American Express ranked the highest among card issuers when
it comes to customer satisfaction, as overall satisfaction levels with credit
cards rose slightly from 2009 levels, according to the J.D. Power and
Associates 2010 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study, which was released last
month.
American Express scored 769 on a scale of a 1,000 in the
survey, through which J.D. Power asks users to rate cards according to their
satisfaction with interaction, terms, billing and payment process, benefits and
services, rewards programs and problem resolution. This is J.D. Power's fourth
year of conducting the survey, and American Express has rated highest each
year.
Discover Card, which is predominantly focused on personal
cards, ranked second, and U.S. Bank, which has a significant corporate card
presence, ranked third. U.S. Bank earned its highest marks for its terms,
billing system, customer interaction and problem resolution.
Overall, the average satisfaction level was 714, which
represents an increase of nine points from 2009 levels. The study, however,
indicated that cardholders are more inclined to consider switching issuers this
year than they were during the previous year.
J.D. Power fielded the study in May and June and based the
results on more than 8,500 responses.
This report originally
appeared in the Sept. 6, 2010, issue of Business Travel News.