After the pandemic, Australian home loan customers were happier with the banks that had the highest customer satisfaction than ever before.
Roy Morgan’s most recent survey revealed that overall satisfaction of home loan customers with 12 banks was 77.9% during the six months ending August.
While this was slightly lower that the 78.4% rating from the same period last year, it was still significantly more than what was recorded prior to the pandemic.
Banks’ support during pandemic
Michele Levine (CEO Roy Morgan) stated that increased satisfaction among mortgage holders with banks is due to financial institutions offering support programs during the pandemic.
Ms Levine explained how the strong economic recovery following the COVID-19 Pandemic has allowed loan payments on 450,000 loans that had been delayed to resume. These home loan holders were able to resume their loan payments at 95% by the beginning of 2021.
“This time around fewer than 20,000 home loans had been deferred by mid-August by which time over half of Australia’s population in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra were in lockdown,” she said.
“Reopening all three cities was planned in recent weeks. All three lockdowns should be lifted by October.
Ms Levine stated Australia will experience an economic boom if it reaches its vaccination targets (which are 70%-80%).
She explained that the expectation was based in high savings rates. This makes it difficult for people to save money and spend money on their daily activities.
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) tracks deferrals from September 5 to September 5. It revealed that Australia’s outstanding debts have risen more than 27,000 to $27,000
Seven out of the ten outstanding Australian mortgage deferrals are from NSW.
ABA CEO Anna Bligh said despite deferrals being concentrated in lockdown-stricken states, it’s important that borrowers don’t try and tough it out.
“As lockdowns in cities and states continue, it’s no surprise that more strain has been applied to peoples and businesses.” However, it is important to remember that banks are available for assistance,” Ms. Bligh said.
ING is the leader
ING is the company that has the highest satisfaction ratings. Its satisfaction rating rose from 88.7% to 91.3% over the previous year.
BankSA was the most affected, with a satisfaction score that rose from 76.3% up to 87.3%.
All five banks ranked first reported an improvement in satisfaction ratings.
CBA received the highest satisfaction rating at 78.8%, surpassing all four major banks. This was slightly less than the 79.1% that was recorded last year.
ANZ was only major Bank that reported an increase in customer satisfaction, from 72.8% to 74.7%.
The most dramatic drop in satisfaction ratings was suffered by ME Bank. It is now the eighth best bank and has fallen from third to third. Its satisfaction rating has dropped from 87.2% to 77.34%.
