the survey, and American Express has been top-rated in both.

Users gave American Express a score of 783 on a 1,000-point scale, with the issuer scoring well in all categories. The only other issuer in the survey to rank above the average score issued by all respondents, which was 724, was Discover Card, which currently is not a player in the corporate card market.

Three major corporate card issuers—J.P. Morgan, U.S. Bank and Citi—received scores about at the industry average in the survey. Bank of America and GE Money, which American Express acquired earlier this year (BTNonline, March 27), each scored just below 700 points.

Compared with the 2007 study, in which the industry average score was 658, scores were universally higher this year. Rankings in 2007 were largely the same as this year, although Citi had the largest improvement, edging ahead of J.P. Morgan and U.S. Bank in the satisfaction ratings.

Reward programs were a key booster to customer satisfaction levels, according to the survey. Those customers who redeem rewards on average scored their issuers 117 points higher than those customers who did not.

"It is critical for credit card issuers to ensure that cardholders are taking advantage of these programs," Rocky Clancy, executive director of financial services at J.D. Power and Associates, said in a statement. "Making the reward redemption process as easy as possible by removing limits—such as point expiration dates or restrictions on use—encourages use of reward programs, thus enhancing overall satisfaction."

The programs were particularly critical to satisfaction among those customers who are using cards that—like corporate cards—must be paid off in full every month rather than keeping a balance. More than three-quarters of card users who pay off their entire balance every month said reward programs were the basis for their selection, according to the survey.