Card Satisfaction Survey
J.D. Power and Associates have just released the results of their 1997 Comprehensive Cardholder Satisfaction Study. The results show that American Express's Optima True Grace has the highest satisfaction rating for those who carry a monthly balance and Discover Card was rated the highest by convenience users.
Areas of Importance
The study surveyed 10,540 holders of 54 different cards from 22 different issuers. All cardholders (whether they carry a monthly balance or not) believe the same things are important. But, they rated the cards differently. For example, all cardholders agree that service and reputation are the most important, but they don't agree on who does the best job. Convenience users think AMEX does the best job, and those with a monthly balance think Discover does the best job.
The areas of customer satisfaction which cardholders feel are most important are, in order of importance:
You'll notice that "Rewards" is included in the list of areas which customers find important when rating their satisfaction. In fact, some cardholders such as attorney Michael Williams, feel quite strongly about the rewards programs. Williams is suing Ford Motor Co. and Citibank because they ended their rebate program before he could take full advantage of the five year, $3,500 rebate. He is asking for participants to be able to continue earning rebates for a full five years or receive a $700 coupon for each year less than five that they were in the program.
But, the jury is still out among the card companies and auto makers. As Ford and Citibank ended their rewards program, GM and Volkswagen have kept theirs, and Subaru recently launched a credit card which gives US consumers discounts on new vehicles. You can read the 1996 report at http://www.jdpower.com. This should give you more ammunition when speaking with a merchant on why he/she should accept a variety of payment options.
