Customers cheesed off with credit cards
Even after the Office of Fair Trading capped credit charge charges at £12 nearly a year ago, a study by uSwitch has shown that one in every five customers is still dissatisfied with their credit card provider.This means that nearly seven million credit card holders are unhappy with their provider, which is 21 per cent of all people with this financial product.Yet, consumers stick with the same provider for six years on average with 6.3 million people confessing they choose their credit card because they already bank with the provider.The bigger banks generally retain their credit card customers for eight years, despite reports of poor customer service.For example 40 per cent of customers stayed with Lloyds TSB for more than a decade despite the fact that one in three customers were unhappy with the service. Although Barclays was voted the second worst for customer satisfaction, half of Barclaycard customers have stayed with the bank for over ten years. Mike Naylor, financial expert for uSwitch, said: "Credit card companies are relying on customer lethargy, and, with over half of consumers never comparing their existing deal with the rest of the market, clearly people are playing directly into their hands."Providers have spent the last year constantly introducing 'get rich quick schemes' for their own benefit yet customers are still prepared to stick with them for years. Year on year the number of people falling into this trap grows as more are lured in by their existing bank or building society's cross selling tactics."This is allowing credit card providers to treat their customers like money-making cash cows and to completely disregard customer satisfaction and value for money."
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