Customers 'happy with their bank'

The vast majority of consumers are happy with their bank despite the bad publicity the sector has endured in recent years, a survey showed.

Around 92% of people have not changed banks during the past two years, with 93% of these claiming they are happy with the service they receive, according to the BBC.

Only 8% of the 1,001 people questioned had switched accounts, with reasons for doing so ranging from getting better rates and wanting to take advantage of introductory offers, to problems with customer service and a lack of local branches.

Only 36% of those who had changed their provider cited the stability of banks during the recession as the reason they switched accounts.

But despite those who have stayed with their bank saying they were happy with the service they received, the survey also uncovered signs of apathy among consumers.

Half of those who had not changed banks said they thought all current accounts were the same, despite the fact that the interest available on them ranges from 0.01% to 5%.

A further 48% said they thought switching accounts would create too many problems, while 38% thought there were not any better or more appealing accounts available and 30% said they did not have time to compare products.

Banks have endured a raft of bad publicity recently due to complaints about the fairness of unauthorised overdraft charges, the mis-selling of controversial payment protection insurance and the problems the sector has faced during the credit crunch.

The Financial Ombudsman Service recently said complaints about the top five high street banks accounted for more than half of all of the complaints it received during the second half of 2009.

However, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) was quick to point out that the high level of complaints received about banks reflected the high level of transactions the sector carried out each day.



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