Home loan customer satisfaction grows despite unprecedented financial challenges

New research has found that home loan customer satisfaction increased across all 10 leading banks in the year to November 2020.

According to the latest financial data from Roy Morgan, all 10 banks have increased their customer satisfaction among mortgage holders from a year ago, despite the COVID-19 pandemic that many feared would have a very negative impact on Australia’s housing market.

The bank that recorded the highest level of customer satisfaction among home loan customers was ING, with an exceptional 94.4 per cent in November 2020, up 2.1 percentage points on a year ago in November 2019.

In second place was ME Bank with a home loan customer satisfaction rating of 89.8 per cent, followed by Bankwest on 88.2 per cent and Bendigo Bank on 87.8 per cent.

Other banks to increase their home loan customer satisfaction from a year ago included Suncorp (85.1 per cent), St. George (81.3 per cent), CBA (79.5 per cent), NAB (77.8 per cent), ANZ (74.9 per cent) and Westpac (73.2 per cent).

CBA enjoyed the highest home loan customer satisfaction of any of the major banks, while overall home loan customer satisfaction with the big four was 77.1 per cent.

The banks with the biggest increases in customer satisfaction from a year ago were Suncorp (up 12.6 percentage points), Bankwest (up 7.5 percentage points), NAB (up 6.7 percentage points), St. George (up 5.6 percentage points), CBA (up 5.2 percentage points) and ANZ (up 5.0 percentage points).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said the increases in customer satisfaction were a vote of confidence in the responses by the banks to help Australians deal with the unprecedented financial hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, including mortgage deferrals and interest rate reductions.

“The response of Australian banking and financial institutions to the COVID-19 pandemic has been rewarded with customer satisfaction ratings of home loan customers increasing for all 10 leading banks compared to a year ago by an average of 4.8 percentage points to 79 per cent,” Ms Levine said.

“Australia’s banks provided unprecedented support to home loan customers thrust into financial hardship during 2020 with a wide range of support measures.

“In-depth Roy Morgan research into the impact of COVID-19 on Australians’ finances shows 10 per cent of Australians who have had a negative employment impact from COVID-19 have had their mortgage payments put on hold for a period of time, and this translates into 21 per cent of all Australians with mortgages.”

According to Ms Levine, the increasing satisfaction for the banks throughout last year has continued a trend that began with the conclusion of the banking royal commission in early 2019.

“In hindsight, it’s clear Australia’s banks have taken the findings of the royal commission seriously and significantly improved their behaviour and responsiveness to customer needs,” she said.

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