High street banks fail to impress in 2017 Uswitch Credit Card Awards
The latest uswitch.com **survey of more than 10,000 credit card customers reveals that the big high street banks are falling behind other providers**
Nationwide Building Society wins the coveted uswitch.com** 2017 Credit Card Provider of the Year**
High street banks – HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and RBS – have failed to make an impact for the second year running, not winning a single award between them
Nationwide rakes in customer service awards for branch, online and mobile app
American Express tops the Best Value for Money and Best Rewards Scheme categories.
High street banks have been put to shame for the second year running, as the Uswitch.com Credit Card Awards, with over 10,000 credit card customers surveyed, reveal Nationwide Building Society as the 2017 Credit Card Provider of the Year.
Nationwide has greatly improved its customer service, taking home the Credit Card of the Year and Most Trusted awards, as well as topping the table in five other categories.
Last year American Express picked up five awards on its way to winning the gold, but in 2017 the financial services giant has failed to retain the overall top spot. The credit card provider has, however, scooped up five awards including Best Telephone Customer Service.
High street banks have failed to impress customers with their service for the second consecutive year. HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and RBS again fail to make an impact on the awards, not making the top three in any category.
Consumers are increasingly using websites and mobile phones to manage their finances, demonstrating that digital customer service is now more relevant than ever. Disappointingly, none of the big banks came out on top for online customer service, paving the way for Nationwide to win the award for best Desktop Customer Service. Meanwhile American Express scooped up Mobile Phone and Tablet customer service awards, for both web browser and app.
American Express has knocked John Lewis off the top of the table for Best Reward Schemes this year, proving that credit card rewards remain an important incentive for consumers. Santander dropped one place from fourth in 2016 to fifth in 2017, in the same category, after the bank announced a cut to its cashback offer for 123 credit card holders.
However, it is Nationwide who has won the hearts of consumers with a score of 73% in the category of Most Trusted Provider. The high street banks trailed behind in this category, leaving a 15% gap between Nationwide at number one and the highest ranked high street bank, HSBC, at ninth place.
Thomas Lyon, money expert at Uswitch.com, says: “It’s great to see Nationwide topping the awards ladder this year, but it’s a shame that the banks people most recognise are continuing to fall short.
“Online services have become a necessity as well as a convenience for consumers to keep track of their money on the go. This year’s awards show that if providers can meet the needs of consumers by pairing essential services, such as easy to use online platforms, with excellent customer service, they can reap the benefits.
“These awards will hopefully encourage the larger providers to recognise they have work to do. Results also prove that consumers won’t put up with sub-standard customer service when it comes to their credit cards, and with long 0% balance transfer options available, the case to switch is a hard one to ignore.”
Find out how you could save over £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.
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Notes to editors
All research referred to was conducted by Opinium between 31 January 2017 and 6 February 2017 among 10,000 online interviews with random UK credit card holders. All figures are based on Uswitch.com analysis. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults aged 18+.
None of the high street banks (HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Barclays) topped any categories in 2017. See full results below.
Nationwide awarded Credit Card Provider of the year with an overall customer satisfaction of 76%.
Nationwide won seven out of 12 awards; Overall Customer Satisfaction, Most Trusted Provider, Best Branch Customer Service Provider, Best Desktop/Laptop Customer Service Provider, Best Website, Best Mobile Website and Best Mobile App.
American Express won the Best Rewards Scheme Category in 2017 with a score of 64%.
American Express won five awards including Best Telephone Customer Service Provider, Best Mobile Browser Customer Service Provider, Best Mobile App Customer Service Provider, Best Value for Money and Best Rewards.
A list of 2016 Uswitch Credit Card Award winners can be found here.
The high street banks only made it into the top three for any categories. See full results below.
Big banks beaten by smaller rivals in the customer satisfaction stakes release here.
