FINANCIAL FIRMS THAT PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST

We evaluated major banks, credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, and home and auto insurers to see how well they treat their clients.

- LISA GERSTNER

When you choose an institution to provide your checking account, credit card, mortgage or insurance policy, you know that it’s important to take a close look at interest rates, fees, policy premiums and all the other factors that affect how much money you’ll spend or save with your selection. But customer service is often an afterthought, mostly because you need to commit to being a customer before you can evaluate how good the service is. Unless you’ve been really lucky, you know how frustrating a run-in with poor customer service can be. If your mortgage lender doesn’t get you to the closing table on time, or your auto insurer drags its feet in paying for repairs after an accident, you may be left without a place to live or a car to drive longer than you expected. Likewise, superior interest rates and low fees don’t mean much if the banks and credit card issuers that offer them fail to quickly put a stop to fraudulent transactions or address other difficulties with your accounts.

To help you add customer service to the decisionmaking equation, we present our second annual rankings of large financial services firms. We’ve evaluated major banks, credit card issuers, mortgage lenders, and home and auto insurers based on how they treat their clients. Last fall, we conducted a nationwide survey of the current customers of 10 firms in each of the four categories, asking respondents to rate the companies on several aspects of their experience. Based on the results, we selected the highest-scoring five or six finalists in each category (the number chosen depended on whether companies tied for placement) and then put each of those firms under the microscope.