Customer service excellence: which banks stand out?

In our series celebrating those companies that provide excellent service – according to their own customers – Resolver has turned its attention to the banking sector. If you’re in the market for a new account, personal loan or credit card, then our analysis of almost 38,000 real Resolver cases between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020 can help you pick those providers that our users tell us are hitting the mark. 

As the chief provider of products to help us secure, save and spend money within our means, it’s imperative that consumers feel they can trust their provider. This is particularly important right now, as interest free periods on overdrafts close and payment holidays on credit card balances and mortgages that many opted for to help keep their day-to-day finances in check come to an end. So we wanted to highlight those companies that gave their customers absolute confidence in their ability to resolve issues surrounding their money or spending based on their experience of dealing with them. 

Our results show while newer ‘challenger’ brands top the board in everyday money management such as current accounts, those more established names are those that customers feel are offering first-class service in more specialist credit services. Why not take a look to see who – according to their own customers – is offering excellent customer service.

Resolver scores: top banking companies

Top credit card providers 

With a Resolver score of 94% Virgin Money tops our list of those credit card providers offering excellent customer service. With a convincing five stars out of five for all of Resolver’s seven metrics, including customer satisfaction, response times and resolution rate, Virgin Money – according to its customers – is a stand-out performer for customer service across the board.

Completing our podium for credit card providers is Halifax and RBS (now Natwest), with Resolver scores of 77% and 73% respectively, Along with Virgin Money, both scored five stars for customer advocacy – the likelihood of its customers to recommend them – and ease of communication.

Current accounts: banks with excellent service

It’s the so-called ‘challenger’ banks that top our excellent customer service charts for their current account services. Monzo’s Resolver score is an impressive 87%, followed closely by Revolut at 84%. 

While both received a hefty five stars out of five for satisfaction and likelihood to recommend, Monzo stood out for their resolution and response times – meaning their customers felt they received a speedy communication process throughout their interaction. Revolut meanwhile scored five stars for their resolution rate and ease of contact.

Personal loans providers that buck the trend

Taking out a personal loan is a huge decision so it’s important to know that your provider will support you throughout the term of the loan and of course in case things go wrong. 

Santander – with a Resolver score of 84% – and Natwest with a score of 77% both stood out for scoring five stars out of five for their resolution rates – the only two companies we analysed that achieved this. Meanwhile, the consumer advocacy rating for both was also five stars – highlighting that users were happy to recommend both banking firms with their personal loan offering.

How we score

The one-line answer is that our scores are all down to the feedback of Resolver users, along with measures used to assess response and resolution times. But every bit of feedback has a story behind it and our data specialists analyse all the information in detail.

Every Resolver user is asked how satisfied they are with how the company they have had contact with when a case is closed. Our analysis of all these responses focuses on seven measurements of those aspects of customer service to come up with a score out of five. To get five stars for one of our measurements, a company has to score within the top 20%.

Resolver requires a minimum of 30 customer feedbacks for a company for it to be included in our series of customer service excellence, which is perhaps why you may not see some of your most-loved brands here. We are working on widening our analysis.

Here’s our rundown of the seven measurements we use to score customer service:

Response Time: the time it takes the company to provide an initial response to the customer

Resolution Time: the time it takes to resolve the complaint

Resolution Rate: the percentage of the company’s cases satisfactorily resolved from the consumer’s perspective

Feeling Change: the change in the customer’s sentiment from the beginning to the end of the case

Ease: how easy it is to complain

Consumer Advocacy Score (CAS): how likely the customer is to recommend the company

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): how satisfied the customer is with the company.

If you have a complaint about one of the banks or finance firms in this article, or any other personal finance institution or provider, we can help. Use Resolver to raise your complaint or query.