In January 2017 Santander announced that from February next year the cashback offer for the 123 credit card will only be available on a maximum spend of £300 and £150 respectively per month. Three per cent cashback will still be available on spending on travel, on spending of up to a maximum of £100 per month, a reduction from £300 per month. This means customers will now be able to earn a maximum of £3 per category, or £9 per month from the card, which has a monthly fee of £3. The new caps for cashback will already be applied to those who signed up to the card after September 15 while the cap will be introduced from February for those who had a card before this date. More information can be found here: http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/account-changes/123-credit-card.
Nationwide won the category of Most Trusted Provider with a score of 73%.
Nationwide topped the table at number one for Most Trusted Provider (73%) with HSBC the highest ranked high street bank at number nine (58%). See full results below.
Full list of winners across all categories:
| Category | Provider | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Customer Satisfaction | Nationwide | ||
| Most Trusted Provider | Nationwide | ||
| Best Telephone Customer Service Provider | American Express | ||
| Best Branch Customer Service Provider | Nationwide | ||
| Best Desktop/Laptop Customer Service Provider | Nationwide | ||
| Best Mobile Browser Customer Service Provider | American Express | ||
| Best Mobile App Customer Service Provider | American Express | ||
| Best Value for Money | American Express | ||
| Best Website | Nationwide | ||
| Best Mobile Website | Nationwide | ||
| Best Mobile App | Nationwide | ||
| Best Rewards | American Express |
Top 12 award category findings below: Overall Customer Satisfaction
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 76% | ||
| 2 | American Express | 75% | ||
| 3 | Marks & Spencer | 67% | ||
| 4 | Tesco | 67% | ||
| 5 | MBNA | 63% | ||
| 6 | Halifax | 62% | ||
| 7 | Barclaycard | 62% | ||
| 8 | NatWest | 60% | ||
| 9 | Lloyds | 59% | ||
| 10 | HSBC | 59% | ||
| 11 | Santander | 59% | ||
| 12 | Capital One | 57% |
Most Trusted Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 73% | ||
| 2 | American Express | 73% | ||
| 3 | Marks & Spencer | 68% | ||
| 4 | Tesco | 63% | ||
| 5 | Santander | 62% | ||
| 6 | NatWest | 61% | ||
| 7 | Halifax | 60% | ||
| 8 | MBNA | 59% | ||
| 9 | HSBC | 58% | ||
| 10 | Barclaycard | 58% | ||
| 11 | Lloyds | 57% | ||
| 12 | Capital One | 52% |
Best Telephone Customer Service Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | 68% | ||
| 2 | Marks & Spencer | 66% | ||
| 3 | Nationwide | 64% | ||
| 4 | Tesco | 62% | ||
| 5 | MBNA | 61% | ||
| 6 | Halifax | 57% | ||
| 7 | NatWest | 57% | ||
| 8 | HSBC | 56% | ||
| 9 | Capital One | 56% | ||
| 10 | Santander | 54% | ||
| 11 | Barclaycard | 54% | ||
| 12 | Lloyds | 53% |
Best Branch Customer Service Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 73% | ||
| 2 | NatWest | 62% | ||
| 3 | Marks & Spencer | 61% | ||
| 4 | Santander | 61% | ||
| 5 | Lloyds | 59% | ||
| 6 | Halifax | 58% | ||
| 7 | HSBC | 56% | ||
| 8 | Barclaycard | 51% | ||
