Credit Unions Beat Banks Hands Down for Customer Satisfaction

Published by Graham Tomlin for Credit Union Solutions Ltd in Central Government and also in Education, Health, Housing, Local Government

The deep distrust of banks continues in the USA and Britain prompted by the Occupy campaigns across the globe and the continuing greed of senior banking staff.

Adding fuel to the anti banking campaign is the news that several banking surveys in the USA have shown that credit unions are providing excellent customer service and consistently outscoring their banking competitors.

HMG is soon to reverse Thatcher’s big bang by delivering the big break up by separating transactional banking from investment banking. At the same time additional opportunities are being opened up for credit unions enabling them to offer their services more widely and to link with other not-for-profit organisations.

As credit unions further reduce their costs by sharing services and staff and spread their not-for-profit ethos they will be a hard act to beat let alone follow.

For too long transactional banking has been the cash cow that fed the investment bankers urge to gamble all of which was paid for by our bank charges and the paltry rates paid on investment accounts.

The major banks operated in a cartel much akin to the one now operating among energy companies. Changing bank was as useless as changing energy companies with the veneer of competition producing no meaningful benefits for the customers.

Now though there is some light at the end of the tunnel with the possibility of the Coop Bank inheriting 632 Lloyds Bank branches. Since most credit unions bank with the Coop hopefully more of them will be able to offer bank accounts for their members without having to go through an ABCUL intermediary.

It is not only in the area of customer service that credit unions out point banks they also offer far better value for money and much more openness and transparency about their activities. Best of all they do not pay their Directors a penny and their only common interest is that of being customers. Compare that to a bank’s remuneration committee perpetually increasing rewards for Directors that add no value at all to the customer experience.

As we sink ever so slowly back into recession value for money will become much more important in all areas of business and commerce and banks offer such poor value they will struggle against increasingly popular providers like the member owned Coop Bank and local credit unions both of whom have consistently been Which “Best Buys”.