| 9 | American Express | 45% | ||
| 10 | Tesco | 42% | ||
| 11 | Capital One | 37% | ||
| 12 | MBNA | 35% |
Best Desktop/Laptop Customer Service Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 76% | ||
| 2 | American Express | 70% | ||
| 3 | MBNA | 70% | ||
| 4 | Marks & Spencer | 68% | ||
| 5 | Tesco | 65% | ||
| 6 | Halifax | 64% | ||
| 7 | Santander | 62% | ||
| 8 | Barclaycard | 62% | ||
| 9 | Capital One | 61% | ||
| 10 | Lloyds | 61% | ||
| 11 | HSBC | 60% | ||
| 12 | NatWest | 59% |
Best Mobile Browser Customer Service Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | 63% | ||
| 2 | Nationwide | 61% | ||
| 3 | Marks & Spencer | 58% | ||
| 4 | MBNA | 56% | ||
| 5 | Tesco | 55% | ||
| 6 | Capital One | 53% | ||
| 7 | Lloyds | 53% | ||
| 8 | Barclaycard | 53% | ||
| 9 | Halifax | 51% | ||
| 10 | NatWest | 50% | ||
| 11 | HSBC | 49% | ||
| 12 | Santander | 46% |
Best Mobile App Customer Service Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | 64% | ||
| 2 | Nationwide | 63% | ||
| 3 | MBNA | 57% | ||
| 4 | Lloyds | 55% | ||
| 5 | Barclaycard | 55% | ||
| 6 | NatWest | 55% | ||
| 7 | Tesco | 53% | ||
| 8 | Capital One | 51% | ||
| 9 | Halifax | 51% | ||
| 10 | HSBC | 50% | ||
| 11 | Marks & Spencer | 47% | ||
| 12 | Santander | 46% |
Best Value for Money Provider
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | 67% | ||
| 2 | Nationwide | 65% | ||
| 3 | Tesco | 61% | ||
| 4 | Marks & Spencer | 60% | ||
| 5 | Halifax | 54% | ||
| 6 | MBNA | 53% | ||
| 7 | Santander | 50% | ||
| 8 | Barclaycard | 50% | ||
| 9 | NatWest | 50% | ||
| 10 | Lloyds | 47% | ||
| 11 | HSBC | 44% | ||
| 12 | Capital One | 38% |
Best Website
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 78% | ||
| 2 | American Express | 74% | ||
| 3 | MBNA | 73% | ||
| 4 | Santander | 69% | ||
| 5 | Marks & Spencer | 69% | ||
| 6 | Tesco | 68% | ||
| 7 | Capital One | 67% | ||
| 8 | Halifax | 66% | ||
| 9 | NatWest | 65% | ||
| 10 | Barclaycard | 65% | ||
| 11 | Lloyds | 64% | ||
| 12 | HSBC | 63% |
Best Mobile Website
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 63% | ||
| 2 | American Express | 62% | ||
| 3 | Marks & Spencer | 57% | ||
| 4 | MBNA | 57% | ||
| 5 | Tesco | 55% | ||
| 6 | Capital One | 54% | ||
| 7 | Barclaycard | 52% | ||
| 8 | Lloyds | 50% | ||
| 9 | NatWest | 50% | ||
| 10 | Halifax | 50% | ||
| 11 | Santander | 48% | ||
| 12 | HSBC | 48% |
Best Mobile App
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nationwide | 66% | ||
| 2 | American Express | 64% | ||
| 3 | Capital One | 58% | ||
| 4 | Lloyds | 56% | ||
| 5 | NatWest | 55% | ||
| 6 | MBNA | 55% | ||
| 7 | Barclaycard | 54% | ||
| 8 | Tesco | 54% | ||
| 9 | HSBC | 51% | ||
| 10 | Santander | 49% | ||
| 11 | Halifax | 49% | ||
| 12 | Marks & Spencer | 46% |
Best Rewards
| Rank | Provider | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | 64% | ||
| 2 | Tesco | 46% | ||
| 3 | Nationwide | 42% | ||
| 4 | Marks & Spencer | 40% | ||
| 5 | Santander | 33% | ||
| 6 | Barclaycard | 27% | ||
| 7 | NatWest | 25% | ||
| 8 | Halifax | 24% | ||
| 9 | Lloyds | 24% | ||
| 10 | MBNA | 21% | ||
| 11 | HSBC | 14% | ||
| 12 | Capital One | 13% |
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